Final Evening of Halo Awards Wrap Up

Waterbury - Seven Angels Theatre presented the third (and final) exciting night of the 19th Annual Halo Awards 2022 on Thursday evening at the magnificent Palace Theater in Waterbury. The program that is like the Tony Awards for high school performers is the annual event for students involved in their school’s theater department and they could not have been more excited to be back in person this year.

The Halo Awards Coordinator is the actor Constantine Pappas, assisted by Melissa Stemmer. Michelle Gotay, actress and motivational speaker, returned for the ninth year to serve as host of all three evenings. Actor Jimmy Donohue was her partner in crime, once again hilariously representing voting company Dewey Cheatum and Howe and delivering pizza to the stage to kick off intermission.

The original 12 schools that participated in Halo judging have grown to an impressive 80 high schools from all counties in the state. Judges attended 135 productions this year, shows that included 6,500 high school students as actors, musicians and crew.
In her opening remarks, Semina De Laurentis, the Artistic Director of Seven Angels and the beloved Halos guru, once again reminded every student in the audience to hang on to their ticket so that they could use it as a Halos Pass to attend any upcoming production at 7A free of charge. De Laurentis has been at Seven Angels for 32 years.

Thursday evening presenters included the fabulous professional actress Samantha Rae Bass, actress and retired educator Joanne Chenkus, Donohue, actor (“my”) Moses Jacob (most recently part of the Amy Whinehouse show at 7A,) actress Joyce Jeffrey, Pappas, Halos judge Kevin Pelkey, his beautiful daughter Mary Pelkey, the bubbly Equity actress Marissa Follo Perry (“Sister Act” and “Hairspray” on Broadway,) director/choreographer Foster Reese, Stemmer, and me!

My favorite part of every Halo Awards gala is being able to enjoy many performances by the nominated productions.

The final evening of the Halos was opened by New Fairfield High School performing “Oh, The Thinks You Can Think” from their production of “Seussical” in full costume and accompanied by piano. BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL went to New Fairfield High School for Sarah Bollacke as Sour Kangaroo in “Seussical” and BEST PROGRAM ART was given to New Fairfield High School for Amelia McPartlin for the show.

Gotay, prompted by her accounting rep, explained to the students that some of the beautiful Halo awards had been marked with the incorrect date. The winners that were given one of these awards will be receiving a second trophy with the correct date and a movie ticket for their trouble.

Canterbury School (pictured above) performed “The Sign” from “Cyrano de Burger Shack,” in costume with some dialogue followed by a sweet musical number. BEST PERFORMANCE BY A SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A PLAY went to Canterbury School for Ruari Bamrick as Kathryn Schaub in “Radium Girls.” BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A CONTEMPORARY PLAY was awarded to Canterbury School: Qixiu (Neil) Yao as Arthur Roeder in “Radium Girls”

New Britain High School performed “The Reckoning/Finale” from “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” in costume. BEST COSTUME DESIGN AND/OR EXECUTION went to New Britain High School for Dallas Bastek for “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” and the school took BEST PERFORMANCE BY A SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL for Miguel Pagan as Freddy Benson in “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”

Torrington High School showed off some wonderful choreography in their performance of “Skid Row” from “Little Shop of Horrors.” Torrington took BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY for Jozsef Herczeg as Finch in “Puffs” BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A CLASSICAL MUSICAL went to Torrington High School for Patrick Minnerly as Seymour in “Little Shop of Horrors.”

Lewis Mills High School took to the stage to perform an adorable “The Doctor Is In” from “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” in costume. BEST PLAY went to Lewis Mills High School for their production of “Middletown.” BEST FEATURED DANCER(S) was awarded to Lewis Mills High School for Jadyn Ubides as Snoopy in “You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown.”

The Frederick Gunn School presented a very cute “I Won’t Come in Second” from “25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee.” BEST COMIC MALE PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL went to The Frederick Gunn School for Alder Curry as Leaf Coneybear in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” BEST FEMALE STANDOUT PERFORMANCE IN AN ENSEMBLE PRODUCTION went to The Frederick Gunn School for Audrey Richards as Pellegrina/Martin/Margory/Jack/Crow Pellegrina/Lydia Clarke for “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” The school also shared an award for BEST SCENIC DESIGN AND/OR EXECUTION for Natalie Perkins, Siena Taylor and Aryel Sealey for their play.

Watertown High School closed the first act with “Mamma Mia Mashup” from their production of “Mamma Mia!” in their full (and fabulous) costumes. Not surprisingly, BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A CONTEMPORARY MUSICAL was awarded to Watertown High School for the always fabulous Clara Pizzolorusso as Donna in “Mamma Mia!” One of the BEST SCENIC DESIGN AND/OR EXECUTION for a MUSICAL went to Dilan Mathews, Megan Mordarski, Olivia Eshoo, Erin Pienczkowski, Abby Gallagher and Set Crew for “Mamma Mia!”

BEST CHORUS also went to Watertown High School for “Mamma Mia!” as well as BEST PERFORMANCE BY A COUPLE OR DYNAMIC DUO IN A MUSICAL for Garth Betts and Christian Welcome as Harry and Bill in “Mamma Mia!”

Act II opened with New Milford High School (pictured above) tackling the challenging choreography in their black costumes for “All That Jazz” from “Chicago.” BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A CLASSICAL MUSICAL was awarded to New Milford High School for Leah Lawson as Roxy Hart in “Chicago” and BEST ORCHESTRA went to New Milford High School: Orchestra of their musical.

After the Harmony Robe Parade honoring the best chorus winner, two students from Northwestern Regional 7 High School took to the stage in costume to perform “Ten Minutes Ago” from their “Cinderella.” BEST COMIC FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL was awarded to Northwestern Regional 7 High School for Alexa Carroll as Portia in “Cinderella (Enchanted Edition).” The FEARLESS AWARD was given to Northwestern Regional 7 High School for “The Night Witches”

Shepaug Valley School got to show off their “If I Were King” from “The Wizard of Oz.”
BEST INCIDENTAL OR ORIGINAL MUSIC IN A PLAY was awarded to Shepaug Valley School: James Wise for “The Thugs.”

After I presented my two Halo Awards, The William School performed “What You Want: Part 1” from “Legally Blonde.” Williams took BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY for Rachel Harris as Aunt March in “Little Women.” BEST PROPS DESIGN AND/OR MANAGEMENT went to The Williams School: Maria Carseli, Palmer Connelly, Campbell Gray, Carrie Greco, Nova Frink, Anna Milne, Fiona Morrison and Max Savin for “Legally Blonde” BEST PERFORMANCE BY A SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A PLAY also went to The Williams School for Michael Galla as Professor Bhaer in “Little Women.”

Suffield Academy performed “Together Again” from “Frankenstein” in their costumes. BEST COMIC FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A PLAY went to Suffield Academy for Nailah Estrada as Annie Twilloil in “The Play That Goes Wrong.”

Conard High School took to the stage to perform “Holding Out For A Hero” from “Footloose,” with four students in the show shirts. Conard High School took home one of the BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A CONTEMPORARY MUSICAL for Declan Smith as Ren McCormack in “Footloose.”

Before the presentation of the Dance Molinari Scholarships to two very excited dancers, Kingswood Oxford showed off some great choreography in “One of the Boys” from their production of “9-5” BEST MUSICAL, the final award of the evening, when to Kingswood Oxford for “9 to 5,” and the danced away with BEST DANCING for their show. The school also took home the Halo for BEST SPECIALTY ENSEMBLE for McKenzie Campbell, Avery Schiff and Serafina Squatrito as Violet, Judy & Doralee in “9 to 5.”

The Seven Angels Awards Team includes Semina De Laurentis, Mary Ann DeSorbo, Jimmy Donohue, Stephanie Gordner, Morgan Griffin, Debra Healy, Jewell Hearon, director Scott Kealey, Bob Keating, Lyn Licese, Joshua Lopez, Katrina Paul, 7A press representative Paul Roth, Christine Simone and Melissa Stemmer.

Other Halo Awards were given in the following categories:

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS was awarded to Kinsella Magnet School for Isaac Torres for “Miss You Like Hell”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL went to Cromwell High School for Thomas Pier as George in “The Wedding Singer” and BEST RUNNING CREW also went to Cromwell for Run Crew for “The Wedding Singer.”

BEST COMIC MALE PERFORMANCE IN A PLAY was awarded to Salisbury School: Niko Valcin as Leo Bloom in “Comedic Scenes

BEST HAIR AND/OR MAKEUP DESIGN AND/OR EXECUTION was won by Glastonbury High School: Julia Poliner, Gaurisha Singh, Allison Campbell, Anna McCluskey, Grace Clark, Sabrina Pers, Shania Fields, Emma Boyce and Anaya Collins for “The Drowsy Chaperone” BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A CONTEMPORARY MUSICAL (TWO WINNERS) also went to Glastonbury High School for Garrett Molinari as Man in Chair in “The Drowsy Chaperone”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A CLASSICAL PLAY was awarded to Hall High School for August Kittleson as Jason in “Medea,” and I awarded BEST PERFORMANCE BY A COUPLE OR DYNAMIC DUO IN A PLAY to the teacher at Hall High School for August Kittleson and Lauren Shilansky as Dave and Rhonda in “Almost, Maine.”

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN AND/OR EXECUTION was awarded to Granby Memorial High School: Elliott Hosack for “Radium Girls” as well as BEST SOUND DESIGN AND/OR EXECUTION for Ella Caraluzzi and Madison Lang for “Radium Girls.” BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A CONTEMPORARY PLAY was given to Granby Memorial High School for Hayden Mueller as Grace Fryer in “Radium Girls.”

BEST STAGE MANAGEMENT went to Suffield Academy: Luna Kwon (PSM) for “Young Frankenstein” and “The Play That Goes Wrong” Suffield also took BEST PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN AN ENSEMBLE PRODUCTION for “The Play That Goes Wrong.”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL went to New Britain High School for Miguel Pagan as Freddy Benson in “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL was awarded to The Taft School as Claire Roberts as Wednesday Addams in “The Addams Family”

BEST MALE STANDOUT PERFORMANCE IN AN ENSEMBLE PRODUCTION went to The Woodhall School for Sean Finnegan in “All in the Timing.”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A CLASSICAL PLAY was awarded to Mercy and Xavier High Schools for Paula Opeña as Sidney Lipton in “God's Favorite”