Blumenthal Performing Arts launched The Blumey Awards to recognize, reward and encourage talent and achievement in musical theater among high school students in the greater Charlotte area. In 2012, the inaugural year, 20 schools participated and Wells Fargo was the presenting sponsor. On May 21, 2017, the sixth annual Blumey Awards ceremony will be held at the Belk Theater and Wells Fargo will once again be the presenting sponsor. Between January 20 and April 22, a performance of each participating school’s musical will be viewed and evaluated by a panel of three judges. In addition to awarding points according to detailed guidelines, each judge, who will anonymously attend home venue performances, will produce performance and production commentaries for each school as a learning tool. When all of the musicals have been evaluated, respective scores will be tabulated and certified by CohnReznick LLP, a Certified Public Accounting firm. The highest scores in each category will determine the nominees and winners for each category. Winners will be announced during the awards ceremony. For The Blumey Awards ceremony, our goal is to create a magical and exciting evening like that of The Tony Awards, thrilling the audience and the student participants alike. A full house of 2,100 is expected for this gala evening in the Belk Theater, the home of the PNC Broadway Lights Series. The ceremony will feature a live number from each of the Six Finalists for Best Musical (like the Tonys) and performances by the finalists for Best Actor and Best Actress. The Best Actor/Actress finalists will perform specially written medleys that include a key number from their show performance. Professional orchestrations will be written specially for these medley numbers, and a pit orchestra made up of local professional musicians, directed by a professional conductor, will accompany all songs performed during the ceremony. Each participating school will nominate two students, a boy and a girl, to participate in the awards ceremony’s Opening and Closing numbers. In addition, students nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress will be invited to participate in both the Opening and Closing numbers. Between performances, winners in all 12 categories will be announced with local celebrities presenting the awards to the winners.
