From the Big Stage to the Small Screen: 2014 tommy Awards on WPT
For five years, Overture’s Tommy Awards have recognized the best and brightest in high school musical theater around southern Wisconsin. Each June, several hundred of them take the Overture Hall stage in a gala award ceremony and performance.
Thanks to a groundbreaking partnership with Wisconsin Public Television, you can watch highlights of the 2014 Tommy Awards on your local WPT station at 9 p.m. on Monday, October 13. It will also air on Milwaukee Public Television and the Wisconsin Channel several more times.
You’ll see selections and medleys from your favorite Broadway shows, both classic and current, performed by some of the best young performers you’ll see this year – including National High School Musical Theater Awards finalist Sophia Tzougros.
Here are all the air dates:
October 13, 9 PM, Wisconsin Public Television
October 14, 12 AM, Wisconsin Channel
October 17, 9 PM, Milwaukee Public Television
October 18, 5 PM, Wisconsin Channel
October 19, 12 PM, Milwaukee Public Television
October 21, 5 AM, Milwaukee Public Television
October 24, 9 PM, Wisconsin Channel
October 25, 12 AM, Wisconsin Channel
October 25, 5 AM, Milwaukee Public Television
October 26, 5 PM,Wisconsin Public Television
Overture’s Tommy Awards program included sixty six productions in 2013/14. A panel of theater professionals, educators and others attended shows, offered feedback to the performers, and nominated award recipients. We recently announced that the Tommys will expand into the Milwaukee region this year through a partnership with Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.
Overture’s Tommy Awards are named in honor of local musical theater hero Tom Wopat, critically acclaimed and Tony Award-nominated singer and actor. Born in Lodi, Wisconsin, Wopat first started singing and dancing in high school musicals, and studied music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before getting his “big break” in 1978 as Luke Duke in the immensely popular Dukes of Hazzard television show.
Funded in part by Alliant Energy Foundation, American Girl’s Fund for Children, American Family Insurance, CUNA Mutual Group, the Wisconsin Arts Board, The A. Paul Jones Charitable Trust, the John A. Johnson Foundation, a component fund of the Madison Community Foundation, and contributions to Overture Center for the Arts.
Broadcast produced in collaboration with Wisconsin Public Television. Additional support by Wisconsin Public Radio.