Congratulations to “Kenosha Pass” for winning the Country Showdown in Sterling, CO on June 5th. The trio won with good vocal harmonies while playing two acoustics and a bass guitar.
The show was sponsored by KATR – serving the city of Ft. Morgan, and hosted by Cindy Hosea Cindy@MediaLogicRadio.com
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DURANGO HIGH STUDENTS BROADWAY-BOUND! ‘LES MIZ’ TAKES TOP STATE HONORS IN COLORADO
No technical honors. No music wins. As the awards ceremony continued at Buell Theatre in Denver, the hopes of Durango High School Troupe 1096 began to falter. Would their highly acclaimed performance of “Les Misérables” go home unrecognized at the Bobby G Awards, the statewide competition for high school musical theater?
“And then lead actress is announced,” said Kristen Winchester-White, who directed the musical with Landon Newton. “The female representing Colorado at the National High School Musical Theatre (Jimmy) Awards in New York City is Emma Buchanan. Thunderous applause, crazy excited jumping from the Durango section.” Buchanan, who graduated from DHS on Friday and played Eponine in the musical, was barely off the stage before the Durango section went wild again
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Evatt Salinger, who played Jean Valjean and also graduated, was named lead actor in a musical.
“What? They actually picked two Durango students for the Jimmy Awards?” Winchester-White said. “It was obvious they were the standouts, but I thought they would never actually pick two students from the same school.”
And then, as Salinger left the stage after a moving thank-you, the big announcement came, winner of Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical Award.
“As I walk to the stage in tears, thinking, ‘I have to give a speech,’ I fill with immense pride,” Winchester-White said. “Durango freaking Colorado wins the top three and most revered awards at the Bobby G Award Ceremony.”
Evatt and Salinger will spend the week of June 24-30 training with the other 54 lead actor and actress winners in workshops led by Broadway actors, directors and choreographers. The grand prize national Jimmy Award winners will perform for one night at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre.
“This is a big deal, it’s like our Tony Awards,” said Heidi Bosk, senior public relations and promotions manager for the Denver Performing Arts Complex. The awards are a great start for their next stage of education. Salinger, who also competes on the DHS Aerospace Design Team, has declared a theater and music major with a minor in mathematics at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. He’s attending on a full-ride scholarship. Buchanan will pursue a bachelor’s degree in musical theater at Wright StateUniversity in Dayton, Ohio.
abutler@durangoherald.com
By Ann Butler Herald staff writer
Article Last Updated: Tuesday, June 02, 2015 10:58pm
http://communications.durangoschools.org/sites/default/files/documents/communications
Photos Courtesy of Denver Performing Arts Complex – Captions are:
● Emma Buchanan and Evatt Salinger perform songs from their award-winning musical “Les Misérables” in a medley at the Buell Theatre in Denver. They won Outstanding Performance by an Actress and Actor in a Leading Role in the statewide competition and will travel to New York City at the end of the month to represent Colorado in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards in New York City.
● Emma Buchanan sings her solo as Eponine from “Les Misérables” at the Bobby G Awards at the Buell Theatre in Denver, which she had to sing two keys lower than normal for it to fit in a medley. Buchanan was named the Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role at the awards. She will now compete in the nationals in New York City.
● DHS student Emma Buchanan accepts the Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role award at the Bobby G Awards, which were held Thursday at the Buell Theatre in Denver. She’ll compete at the nationals in New York City at the end of June.
● Evatt Salinger, right, performs “Bring Him Home” from “Les Misérables” on Thursday night at the Buell Theatre in Denver. His number came after “Luck be a Lady,” so he hammed it up a bit before taking the song to a more serious level. Salinger was awarded Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role at the Bobby G Awards and will now represent the state at the national Jimmy Awards in New York City.
● Kristen Winchester-White, who directed the Durango High School production of “Les Misérables” accepts the Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical on behalf of International Troupe 1096 at the Bobby G Awards on Thursday night at the Buell Theatre in Denver. “It was truly a community effort to get us here,” she said.
● From left, representing Durango High School, Emma Buchanan and Kristen Winchester-White are all smiles after Buchanan won Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for her part as Eponine in “Les Misérables” and Winchester-White, who directed the musical along with Landon Newton, accepted Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical at the Bobby G Awards on Thursday at the Buell Theatre in Denver. The DHS performance beat out productions from much larger and arts-magnet schools in its first appearance at the awards.
Emma Buchanan and Evatt Salinger ssng “The Star-Spangled Banner” Wednesday at the Colorado Rockies game at Coors Field in Denver.
A blog about their experiences competing in the Jimmy Awards from June 24-30 in New York City will be available online at http://www.artscomplex.com .