Wow.

Yesterday I mentioned that I was going to the 5th Avenue High School Musical Theater awards show.

I'm still speechless.  And anyone who knows me knows how unlikely that is.

First off, I want to offer my congratulations to Bellarmine Preparatory School for winning the award for Outstanding Musical Theater Production for their production of Urinetown.  I now wish I'd had the opportunity to see their show, from the little I heard last night, it was undoubtedly a remarkable production.

All of the productions that I saw last night were remarkable in their quality.  High school musicals have come a long way since I was in school.  The costuming for some of the shows (Kentwood High School's production of "Roar of the Greasepaint, Smell of the Crowd" and Shorecrest High School's "The Wizard of Oz" stand out in my memory) and choreography blew me away.  Oh, and then there was the performance from Capital High School's production of Aida. 

And capping off the evening, Overlake's production of The Robber Bridegroom won two awards, the first for Best Set Design, the second for Bill Johns for Best Direction of a Musical.  From what I saw of the other productions, Overlake was up against some really stiff competition, I'm extraordinarily proud that they won.  Huge prop's to Bill Johns and Erin Gabriel for their remarkable achievement.