Abby Watts has sound advice for anyone taking the stage: “Just take a deep breath and enjoy the day. Enjoy the experience.”
The Woods Cross High School senior, who will be pursuing a bachelor’s degree in musical theater at Utah Valley University after graduation, is a participant in this year’s Utah High School Musical Theatre Awards on May 13. This is the first time in the event’s seven-year history that it will be held in the new George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City.
Founder Michael Ballam said it’s not a night to miss.
“It’s the most exciting night you spend in a year,” he said. “Anyone who has ever wanted to see the Oscars or to see the Tony Awards and actually sit in the theater when the awards are given out, they have a chance to do that at the Eccles Theater.”
Ballam got the idea for UHSMTA in 2009 after a trip to New York City where he discovered the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, a then newly created awards show honoring the work of high school musical theater students from across the country. The week-long intensive is an opportunity for high school students to take classes from and network with Broadway professionals, culminating in the Jimmy Awards for Best Performance by an Actor and Best Performance by an Actress, both of which come with scholarship money.
Ballam, who has 50 years experience between musical theater and opera, immediately knew he wanted to get Utah high school students on stage in New York City.
“The thought occurred to me that in the state of Utah we are really good at recognizing athletic prowess, and we’re really good at academic excellence,” he said. “But there was nothing in the state of Utah, seven years ago, that recognized excellence in the creative arts on a statewide level.”
To choose state representatives for the NHSMTA, Ballam created the UHSMTA in 2011, with sponsorship from Utah Festival Opera. Utah State University hosted the event from 2011-15 and Ogden High School hosted in 2016.
Now, in conjunction with Broadway at the Eccles, thousands of students have competed in the UHSMTA, with judges adjudicating nearly 200 shows. This year, 29 schools from across the state will send over 250 students to perform portions of their musicals at the awards. Both entire theater departments and individual students have been selected as finalists in 18 categories, from Best Choreography to Best Student Design, and like previous years, the Best Actor and Best Actress winners will have their ways paid to New York City.
Watts was sent to New York City after she won Best Actress in 2015 for her titular role in Woods Cross High School’s production of “Mary Poppins.” This will be her fourth year competing in the UHSMTA, and she’s up again for Best Actress, this time for her role as Belle in “Beauty and the Beast.”
“I love meeting all the other girls in the category of Best Actress, and I love seeing their characters and singing with them,” Watts said. “It’s really awesome to see people from all over the valley and just see their talent and share their talent and have a nice time. It’s really something special.”
Ballam agreed that camaraderie is unique in the musical theater world.
“In the athletic playoffs, the winner takes all, and everyone who loses to them are resentful of them,” Ballam said. “Here, you have all of these high school students excitedly celebrating the good achievement of other high schools. And it causes camaraderie because... We give them classes during the day of the competition, and they get to know each other, and a lot of wonderful bonding and friendships are made.”
But Ballam said the most enjoyable part of the UHSMTA for him is watching hundreds of students applaud the winners.
“That is very heartwarming to me,” he said. “We’re all there celebrating something. We don’t celebrate enough of what happens in high school, I think.”
Ballam also said the contribution musical theater makes to the performing arts is enormous.
“We change people’s lives in the theater,” he said. “It’s a safe place for people to address topics where nobody gets hurt in the auditorium or on the stage, but an important lesson is learned… (The students) will be better people for it.”
If you go …
What: Utah High School Musical Theatre Awards
When: May 13, 7 p.m.
Where: Eccles Theater, 131 Main St, Salt Lake City
How much: $15 with student ID, $20 general admission
Kaitlyn Bancroft is an intern for the Deseret News in the Arts and Entertainment section.