Theater News

Academy, Judas and Me Win Additional NYMF Awards; Jonathan Groff, [title of show] Cast Added to Gala

Jonathan Groff
(© Joseph Marzullo/WENN)
Jonathan Groff
(© Joseph Marzullo/WENN)

The New York Musical Theatre Festival has announced two additional awards to be presented at the 2009 NYMF Awards Gala, to be held at The Edison Ballroom on Sunday, November 22 at 6:30pm. The Daegu International Musical Festival Production Award will go to Academy, conceived and developed by Andrew Kato and featuring book, music and lyrics by John Mercurio. The Stage Entertainment USA Development Award will go to Judas & Me, featuring book and lyrics by Chad Beguelin, with music by Matthew Sklar.

In addition, Jonathan Groff and the cast of [title of show] (Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen, Susan Blackwell, Heidi Blickenstaff) will join the previously announced, Gavin Creel, Tom Kitt, Kelli O’Hara, Greg Naughton, Alice Ripley, Sherie Rene Scott, and the casts of the award-winning NYMF 2009 shows will perform at the gala.

NYMF’s 2009 “BEST of FEST” awards that were previously announced include Kyoung-Ae Kang and Will Aronson’s My Scary Girl, which won the award for Outstanding New Musical, and Under Fire by Barry Harman and Grant Sturiale, which will receive the Theater for the American Musical Prize.

Acting winners include Jin Ui Bang (My Scary Girl), Valerie Kimani (Mo Faya), Cale Krise (Fat Camp), Leslie Kritzer (Judas & Me), Liesl Lar (Anjou), Paul Louis Lessard (Open The Dark Door), Soara-Joye Ross (Cross That River), Marlon Sherman (Max Understood), Mary Testa (All Fall Down), Barbara Walsh (Judas & Me), and Noah Weisberg (F#@king Up Everything). Academy won for its ensemble: Steven Kane, Corey Boardman, Wilson Bridges, Antonio Addeo, Jason Edward Cook, F. Michael Haynie, Lyle Colby Mackston, Joseph Medeiros, and Gabriel Violett.

Additional winners include John Mercurio for his music for Academy, Chad Beguelin for his lyrics for Judas & Me, Sam Forman and David Eric Davis for their book to F#@king Up Everything, Michael Bush for his direction of Hurricane, Connor Gallagher for his choreography for Fat Camp, and Hurricane for outstanding overall design (Christopher Akerlind, sets and lighting; David Margolin Lawson, sound; Karen Ann Ledger, costumes; Edward J. Wilson, hair and wigs). The winner of the audience award is Fat Camp, by Randy Blair, Timothy Michael Drucker, and Matthew roi Berger.

The Awards jury is comprised of TheaterMania contributors Dan Bacalzo, Peter Filichia, and Patrick Lee, along with Pun Bandhu, Marc Bruni, Jane Caplow, Donna Lynne Champlin, Jeremy Desmon, Frank Evans, Sharon Fallon, Hunter Foster, Tim Jerome, Anthony King, Michael Lluberes, Brad Lohrenz, Jena Tesse Fox, and Susan Vargo.

The gala will also honor Time Warner Cable’s NY1 “On Stage” for their commitment to the coverage and encouragement of musical theatre in New York City and Sh-K-Boom and Ghostlight Records for their dedication to the preservation of new musicals and their support of new musical theatre artists.

Gala tickets start at $200, and can be purchased by calling 212-664-0979 x12 or emailing gala@nymf.org.