The Clubhouse Podcast

High School Musical Awards 2016 Backstage Part 2

April 19, 2016 Season 6, Episode 35

The Clubhouse Podcast covered the fifth annual DSM High School Musical Theatre Awards live from Fair Park in Dallas, interviewing multiple award winners including stage managers from Abilene Cooper High School (best direction for Suicidal the Musical), Northmore High School's ensemble (best ensemble for Mary Poppins), South Lake High School's crew (best crew and technical for Young Frankenstein), Rockwell High School's costume design team (best costume design for The Addams Family), Gyer High School's John Fredrickson (best leading actor for Mary Poppins), Waxahachie High School's Peyton Blake and cast (best leading actress and best musical for Spamalot).

About this episode

Key takeaways

  • The awards program grew from 33 to 67 high schools with over 70 productions entered, making it the second largest in the nation
  • Award winners and their casts expressed overwhelming emotion upon winning, with many saying the moment felt surreal
  • Theater programs operate on tight budgets but compete successfully against larger schools through dedication and hard work
  • Judges volunteer their time, with 50 to 60 entertainment industry professionals traveling across North Texas to evaluate productions
  • Dallas Summer Musicals gave away all 3,420 theater seats for a performance of The Little Mermaid to community organizations serving families who couldn't otherwise afford tickets

Q&A

How many high schools and productions participated in this year's awards?

67 high schools with over 70 productions were entered in the fifth annual DSM High School Musical Theatre Awards

How do schools get involved in the awards program?

Schools receive emails from the awards manager and submit production information through a form; judges then visit schools across North Texas to evaluate performances over the course of a year

What is the geographic range of participating schools?

Schools range from Paris, Texas in the east to Abilene, Texas in the west (3.5 hours away), with participants from across North Texas

What major theater productions does Dallas Summer Musicals have coming up?

Wicked is currently running, followed by Ragtime, Bullets Over Broadway, and 42nd Street, with a casting call for a walk-on role in Ragtime

Read Transcript

The following is a sooner orgator production. And we're back. Welcome back everybody.

Thanks for your for sticking through our little intermission. It is the clubhouse podcast we are live in the green room backstage at the DSM High School Musical Theatre Awards. The fifth annual.

The second act of the show is underway. We've already had an award given out and we will be talking to you said award winner very very shortly. We want to thank everybody for sticking with us.

Our coverage continues. There are seven awards left for us to talk about. There's a lot going on on stage.

A lot of activity buzzing back here at backstage. Again, my name is Rob. I am the executive producer of the clubhouse podcast.

Normally you're one stop shop for all things sports and entertainment. But we are musical focused tonight. Joining me to my right is my co-hosted amin who's been keeping our social media on fire.

All night. He is Chad. Welcome sir.

I am doing the best I can sir. And that's all we ask of you sir. Give me across the desk.

Okay. Oh that was from a speaker. That we were being yelled at there for a minute.

The official fact checker of this show and a man who has been keeping himself busy all night getting us to the guests that we need to talk to. You may know him is fine. Don't go but his mom and even Don Ford.

I'm going to call him Don Ford. It's welcome back sir. There's a reason my night he's my dress shoes are actually night.

Very nice. Night he's I need him tonight. But hey, I'm here for the Empire.

I got to go. You know me. Bye bye.

Go do you brother. A lot going on. You're John Don, you're all losing.

How you done? You got up and running. All right.

We're going to couple of people joining us very very shortly because you know this is Act 2 now. The big awards are fixing to happen. And one already has.

Uh huh. That affected a lot of people that were in this room when it happened. It caused an absolute calamity in the room.

Never lose faith. That's all I'm saying. That's what you learn anything tonight kids.

Never lose faith. Because there were people in this room. Oh yeah.

Our school's up for that award. We're not going to win it. Guess what?

You won it. Okay. That maybe the one image that sticks has been more than anything else.

That's your season six highlight. Yeah. I think so.

Because it is season six. We're right around episode 33 or so. This is going to be one big episode.

Yes. But it will be split into three parts. The first two parts came earlier.

The first part came earlier tonight. When we did the pre show is everybody was coming in off the red carpet. The second part was the first act of the show where we had some of the winners.

And it's time to talk to more winners. Because you're a winner sir. I want you to know that.

Well, thank you sir. All right. Joining us right now.

I'm going to let them introduce themselves as soon as it. Nice. Nice deep breath.

A little emotional right now. Go ahead and tell us who you are. Talk to right in that microphone if you would.

Hi. I'm Caleb McBernie. I'm Bailey Bakkenfeld.

We're from where the stage managers from Cooper and Abwin High School's musical. Came the longest distance if I'm not mistaken. Yes we did.

Three and a half hours on a bus from Abelene. We've mentioned your names at least a hundred times this night because we've been telling you because people have to understand the range of area. You guys are the farthest west.

You know Paris, Texas, the farthest east, wakeo, Texas, the farthest south. Just one best direction. Susical, the musical.

And I want to give you guys a little bit of background here. Some of your cohorts were in the room. As soon as like I think the guy I think got to the.

In Abelene. They were gone. Now, without much thinking any names are or singling anybody out.

Yeah. So tell us about that moment. Were you just kind of like, you know, we had a nice little road trip.

We got this nice bus outside which by the way was right in front of me as I pulled in. So I knew you guys were here. And then it happens.

What goes through your head. First you have to stand up and heels. I would know nothing about that.

Never try. I'm just saying. And then the slope down is pretty difficult too.

Yeah. Yeah. That is a pretty steep drop down that aisle out there.

I was so excited. It's got a little softer. You have to go.

I need to go go get you the skate right now. It's what I need. It's your heart kind of like just jumps out of your chest.

And it's just overwhelming and joyful. It's amazing. It's a very surreal moment.

Go talk right into that thing. It's a very surreal moment. Like when your name is announced and like when your school is announced.

Like oh, we won. And then it hits you and you're like oh, we won. Oh, we won.

You're like oh, that's nice for them. Wait a minute. Then it's us.

I mean, did you prepare a speech? Did you not. So okay.

So you weren't ready just in case this thing. I got my part of the speech like I'm in it before they were announcing it. So I was like reading it.

I was like we're listening. And then while we were walking down. I was like don't worry.

I got it. I got it. I got it.

When we were up stairs. And we talked a lot about, you know, there's a lot of energy in the bus coming down. And when all the adrenaline wears off when you get home, we'll probably be able to hear a pin drop in the aisle of the bus.

That now changes. So I mean, It's school tomorrow. I'm not even a concept because but at the time you get home, going to be people like leaving the club to go home at the time you get home.

Yeah. Do you get an excuse that I've sent tomorrow? No, we don't.

I've got to show up. Yeah, first period. Yeah, but to be honest, I kind of want to go to school and like brag to everybody.

Just walking, walking now. This is just right here. It belongs to me.

Thank you. Mine. This is mine.

You know, not you. This is me. It's coming.

We talked about this all night. That's a gorgeous piece of hardware. It is.

It's beautiful. Now, and I've been saying this because there's quite a few words given out time that go to multiple people, right? So here's what I've been doing this all night.

This is my bit tonight. I think you treat it like the Stanley Cup. Everybody gets it for a day.

And then at the end, okay, this cool can have it for a little while. But we're from two different schools. Oh, so how does that work?

I don't know. I don't know. Oh, just trade off everything.

Yeah. Yeah. We're like half a school year, half a school year.

You can get half a school year. There you go. Yeah.

Compromise people. We can all just get along. Our rivalry pays off with bigger things out now.

Where are you guys at in your high school careers? I am. Yeah, we're seeing here.

Okay, so this is the ball game, right? This is it. Where are you going from here?

I am going to Cisco and Abelene to get my basics out of the way. And then after that, I'm Adrian, Drama, and probably going to become a stage manager. Where do you want to go?

Probably to AC or Harlem's events. Okay. Abelene Christian for those of you that are in other areas of the country and around the world listening.

I'm probably going to go to Cisco to get my basics out of the way. I'm still not for sure what I'm going to do after that. We went on this amazing tour today of some technical or the theater at S&U.

I was like, I could do that. I could do that. S&U is a pretty good game.

We're going to be doing another live show right across the street for there tomorrow night because this is the kick off of the Dallas International Film Festival this weekend. So we're going to be covering that as well. We're going to let you guys go enjoy the night because you more than deserve it.

Great. Go have fun because it dog on at your earned it. Congratulations best direction.

Abelene Cooper High School. Suicycle. I gotta see this musical.

Oh, it's wonderful. I feel I felt the night that I haven't seen this thing. It's just saying.

It's pretty top-notch, but yeah, it's great. Well, obviously it is because you got the hardware to prove it, ladies. Go enjoy yourselves.

Thank you so much for stopping by. You are listening to the club's podcast. We are live music college, fair park.

The DSM High School Musical Theatre Awards. This is the fifth annual Top-notch production sur and Top-notch people involved in it. Y'all come on, sit down.

Put some headphones on. They don't want to hear me running my app. They want to hear you.

Oh, don't hurt. All right. Tell us who you are, where you from.

I'm Brittany Birch. I'm Northmore High School. And I am Eric Shelton.

And I am also Northmore High School. Northmore High School is where. Here's Texas.

All right. So we've now gotten the furthest west school. Now we're dealing with the furthest east school.

And our first opportunity to talk to you guys, because we didn't get to talk to you in the pre-show, because you guys are the farthest east. There's, I gotta get my numbers back hold on. Hold on.

I gotta get my numbers back. 33 high schools were originally. Now it's 67 high schools with over 70 productions being entered.

It's amazing. Best ensemble. How you feeling?

Awesome. Good. I'm speechless honestly.

Yes, this is our first award, actually. Oh, OK. It's really good.

How many people in the ensemble? 25. I bought it.

A lot. I did a number for our small school. Yes.

Mary Poppins. Yes. We've actually talked to a couple of people that had Mary Poppins.

And they were like, yeah, we hung people from the rafters. And they were doing back flips. And I'm not like, no.

Yeah, that's it. But you guys didn't have to do that, because you're like, now we're going to be over here to an earthen. That should be up there.

We'll dance on the ground. Yeah, out on the ceiling. We're good with that.

We're good with that. When they announced it, did it take a second? Or are you like, yeah, I'm up there.

Let's go. Let's do this. It took a second.

Oh, it definitely took a second. Our chicken. Yes, we were both shaking on stage.

It was like, Daddy took a, like, what do we do now? Is this real? Did you have anything prepared?

Or were you just, why, just off the, off the couch? Well, what we did have prepared when straight out our brain, as soon as I call their name, it was just we were in so much shock. Because like, thank people that helped us.

Yes. For so many other talented schools that were in that category, where with us, it's just, it's an amazing opportunity. Well, and that's the cool thing about this deal is you guys get to meet people from all over North Texas that you wouldn't have the chance to, to network with otherwise people that should, you might be seeing down the road.

Where are you at your, in your high school careers right now? I'm a senior. Okay, so this is even a little more intense for you guys, because these are people that you may run into, you know, post high school, what's the plan for you guys?

I've thought about doing theater, I don't know. It's still warmer. Well, where are you going?

Texas Tech University. Oh, our first, our red radar of the evening, sir. It's Rick Olm.

I have a scholarship to our local junior colleges, four-eyed scholarship for theater. Nice. You were that takes me from there.

Cool. The speaker makes me think somebody's talking to me. Somebody was screaming earlier.

I thought we were in trouble. It's, it freaks me out. Okay, so they were announcing them, actually.

They're like, you can get them away from the Shlobs with the podcast. So, I'm, it's getting late and my brain is starting to fry. I'm just going to tell you this right now.

We've been at this since quarter to six. So, and we're going to do it all again tomorrow. How far did the drive back?

Two hours. Okay, so they're, they're just a little bit closer than the abling, because abling's three and a half. So does this now change the drive home?

Because normally when you go on road trips like you're like, yeah, we're going to go on a great time. And I'm going to be back here like, I don't think I can sleep. No, we won't be sleeping on the right home.

I can tell you that right now. I'm so pumped. Excuse the abs in tomorrow and you got to go back in.

Oh, I got to go back. It depends on whether my dentists get back to me tonight. I'm thinking, you're 45 minutes into the drive.

You, the adrenaline wears off and you can't count down. If you're, if your dentists call you to your central. Let's be honest.

High school theater ward. We're not going to help you. I guess exactly.

Exactly. Changing your outgoing voicemail. Can you, can you, can you pencil my end now?

I believe this is now on my resume. So, and again, people that are listening to us live are got he's going to do this again. But there's only one piece of hardware.

So, and I've been saying this all night suggesting to everybody that wins these kind of awards, you treat it like the Stanley Cup. Everybody gets it for a day and then at the end, then maybe the school can have it if they can rest a little away from whoever has it. That's right.

I want to take tons of pictures with it. And that's the other thing we've been talking about is the over under on the first one to hit social media, you know? And it is everybody here or just you got it's, there's quite a few members of the cast that are here.

I'm sure it's all right. Okay, so they're, yeah, so they're already, okay, because sometimes you're just like, well, there's only like a handful of us that came out and other people may be streaming it online and they're freaking out because they want to get their hands on the thing because again, it's a beautiful piece of hardware. Yes, they did a really nice job on this.

So that being said, I'll show that thing off. Oh, yeah, we are going to. I got to be completely honest with you, coming from such a small school, it's, it's just crazy to come to these places and see these large schools with huge theater departments to get three and four times the funding that we do and yet we still get to get on the next step and you've got the, when you have heart, heart matters.

Absolutely. You know, people see that and I can tell you, you know, what I've learned from this, just being from the outside looking in, you know, is that it doesn't matter how much money your school has, doesn't matter how fancy facilities you have that just comes down to heart, how hard you work and how much heart you pour into the show and then that's not to say that they don't work hard, too. It's just, there's that extra added layer of, you know, what we're going to come out and do what we do, exactly, you know, it's amazing to be around other people that share the passion.

Exactly. And I'm very thankful to come from a small school and raising being is because you look at these huge schools and you think they have so much more money than we do, they can afford way better, you know, props and stuff that we do and it motivates you and it makes you want to work even harder because where you lack in that regard, you want to make up for and how hard you work and it motivates you and keeps you going and it's awesome. Is it a great process?

All right. Oh, you guys go enjoy your evening. Yes, we'll do.

All right. Congratulations. So much, not a little more high school checking in.

I want to say, I want to say something just one and I'm going to be very happy, but I'm not really sure because I think I heard something really, I think I just heard something. I'm just saying Don, did you hear what just one? Did you hear what just one?

There it is. There it is. Very excited for those kids.

I'm excited for all these winners. I can't, yeah, I just, and again, I'm so jealous that they get to, we get to see these things for their eyes. So they're eyes.

Now we're welcome back. Absolutely. Awesome.

We'll do it. Thank you. All kinds of network going on, even for us.

And then we can do this all again tomorrow night. Where are we going to find the whole different group of people in a whole different demographic? We love doing our live shows.

We're such fans of doing live shows tomorrow night. We're going to be at the lounge, at the Dallas International Film Festival. Don's going to bring us a lot of dignitaries for that.

And then Saturday, I'm going to sleep until I get up. Because we might have a little something going on Saturday. We're not quite sure yet.

We also want to send a shout out to our, to our counterpart show, the movie brothers. Check them out at the movie brothers BRUTHAS.com. A lot of movie reviews there.

They also do some YouTube shows. We've always said that we have the perfect face for radio, which is why we don't do video. But we love those guys.

We want you to support them as well. We love HD, but we hate it because we don't want to be on it. Yeah, I loved to watch HD at it.

It's like the old friends bit, the camera puts on 10 pounds. Really how many cameras were on you? You know what I mean?

So up, all right, oh, I can't get enough of it. I can't talk enough about the look of this award. Such a great design award.

We have people joining us right now. We're going to let you guys introduce yourselves because it's your moment. It's not ours.

Talk right into that thing. Oh, I'm Brandon Anderson. I was the set designer for young brain.

It's time. Okay. I'm curious, Matt.

I was the technical director. And from what high school? Our senior.

Yeah. And that is, and that is Carleton? No, no, it's Okay, South Lake, which is on the west side.

You can see we're all over the world. So we have to tell people where where everybody is. Yeah, again, the fact that you've got a high school doing young Frankenstein.

I'm just, I'm a huge fan. You guys won for best crew and technical, which I've always been more of a tech guy. Like I love seeing musicals and I love the the atrics of it, but I'm always fascinated by the way technology moves.

We've talked about, you know, we're old guys. We're not, we're not ashamed to say it. When we were kids, when you know, you had just had the big wheels, but they did.

It's such a different ball game with the new guys have now from a technical standpoint. I got to see a couple of productions this year, and it amazed me how the technology's being used for you guys as the crew. What was the biggest, was the biggest roadblock you overcame in getting this thing to where you wanted it to be?

The bookcase. Yeah. So we had, um, if you're familiar with the play on Frank or the movie on Frank.

Oh, quite. You're talking to a couple of no French fans here, sir. Great.

There's that scene with the secret passageway in the bookshelf. I was able to design an actual working one, and it was operated by two people behind the bookshelves with pulling cables. It was like a miniature fly rail on either side, and that was able to turn the people around on it.

So that was a challenge, but we got it working. And the parent volunteers decorated and looked beautiful, and the sound effects lined up with it perfectly. That's awesome.

You guys get to actually, I can't even put into words how amazing it is that what goes into these things, because and you guys worked so hard, and people don't often understand what goes into these things. How long did it take you to get that working? Oh, it was a matter of months.

See, and that's what people need to understand. That is like, it's not like it's like, what the Home Depot got it done on a weekend. Like, no, this is like a thing.

Like, and because, especially since it's a book case, you have to have the things on it, make sure they don't fall off, make sure they say where they're supposed to. When did you really get to the point where you were like, everything's locked in, we're in a good place? Well, actually, I would say just a couple of weeks before production.

We were actually running ahead of schedule with the building of this set, which was something that was completely unprecedented, because we had such a huge set. I mean, we had, at my last count, we had 52 pieces and 12 people total who were really building it. Jeez.

Yeah, and so we were ahead of schedule, and I think that was the moment that everyone really decided, like, this is a show we're going to be so proud of. And obviously it worked out for you. I mean, were there times where you're like, I have to take a picture of my house in the daytime, so I remember what it looks like, you know, because the hours that you guys put in, plus you have to handle classes, too.

This isn't just like, hey, we get together for a couple hours after school and we do this thing. No, this is like, you're doing a full-time job and you're still handling your studies as well. Where are you in your high school careers?

We're both seniors. Okay, so where are you going from now? I'm going to Purdue.

I'm going to do engineering. Huh? I'm going to OU Oklahoma University, and I'm actually going to pursue costume design and theater.

Nice. How many people were on, so you said there were 12 people? Total.

Okay, so did were they all able to make it out? Or are you guys representing them? I mean, most of them are here tonight.

I think. Okay, so they're going to be, we're not the sole survivors. Because we talked about, you know, there's only one of these things.

Yeah. So again, we've been talking about this all night with all the winners. Everybody gets it for a day.

So I have to family cup and then at the end, maybe the school gets it or maybe somebody winds up with it and I'm not here, you know, I'm not going to snitch on anybody, but I'm just saying it. Because I mean, I love this award. It looks a great.

Yeah. And it's in it's there forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever. So what kind of at this point what words do you impart on your underclassement?

Because you're leaving, you know, do you talk about establishing the legacy? You know, we've done it now. It's the your turn.

What do you say to those underclassmen that are coming up now? I mean, speaking for myself, I think I think the most important thing for the underclassmen to know is that our department is constantly evolving and that they have a lot of power over what we do and how we do it. And I think they all need to know that their opinion and their thoughts are very important to the process.

Like we're a very, very community-based kind of think tank. Yeah, I would definitely say, don't be afraid to put in an idea that you have, even if it doesn't seem like it would work at the time if you tried and it works, then obviously you should have brought it up. And so I think that a lot of this stuff that I've seen people do, I didn't think we're possible when I came in as a freshman.

No congratulations to both of you. Give our best to your entire team. Best crew of technical.

Carol Senior, hi, young Frankenstein. Guys, go enjoy your evening, please. Don't be stuck with us Shlobs.

Go have some fun. Congrats, guys. All right.

So we've got looks like we only have a three or four left, maybe? Well, we've already heard the winner of Best Constables. We're waiting for him to get here.

Yeah. But all this left now are the three bigs. So, because act two, always shorter than act one.

Do you know anything about musical theater? I think they're doing the best actor medley right now. What?

Don't just, don't just check it in. Make sure you check out our website. If you haven't already, www.theclubhousepodcast.com.

Find out everything you need to know in some stuff you don't. Make sure you like our Facebook page. Look up the clubhouse podcast on Facebook.

Put the word podcast on the end or it's something completely different. Also, the clubhouse podcast on Instagram, Don's been Instagram and stuff all you've been long. You can follow us on Twitter at clubhouse show because we couldn't fit the clubhouse podcast into a Twitter handle.

You can follow me on Twitter if you'd like. I am at yes that Rob Irvin that is spelled ERV. I end that chat in phg69.

Don who you've been here and off, don't often on all evening. He's abusive. He has fun, don't go.

And we are, we are live. We love doing live remote shows, transmitting to the empire all over the world. You can contact Don for information on that.

He has Don at the clubhousepodcast.com. But love to hear from you as well. Questions, comments, concerns, tell me to go pound sand.

I am Rob at the clubhousepodcast.com. I am Chad at the clubhousepodcast.com. Sure, the parker is on Pinterest because we are more obligated to say that.

Jules Wormick listening live as well. Don is here. What's up?

All right, real quick. They add in to family people from Richardson and they'll be here. Do rock wall.

I mean, for rock wall, I've had cracks and I'm the fact that it's the one award. I made sure that we have rock wall. I think they're here.

I think they're here. The, uh, they're doing the best actors are all doing this. The Bentley.

Yeah, the Bentley is going over now. All right, cool. I know you're good.

You're good. We're getting ready for the, uh, for the one I've been waiting on personally. Had the, had one of the members of the cast on, of this show on our brief show.

Yes, indeed. Very excited for those kids. Nothing makes me feel older than this show.

You keep harping on it. You're going to keep thinking Oh, no, it's, it's already too late. Now, it's not getting out of my head now.

Also, I want to remind you, next Friday night, April the 22nd, we're going to be doing two live shows from two different film festivals. We're going to be covering the USA film festival and the post-DFS honor show from the Dallas International Film Festival. And I'm going to say it now.

That is the one show of the year that you might want to put the kids to bed. Because, and not because of us, we run a family quality show. We cannot vouch for the condition of our guests on that show.

If the last two years alone have taught us anything, it tends to be our most memorable show of the year. This is our third year in a row covering the Dallas International Film Festival, which we always have a blast at. We've seen some great films.

And one of them is actually in my queue on Netflix right now because I love that so much that would be that kid begins. Oh, okay. Okay, let's say what?

Again, if you haven't seen that documentary, do yourself a solid, make yourself feel good about yourself again. And you will cry like a baby. Yes, I'm just like, you know now.

I did tell you about the Raiders got picked up, right? Yes, you did. The Raiders, the documentary about the greatest fan film ever made will be distributed by, uh, uh, drop-downs films.

They, uh, almost company. We might have another show coming up tomorrow. We're not for, or for Saturday.

We're not for sure yet. So I was like, yeah, we keep an eye on our, keep an eye on our social media for that. We, uh, we've got a lot, April is always a busy month for us.

Yeah. In the history of this show, by the way, we are in season six for those of you that are joining us for the first time, welcome. We normally do our live shows every Sunday night at 70's from four Pacific, but given the amount of shows we'll be doing over the next couple of weeks.

We will not be doing the studio shows till later in the month. Right. But make sure you subscribe on iTunes because if you subscribe on iTunes to our show, you get a lot of cool stuff that we don't do live.

We also would appreciate if you would go to the iTunes type of links and give us some good reviews and honest reviews. But, you know, we always like good reviews. We'll get the word out about this show.

We love doing this show. And we do it for the impact. You know, we're not getting rich off this thing.

No. I mean, you might be, I don't know. I'm not, no.

Okay. I just want to make sure, because I'm not, I don't want to speak for you, sir. I don't know.

If we were doing this to get rich, but we're rich in love with the empire. We love the empire. My wife said, I'm going really.

I've never thought of her. By speaking of my wife is hurling things. Big moment this past week on the show.

If you have it listened to this past Sunday show, do yourself a solid huge moment. This past Sunday night. A milestone got a key.

And I'm not even going to spoil it, because if you haven't listened to it, do you need to listen to it? If you know anything about me and this show was a huge moment last Sunday night. All right, ladies, put your, put some headphones on.

So we can talk to you a little bit. So if I get light on them, there it is. It's okay.

I'm going to straighten up a little bit for this one, because it's real simple people. This is the one I've been waiting on because I have a bias. Joining us right now.

I'm going to let you guys introduce yourselves. And then I'm going to talk about my bias. I'm some of played the founding father and the Adam's family at Rockwell High School.

And my name is Sarah Karta. I'm the makeup and hair designer for Rockwell High School. Who just won for best costume design?

You know why I love this musical so much? Because I saw it. I was in the room.

Really? Because Mallory, Catherine, has to be. Happens to be a friend of mine's daughter.

We had them on the free show. Very proud of you guys. Thank you so much.

Let's talk about this for a minute, because we talk a lot about being old. Because we are. And how much things have changed with the keeps bringing that up?

Because there it ain't having heard it yet. And how things change so much from generation to generation. When I found out that you guys were doing the Adam's family, her father's been a friend of mine for two decades.

We've been friends for a long time. Yeah, come on. Of course, but I come out and support her.

And I'm interested to see how this works because there's so much complexity to the way this musical is. And you guys crushed it. You guys absolutely crushed it.

And again, I'm biased, but you deserve this reward. Because of the way, I mean, of course, we're not doing video right now. But if we were, you are in full costume.

Yeah. And to see the way that you guys worked with being the ghosts of the past generations of Adam's families, I was like, okay, drop the mic, because it's over. And that's a testament, of course, to the costume design and the hair and makeup.

Thank you. What was your approach to this? Well, first, he just knew that we were playing ancestors.

So we were like, okay, well, I got to figure this out. We didn't know if we wanted to like do death or black or white and ghostly. So we just like started designing and then our director finally was like, okay, settle with an idea and then we just started and it was great.

And in terms of makeup and hair, I mean, most of the characters do wear wigs. And that was definitely a challenge trying to find the right wigs and dyeing them gray and, you know, putting corn white in them. I mean, corn whites all over everything.

But oh, yeah. And it's not like you had a bajoonian dollars. Like you guys work in pretty tight budget.

And you make it all work. Thank you. Yeah, we were kind of really tight budget.

When, because, of course, when you deal with hair and makeup and things like that, it changes all the time, because it's not always exactly the same. At what point did you really feel that you had it where you wanted it? Well, we, I basically talk to the director and he said, hey, I just want, I want it to be as bland as can be.

I want a little bit of color, but I don't want much. And we found this really awesome, awkward blue that we just put all over their eyes and it just made them look like, you know, just come out of the grave and it was just great because most of the colors they wear are, you know, white and gray. So this blue is definitely a popular and neutral color.

I mean, we got somebody else joining us, too. And she needs to introduce herself. Oh, really?

You don't have to get my headphones if you don't want to, but, yeah, just make sure, because we want to know who you are. Hi, I'm Haley Ray. And I played Wednesday Adams in the Adams room.

Yes, she did. And see, you missed it earlier. I was there.

I was, I saw you guys. I was at one of your performances. Also, because you have a co-star who happens to be a dear friend of mine's daughter.

So, who was it? Mallory. Not, oh, Mallory, Catherine.

Oh, that's, that's, I've known, I've known them since they were born. Oh, that's so good. They're dad and I've been friends forever in a day.

And you guys just, you guys did an amazing job. And from top to bottom, you know, if it was me, I'd give you everything because I bought it again. I got a bias here.

And it's just, it keeps getting better. I was there for spam a lot. You guys crushed that too.

Oh, spam a lot. So, so good. So, do we know what's next?

We actually don't, uh, he announces it at the end of the year every year. So, Helen ounce art shows for next year next month. If you have your brothers, what would it be?

If I had like this suspicion? No, if you just had the choice, if they said pick it. Oh, well, I'm a senior.

So sadly, I can't do it next week. You can still pick it though. But young Frankenstein would you bomb today?

So much fun. I love that. There's, I just, you have to understand that you guys are picking things that we grew up with.

And to have that pass on, it just makes me happy. It gives me joy. I love the movie.

And I love the musical. The music is also so good. Three, you got to answer the question.

I don't know. I guess, I don't know. Like, no budget if it was off Broadway, Hamilton, just because I love it so much.

That's the second, the second person that said Hamilton tonight. You got to answer the question too. Come on, Sarah.

Come on, Sarah. It's just like, you know, you want to say you're in town. Okay, I mean, I know it's overdone, but I just like a good breeze.

I mean, you know what, but you're also not the first person that answered with that, that musical tonight. So that's my home. That may be the first time we've heard that this evening.

But it's always shout out to my squad. I think I just developed a pain in my back just as it's that conversation. We're live on the internet.

All over the world. All over the globe right now. So there's no taking it back.

Yeah, it's out there now. Once it's on the internet, it doesn't disappear. Also, it's so you, you're a senior.

Yes, I'm a senior. I'm a sophomore. Okay.

Okay, so you get to come back. You guys don't. Where are you going from here?

I'm going to Texas State University in St. Markets next year. Texas State a very popular answer tonight.

Yes. Well, I mean, it's awesome. So I mean, I'm also studying theater there.

Fair enough. Yeah. I'm going to Texas State.

So, Raccoon, all my red raiders out there. And I'm Texas. I was going to say Texas.

I'm just not the right deck. I'm in it. I'm on there.

Yes, you are. But I'm going to be studying journalism. So.

Oh, why was you just taking it? Just taking a left turn on it. Totally.

Okay. She's going on around. So second second red raiders tonight, too.

Yes. Yeah. But I think Texas State is is for an away in the lead from people answering that question.

I think so. Yeah. All right, we're not going to take up too much of your time because you guys got some celebrating to do.

Yes. So go do. So tell your cool hotel proud we are of them.

All right. Congratulations, guys. Thank you so much.

So happy that one got done. I have joy. You know, she's probably still just bouncing in her chair.

And and John couldn't be a happier father right now. I keep wanting to say gum, but then they don't want to talk about it. But we know.

Yeah, but we're not the only. Yeah, but they're gone. Others of their people listening.

There's only feeling like I got nothing. You know what I mean? But have you seen that I'm saying musical?

No. It's very, very well done. The basic story of it is Wednesday wants to date a boy who's not of, he's kind of a, he's a normie basically and how his family interacts with her family.

And it's really when all the ghosts of the past atoms are helping this whole story along. It's really a neat way to tell that story. I'm sure to try to be adapted to a film before too much longer.

I'm kind of surprised. It hasn't by now. There's a reason we don't do video.

And I think that was it. We have our video hard to just collapse on the floor. Actually, he kind of helped her.

I think he's slightly nudged her to the floor. Anything on your mind when you talk about or waiting for our next or what? Because this is where it gets kind of slow because there's less awards left so they space them out a little bit better.

But just of course, you want to stretch it out? Well, this is, again, we're down to the three bigs. Best leading actor, best leading actress and, of course, best of musical, which is actually named after Michael Jenkins.

That makes sense. What? Francisco is going to join us.

Oh, you know, Michael Jenkins was actually been on this show, sir. I forgot to get the name of the girl that played Wednesday to put her on the social feed. Did anybody get your name?

I can get it. Okay. All right, thank you, Don.

Joining us right now, one of our favorite people in the entire world. It's been a second time on the show because we did North Texas Giving Day. He hung out with us for a little while.

That was a lot of fun at House of Blues. You put us in some of the coolest places. You put us in music holiday park.

You put us in House of Blues Dallas. You are holding up well, sir. You look like you could go another six hours.

Oh, I wish. I wish you were right. Unfortunately.

I mean, I'm starting to wear a little baby. He was like seven to win going on over here. It's all the energy, you know, they're getting from all these students and everybody.

It is kind of odd and everything. So you're your blood. Exactly.

But then tomorrow. So it's like, do not set an alarm. Do not call me.

Can I safely say this is this is sold out? Yeah. I mean, it's a, I'm most of our seats and the house are practically gone.

I mean, it's the noise level that's coming through to us is insane. Sounds like Taylor Swift concert. I will say we probably have one or two in the balcony, but it's basically a sold out house.

And it's, it's a great show every year. You're, you're doing such a great thing for, for theater students and, and arts in general, because we live in a time where there's, we're losing arts programs. And it absolutely crushes my soul because not everybody can play football.

Not everybody can play basketball. And for kids like me and in the chat when he was in school himself, creative arts were our outlet. You know, you couldn't judge by what you see, but I was a scrawny kid, you know, and for a kid that was just smaller than everybody else, I love sports, always have, but I couldn't play them.

Music for me was that outlet. And for you guys to take the kind of time and recognize the excellence and this thing keeps crumbling. I know that's, that's, you know, that's incredible.

And then we're so happy because as probably people have told you already, you know, we started out with 30 high schools. Now we're at a 67 with 70 production. Now let's, and I want to talk about that a little bit because you're like, I have to ask about this.

Do the schools come to you or do you go to the schools? So we send out obviously Tracy Jordan, you know, our high school music with theater awards manager. They were wonderful guy.

Yeah, yeah, great guy. He sends out probably, I'm assuming an email, right, to all the schools, you know, that have participated in the past and all the ones that cross, you know, no Texas. And so what happens then they get to submit through a form, you know, how many productions, you know, they want to submit to the actual awards.

And through that, it's a year-long process. And we have several judges that go out and they see these productions and they make their recommendations to nominations. And what I really think is cool is not only of these productions coming from places like Abelene, the judges are going to places like Abelene, which is even more awesome because they're giving opportunities to some of these schools.

Like we had the kids from Paris, Texas here earlier and they were just like, we love the fact that we were in this little town and they came and they saw our production. Yeah, you know, and it's so, so you guys reach out to the high schools and the high schools respond to you. Exactly.

Yeah. So over 70 production you guys have seen this year. It's, I mean, for these judges, is it this, is it a full-time gig?

Is it something that they volunteer to do? It's completely volunteer. And see, that's awesome.

That, you know, yeah, these are just people that want to support high school theater and what it does. And we've talked all night about how far high school theater has come. I know.

Like, it's amazing some of the productions. I haven't got to see a couple this year because my friends daughter was in them. Right.

But, you know, at Rockwell High School, I got to see the Adam's family. And I got to see Spam a lot. And I was just in awe of how well these productions look and feel and sound.

And you can see the heart and soul that not only these, the kids, but their parents and their teachers and everybody put into it. And they have something like this. We, you know, you and I were talking, we're Tracy, we're talking last week about this.

How you got other sections of the country that are asking you guys to help them establish their own. Yeah. It's going to be a good word.

And that's, that's awesome because you guys are pioneering this thing. You know, we're, we're just so proud of this program. You know, it's it's one of the biggest programs that we have at Dallas Summer Musicals.

We are proud to say that we're the second largest in the nation. And, you know, we're the official North Texas program for high school musical theater awards. And it's just, it's just, we, we love this.

Who do we have to take out to be number one? I don't know, but I don't know. Because I might have to think a couple of phone calls.

You know, be, and this thing, the growth of this thing. And like I said, you had other people on the country go, help us do this. That's right.

And I think that's amazing. And of course, you mentioned Dallas Summer Musicals. We got to talk about Dallas Summer Musicals because home stretch of season 76 for productions left.

I mean, do we need to plug wicked really? You say wicked and it's done. It's over.

It's so badly. I mean, after that, we've got Ragtime coming up. Right time, yes, which is an incredible show.

And I'll, you know, probably give you guys a little, uh, insider's information. Okay. We're thinking about doing a casting for a walk on roll.

Really? Yeah. So we're going to send out a casting call to the community.

And we're going to be, I believe we're going to be casting for the roll of young cold house. So, uh, and that starts right, that's Memorial Day weekend. Yeah.

So you're going to have the Monday off anyway. Come see it at the theater. Exactly.

And then bullets over Broadway June 14 through the 26. That's right. And then you've got one day off before 46 from June 28 until July the 10th, wrapping up 76 seasons.

I still, it's still, I wrap my brain around that that this has been such a thing. And one of the things I love about musical affair park is walking around downstairs and seeing all the past playbills and the pill boxes and everything else. And then, you know, you think, oh, they get to rest.

No, no, no. Princess was got to get ready for season 77. Well, actually, you know, I don't know if you've heard it from our managing director Michael Jenkins, but we typically work out two to three years in a day.

Oh, wow. Yeah. So we know, I mean, our next season set, which, uh, you know, keep an eye out for them, because we're hoping to announce, uh, in January.

Can I, can I, can I ask a question? No, no, no, January is going to be our first show. Okay.

June. Wow. Sir, you're announcing June and for the next season.

Okay. So I'm going to ask the question and you may not be able to answer it. Okay.

Are we getting a Christmas story back this year? Because I loved that musical. We're going to get something similar.

Oh, see, there we go. There, because, you know, two years ago, you had Christmas story. This pasture was elf, which was amazing.

I really, really enjoyed that. You know, Christmas shows are very family friendly. And that's what we're about here at Dallas, summer musical.

So, you know, as when we can, we love to have a Christmas gift. And you and I had a great conversation last week of just some of the shows that we've seen really, really enjoyed and one of the shows that the three of us all enjoyed in the three of us were just like we can't believe we're actually enjoying this as much as we did with dirty dancing. Just the technology in that production was insane.

And I don't know if you saw it, but NBC is going to do it live. Yeah. June.

Uh-huh. Which for some very interesting casting choices. But I mean, that's the thing right now.

And theater itself is having such a revival. It is. It is.

I mean, it's just out there, you know, everywhere, uh, you know, Hamilton and all these great shows that are just breaking the norm, you know, from what old theater is? Do you want to talk about April 30th? About April 30th.

Disney on Broadway? Well, you know, we're just excited that things like that. Is that going to be here for a park?

No. Well, I'm not exactly sure where they're hosting days. Okay.

Because I saw that I saw the thing that just said Dallas and I was like, well, where is it? So we can talk about it. No.

So, I mean, you know, Lion King is doing auditions for Lion King and Aladdin as well. So Disney overall, um, we, you know, we are supporting them, you know, putting their, you know, their posters out throughout the hall. But um, I'm not, I'm not involved in that.

Okay. So one of the questions I want to ask you, because we've asked some of the kids, but I kind of, I kind of want to ask you this question as well. They come to you and they say Francisco, we're going to give you one selection.

You get to pick one of the musicals that we're doing in the next season. What do you pick? Okay.

You know, that's really tough, but I can tell you straight away that we already have that show. Oh, oh, see that's unfair. That's unfair because you can't talk about it.

No, I can. Okay. You know how my attention, I'm putting my bottle of water out.

I actually can because we've actually announced it. Okay. It is our very own, uh, production that we're invested in as, you know, Dallas, some of musicals in Michael and Jink is they're both invested in it.

And it's one Tony's. So any guesses? It's one Tony's time.

And it's one, it's one, it was one, it was one, it was nominated for the most Tony awards. I would fund home. I, I, I, I, I, I, an American in Paris.

Really. All that's right. Very nice.

I, I've never seen that. I love Gershwin music. You know, I'm old school and that shows you know, Mary's, you know, Broadway musicals with ballet and it's just, it's a beautiful lavish production.

Well, that's very near and dear to us. That is an exterior than the next season. It's our first, well, I'm not, I don't want to say our first show necessarily, but, uh, it is one of our first shows.

Because it wasn't a story he told that that was kind of what got him into this. Myself. Jenkins.

Oh, Michael. You know, I think he did tell the story. He mentioned.

He did tell the story. Coming here and seeing Maurice Chavallier. Oh, okay.

You've been asking, oh, sorry. Uh, you've been asking the question, what would you want to see if you could have won in your chat? Misagon.

Misagon? That is, that is the one musical that I, that has alluded me for 25 years. And I own the CDs.

And when I listen to the CDs, it breaks me down like a child. You've got to ask Michael about misagon. This is a bunch of stories here at the music hall about Leah Solonga.

It's all I'm saying in your chat. I don't even know if I could pair down to one. I can think of three right off the top of my head that I'm dying to see that I've missed here, uh, the Lion King Spamilot and the color purple.

You see, the Lion King was happening when we came to the state fair. Right. We were coming in and the matinee was letting out and we were leaving and the evening performance was letting out.

Yeah. Um, mine would be once. I would love to see guys do once.

Once was amazing. We saw that, uh, over, over downtown. You can bring that here.

I'd be your best friend for right now, but you know what, but there's something that we haven't talked about that one thing I love about these guys, add out some of our musicals. They don't, they try to avoid tuning their own horn at all costs. Oh yeah.

And I'm not going to let that happen because I want you to talk a little bit about something that happened about a month ago with the little mermaid that that hit me right where I lived and I was like, this is why we do this. Well, uh, you know a year ago, we started the conversation. We sat around in our, you know, marketing meeting and we said, so what would it take for us to open up our doors and give away all of our seats to the community?

And how many seats does, does music all hold? 300, I mean, 3,420 seats. Okay.

So just picture that that's about, I would say probably about 20 to 30% of the American Airlines Center. Okay. So picture, give or take.

I mean, we're one of the biggest houses in the nation. Um, and so, you know, to us, we were like, so what would it take? And we started reaching out our development, uh, department started reaching out to all these different organizations and, uh, you know, sponsorships and everything like that.

So, you know, once we had a goal, we met the goal and, uh, we decided that, uh, the best fit for this to happen and it was our production of this is the little mermaid, which was wonderful by the way. And we brought in, uh, I believe six different organizations, you know, with, uh, kids and families that probably otherwise could not afford or have never been to the theater before. And we let them in and they watch the show and sold out every seat.

That's right. To people like like he said that may not have ever had a theater experience before and may not have been able to without the generosity of people, like the fundraiser that you guys did at Nord Texas Giving Day, which we were so honored to be a part of. And I think it's amazing because who doesn't like the little mermaid?

And who's going to turn down the little mermaid? Like, I mean, if you heard our reviews at www.clubospocast.com, that's our website. I was blown away.

The lighting, the, the layer, I was just, that was one of my favorites. I've ever, I can't say enough. You know how much I love that, say?

I mean, uh, and you also have the seats for veterans program, which I think is an amazing deal to talk a little bit about that. Well, you know, through different initiatives, you know, we always try to reach out to the community. And, you know, one of our, you know, one of the biggest causes that we're, it's very in dear to us, are veterans.

I've got one sitting next to me. So thank you, Chad. Thank you.

My honours, sir. And, you know, so we have discount tickets for them. And then every now and then there will be certain promotions that we do throughout the year, just specifically for veterans to thank them for their service.

And, and that's just one of the great things about Dallas, summer musical is, I was listening to an old bit from Schwarzenegger a couple of days ago, where he talked about the six keys to success. Okay. And number six was give back.

You know, and it, I've always said that a blessing isn't a blessing unless you can share it. And Dallas, summer musicals, gets that. I mean, when you realize, and for people that are listening, you know, I get around the world that don't really can grasp what's going on here.

There is a full-blown red carpet outside. That's probably what, 30 yards long. I mean, it's a huge red carpet.

Like, I had to pull my car up on the other side of it just to get the equipment in the door. And you bring the kids in, the nominees come in and class it catalogs. They walk the red carpet.

They're announced as they get in there by an MC. They do the whole press thing. We had some of them sit down with us.

And they get that experience. And it's just, this has been an amazing night. And we're ready for three left.

Yeah. They did announce the best lead actor in the, they're about to do the leading actress and then when they, well, they're going to bring both the lead actress and actor back. That's the same time.

Now, I noticed that the best production is named after Mr. Jenkins. This is he going to present out a word for the best, the best musical.

I'm not exactly sure who's going to be presenting that one. I know that he was supposed to present. However, I'm not exactly sure of the lineup.

And you talk about another quality human being. No kid. I am a big fan of that guy.

He's a great guy. And everybody that's been involved, it's just the things that they do for the community, the things they do for families. And another organization that I don't think we talk about enough when we talk about this is the guilt.

That's right. I have a very dear friend that's a member of the guild. Really?

Yeah. Renee Tippett. Oh, yeah.

Well, she and I used to go church together. Big fan of her and her husband and her. Talk about what they do and how people can get involved.

Well, you know, our guild is just a group that loves to give back. You know, they're, their advocates for the arts. And they just love what we do and what we stand for.

And so they just, they're volunteers. That's all they do. They have certain perks.

And, you know, if you go to the guild's website, you can get all the details there. And it'll tell you, you know, what you can participate in, but also what you can receive. And there's different things like going to exclusive cast parties, you know, which is something that, you know, you can't really get into unless you're probably part of the board.

But because you give back, we want you to, you know, have those type of benefits. And one of the, Renee and I had a really conversation about the guild and what they do. And one of the things that she said to me, she says, one of the great things about the guild is a lot of these cast members, they live out of their suitcase.

Yeah. And to have these cast parties where they, they bring them home cooked meals and things like that, they get that sense. And it's not something that a lot of cities do.

And they get that piece of home. And they said, she said, it's amazing how many of these cast members are just like, this was the best part of my day because I get to, you know, we run around so much. Sometimes we forget what city we're in because we're doing so much.

And, and I think that that's kind of kind of segue into my next point about Dallas on our musicals, how you guys have teamed up with Bass Performance Hall. That's right. And you're, and so sometimes there'll be a production that's here that goes straight from here to there.

And that gives, if nothing else, it gives that cast a couple more days to just kind of be in the same place and have a little bit of a routine before they move on to the next city. Yeah, definitely. I mean, you know, our relationship with Bass Hall, it's like our sister theater, you know.

And we, we don't see it as competition, but more, you know, as, as a way for us to show, you know, the Metroplex D of W, you know, what theater is about. And I, I just, I love that partnership. And the thing about Bass is, is just right there.

And then we'll go down down, there it is. And it's a beautiful venue. What were just venue?

No, of course. I'm going to partial the headers because of the history of this building and it's, and you know, and it's not like you guys let things, I mean, you're constantly updating things, and keeping things fresh and we love that about it. I mean, we have, you know, we've recently done, you know, we've had a new state of the art system, sound system.

And it sounds gorgeous. And you know, people love it. We have our program that's called Heroes Now, which uses the different devices for people, you know, they have hearing aid issues and this way they can truly enjoy and listen to every single sound just like a normal person.

Yeah. DSM does so much and and I still feel like we're only scratching the surface of all the things that they do and it's just, you know, make sure you visit the website down somewhere musicals.org. Like you guys keep up with everything and keep everything because sometimes I go there just to make sure I know what's going with you on.

You probably do too because you got so much going on to everything that you take care of. So that may be your caught up. And our Saturday is our big gala, you know, it's our curtain call gala which would do every year and this year's theme is a certain musical.

Yes, I did see that and, you know, we have actually opened it up, you know, to the community and people can buy tickets for a hundred dollars if they can log into our website and they get to enjoy the host show. Anything else you want to plug before we go, let you enjoy the rest of your evening? You know, I just want to say thank you to you guys because it's on our own.

We're always we're honored, you know, to have people like you here, people that support the arts and that believe in what we believe in because to us it's about giving back and, you know, always just planning that seed and watching it grow. And we've had so much fun tonight in seeing everybody and getting to talk to these kids and seeing how a lot of them are, they want to continue on, especially in college and that's just such an important thing and we're not going to take up any more of your time so because I'm sure you've got people that you need just babies to kiss and hands to shake and all that good stuff. Always an honor to have you on the show and we're going to talk to you very, very soon.

Thank you, my baby. That's Francisco. That's our boy.

He's the one takes care of us whenever we come here. He's our buddy. And all right, we got the winners getting ready to come in.

Yes, and one of them we've already talked to. I believe we have. And I believe she just walked in the door.

This is our first repeat. Isn't it? I don't know.

I'd have to go back and look at the time state. I want to say this is our first repeat. We do want to tell everybody listening live that there is a three hour limit on you stream.

So if we hit three hours, don't go anywhere. We're just going to have to stop and start again. So don't, don't fret if, you know, I'm keeping an eye on the clock.

If we get close, we'll just take a quick pause for the cause, you know, take me about 30 seconds to get this thing up and running and then we'll be back on. Two of the three big ones. Because right now what we're hearing in the background is Pierce High School doing singing in the rain, which means there's only one more award to go through.

There is. All right, don't take care of us getting the introductions done. I'm going to take a, just with my tasty beverage because getting a little cotton off going on.

I think we're going, it's going to be the record for the longest show we've ever done. Probably. Okay, let's see.

All right. Get in, get in, get in, get in, get in. Can we get in trouble that this is playing in the background?

I wouldn't think so. I'm just saying, if I'd just to be here. That's a fair point.

That's a fair point. Yeah, this is our first repeat from the pre show. We haven't had anybody else repeat it.

So yeah, she's got it down, Dawn. She's good to go. And I'll have to see if we're probably going to, I don't know if we're going to ever be with the same time or start with the one and you know, I think we're going to go through actor than actors.

She's a little wounded. I'm sure. I could hear her when you were talking to Francis, Kyle is going to lose the tour acceptance speech and she was enthusiastic.

And again, this is an organization from top to bottom. That's just amazing. I have not met anybody that we've worked with with Dallas, some are musicals that just hasn't been one of my favorite human beings.

They've shown nothing but class the entire time they dealt with this. And Lord knows they don't have to. No.

Again, we're a couple of slubs with a podcast, you know, but they've treated us with such respect and is nothing but love the whole time we've been. And then when they asked us to do this, I was like, yeah, okay, you know, it just wasn't something that ever occurred to me. And we cannot be thankful enough to them after we had to show with them at the House of Blues and Dallas, which was with an absolute blast, I think that kind of paved the way for this.

And they're like, you know what, why don't you guys come do this and we're like, never done it before. But why not? Okay.

We're always up to something new. It's kind of in our wheelhouse. Season 6 has been a big season for us.

Yeah, it has a lot going on this. A lot of development and growth and it just, and it just keeps getting better. That's what I love.

That's what keeps me coming back to doing this show is sometimes you feel like you get into a wall and then something happens, it just pushes it right back over the top. You know, and the fact that we've gotten to do so much cool stuff, you know, I wish we could do this forever. And this is, this is one of the crown jewels, I think.

No, this is, yeah, this was a big one, this is a big one for us and we want to thank everybody that's been in the chat room, giving us feedback all night, everybody that's been listening live, shout out to WFA channel, eight for shouting out to us. No kidding. And that being their number one video feed going on, I hope somebody gives me a copy of that.

I'll see if maybe I can dig it up online. I mean, and this has been a top now, I wish we, again, I wish we had a video monitor back here so we could see what's going on on stage, because everything has sounded amazing. And the crowd has been just, oh, this crowd has been on fire, 3500 people, sir.

And these tickets, I looked up these tickets, they've been very, very affordable, well, that's good, that's good. You know, getting ready for the big one next week's going to be, you think that this place has been busy before, wait, wait for the next month to come on, when Wicked in town. Okay, I think we're about to, all righty.

Come on, have a seat, sir. Put the headphones on so you can hear yourself. And a man who's got more adrenaline running through his body right now that I think anybody on the planet currently introduce yourself, sir.

Hello, my name is John Fredrickson, and I attend Gyer High School, and I played Bert and Mary Poffins, and I just won best leading actor. And look at that thing, that's an amazing looking award. Oh, yes, it is.

And it's a little bit more amazing feeling, it's like, hey, look, my name's on it. Like, that part hasn't quite sunk in, I keep looking down at it, and it's just. Talk right into that, my friends, sir.

Oh, yes, of course. I keep just looking at the, the award in my name's on it, and it hasn't quite sunk in yet. One of my favorite questions I've been asking all night of all the winners is, tell me about that moment.

I honestly wasn't expecting it because those, those young gentlemen up there performing are just as deserving, they were so incredible to work with and so incredible to watch to perform. And so like whenever I heard my name, it was kind of surreal, I didn't exactly know what was happening at that very moment, and then everybody just kind of surrounded me and hugged me, and I was just so appreciative, and I was thanking everyone, and I was about them tears. Did you, did you have a speech prepared?

Um, honestly, not really, like, I don't know what that. I knew what I was going to say if I had won, and I knew I was going to thank, but I honestly didn't expect it, so I didn't quite prepare, I was, okay, well, we're live right now all over the globe. It's pretty easy.

Is there anybody that you forgotten about that you want to shout out to now? Everyone in my youth group, everyone at my school, everyone who has supported me, thank you so much. There's so many people, I can't name everyone by name, but I would especially like to thank my directors, Mr.

and Mrs. Crotwell. I would also like to thank my mom and dad, because in my sister, Leslie, because they have just been so supportive of me the entire time, and a couple of fellow cast members, and yeah.

Where are you in your high school career right now? I'm a junior this year. Yes, you've got another year to go.

I got one more year, yes sir. Awesome. So, thoughts about, you know, do you know what's going to come next, or are they have been on announced again?

We've announced it. I'm really looking forward to it this year, but kind of dealing with this right now. Okay.

I haven't quite exactly put that in my mind right now, but they're not excited. Fair enough, like, do you take it to school tomorrow? Just walk around and say, this, my name, on this thing right here, that's me, this guy, this guy, me, me, me, me.

I don't think I will, it's just, it's not, it's something that I'm very proud of for sure, but I just feel like my entire school, they're just like, they're very supportive of me and they recognize me for a lot of accomplishments, like this year, and this year has been truly a blast. I feel like there's no, there's no, there's really not a lot of them. Tomorrow and excused absence are now.

Actually, we don't have school tomorrow. That's the first one that said, no, I'm not going to school tomorrow. That's safe weather day.

Oh, you know, weather day. Well, we're going to let you go and enjoy your evening. Thank you very much.

Because congratulations, let it all sink in brother, it's your moment. Okay, I think I'm off to New York next. I think that's the next one.

Oh, wow, nice. Yeah. We're Disney, we're off whatever.

Yeah, no, no, not too shabby, I guess. Yeah, go enjoy the evening, Mike, thank you for joining us. John Freterson, guy or high school, best leading actor, Mary Poppins, and I am operating under the assumption that walks a hatchy one, because our best actress just ran out of here like a bolt of lightning.

Join her crew. So congratulations, walks a hatchy high school, it's for it wins for Spamela, again, another win for Spamela, you know, I'm a big fan. Oh, yeah, it's been a recurring theme.

Oh, man, alive. I'm going to hold on as long as I can before I reset the clock, because I really don't want to reset the clock just yet. So they're wrapping up the live show outside, we're going to stay here long enough to get everybody interviewed before we get out of here, because we got people listening, and they want to hear from the winners, I'm curious who we're going to get for best musical of them.

We're going to need a bigger table, we're going to need more microphone to with all that we don't have. I'm trying to watch and see what's going on here. Oh, I'm on the wrong page.

Again, we are live in the green room from the DSM high school musical theater worth the fifth annual. We've been interviewing the winners all night, there she is. Never have I been more okay with a guest darting out of the room than I was about two minutes ago, because I was like, oh, I think I know who won.

Okay, you look happy at all. Oh my gosh, I'm excited. I can't believe this like, like, winning best musical is literally, oh wait, it's the best because the theater is about a team, and that, you know, this actress is just a cherry on top, but to win best musical, that is the ultimate, I mean, we, that's what we work for, you know, and it happened and it was incredible and I can't, I can't believe it.

That's, that's what theater is about, you know, it's just the team. What I thought was really neat and thinking about what you just said, you just won best leading actress, and you're not even talking about it, you know, and I think that's a beautiful thing because you, you, you get it, like, this is kind of cool, but for all of us to have it, it's even better. How many people total in the production?

We have about 50, and then we have about 20 crew members and my gosh, I love every single one of them, and, and, you know, I'm, I'm so grateful for best actress, and I'm so grateful for our team. I mean, this just goes to show that her, her, her, her, her, her, her, her, her, her, her, all levels for, for me, for, for the, for the cast for everybody, and for Blake, who, he was nominated for best actor, which was amazing, you know, it is, I know, they say a lot, but it's really an honor to be nominated. I mean, out of all these schools, out of all the leading actors and actresses, to pick nine is insane, and, and out of 76 musicals to be the one is even more insane.

Okay, let's reset. Let's reset. Okay, reset.

Because, let's talk about who we're talking to. The only person that was on the free show, and now in the green group, Peyton made blocks a hatchy high school, best leading actress, Spamilot, she played the lady of the lake, she did not launch a semi-tar, and anybody at any point, she probably could right now, because that's a joy. I just out of fuel, July, and honestly, I'm just, I'm so excited.

This experience has been absolutely incredible. I wouldn't trade it for the world, and, you know, this, this day has been amazing. All I'm very hungry right now, and look at pizza.

And there's a lot of pizza boxes. There's a lot of pizza boxes. And that's a lot of pizza boxes.

People coming to the table because they know there's pizza behind us. We chose this strategically. Yes, yes, but no, but all of our sites this day, and this experience has been absolutely amazing for us and the cast and for our families who give up a lot of time, and stay away from us in days, wherever her soul, and, you know, just to know that it paid off, and regardless if we, if we would have won best musical tonight, or not, one best musical tonight, we know we put on a heck of a show, and we were happy with that.

That's kind of my, my whole mood about the best actors thing is I, I was very happy with the way I reconvened and the way I performed, I was happy with what I did, the choices I made, and, you know, I just had the mentality that whatever happens happens, I'm sure, I was flora, and I'm SO happy with everything happens for a reason. Absolutely. And you know, it's just, it's incredible, because it just is, and it's absolutely insane, and and I'm so happy to be here.

My favorite question to ask all night, and I'm sure people listening live around the world are like, stop asking as long as all this. But it's fascinating to me, tell me about the moment you're sitting in your chair. Okay.

So we were on stage for the medley and um, okay, let me tell you something. I do pageants So I probably had the most pageant reaction. I put the hands on the face and I got the shakes And I was hyperventilating and then but the best feeling in the world was going up to that podium And hearing my school cheer for me.

That was the greatest and and you know first person I think how many people did you bring with We brought Um, probably 80 plus people. I said buddy left and walks a hat you tonight. Yeah, I'm all here Well, we have a few people left, but most of them right here Well, somebody's got to hold down the floor.

Yes. Somebody does and and you know first person. I think I'll glory you God.

This is incredible and I'm I'm so grateful and I'm so honored and I'm so humbled. This isn't insane So you're just gonna go straight to school to model. I'm sleepy.

It's not an option tonight. Well first I'm gonna sleep on the bus on the way home Because I'm very tired. I was sitting backstage waiting for like the medley and waiting for my school to perform And I was like, no, no, no, not falsely.

Okay, and that I didn't and now I'm really awake Because that adrenaline is just flowing right now That adrenaline is going man So I'm very excited and like I said just so so grateful for this experience I'm exhausted. This thing to her be like she's so excited Now you have to understand when I was like I said on the interview earlier I I've been coming to the DSWM to do some awards and since I was a freshman and I watched the back to actresses do their medley every time and And for that to be me I was up there doing my medley and to hear the crowd just go crazy That was amazing and I I wouldn't try that. That's why and that's when you say that's why I'm doing what that's why I do it The reason I tell everybody the reason I do theater is For the audience, you know, I want people to feel something I might be the only Broadway that some kid ever sees, you know, and I want to be that for somebody and that that is that moment Yeah, that is nothing.

There's there's not a drug There's not any kind of a high that matches that moment when you're on a stage and people are reacting to what you're doing and That's had a couple more people to the mix A couple of times. Oh my gosh, and we're gonna let you guys introduce yourself Yes, she's like I guess no time I'm Gabriella Wallace and I am the dance captain of our musical spam a lot as well as a week of girl and I mean what do you say you guys you guys won the big one? Yeah, we did.

I mean this is the biggest award of the night I wish I wish I had a video camera in here because Because Caden was doing her interview over here with our video friends and I heard the cheer and I looked down and I looked up and she was gone Like there wasn't there was it there wasn't like a Caden shake hole in the wall She was a vapor troll. I was trying to be quiet. Like I was kind of listening to my interview And I was like oh my gosh, we're about to announce best musical and then I was like I got to go I got to go my friends And once I looked up like I think we all know who's going Because if you don't then you might not have been paying that close of attention I can't wait to see that.

Okay, which is how how are you guys feeling right now talk right into that microphone It's definitely Crazy experience. There's no words to explain Award for how much work and dedication that you put into something and it's We finally been rewarded yes Months and months and years and years of being nominated Talk right into that thing For best musical and it's fun. It just feels so good to finally Grabbing And wanting for this whole time and I'm just I'm thankful for the experience.

I'm thankful for the cast because we We deserved it and I'm glad we nailed it from them That may be the most honest answer of the He said he said but every single person here that one was so sorry. Thank you Garfield We're saying that We we like honesty honestly. Honestly is a good saying policy.

Okay, so What is their left to say? I I don't want to keep you guys away from anything at this point because it's like I could sit here and talk to you guys all night but I my conscience won't let me go Celebrate Reggie high school best musical four spam a lot I'm spent And we still got a load to gear in the car and go home. That girl's gonna lose her mind What what are we doing?

What are we doing? Oh, there's oh, oh, we have luminaries present Yes, we do one of our favorite people. Hi guys Tracy Jordan's here.

How are you sir? I'm very good. How are you guys doing are you ready for an apiette?

This was the one I wasn't sure we were gonna be able to see tonight because the busiest man in show business just sat down Tracy joins here Mr. Jenkins. I'm just gonna let you introduce yourself because yeah, you're good right there Mr.

Jenkins Michael Jenkins is here There we go and we we spent we spent a lot of time talking to Francisco as they were getting everything wrapped up and Is it time to exhale yet? Absolutely What a I mean Everything tonight was top notch. I mean, we were listening to everything through the speaker I can't even imagine what it looked like as wonderful as it sounded in here Well, it looked as great as it sounded.

I can assure you I mean, and it looks like everything went without a hitch Everybody had a great I mean, everybody we've talked to it's been in a crazy crazy night I can't believe we're already at this point Well, it went smooth as glass and We talked a lot about it because yes, this is the awards life But we always have to talk about DSM too because there's so much going on you get to exhale for what about three days Oh, no, then we start on the next one tomorrow That's right because you've got the curtain the curtain because of this week called Saturday night and the next Wednesday We open wicked and you go straight out of us dead stop in the fifth gear and Tracy Jordan here He starts tomorrow on them the sixth One of the high school musical, so it's a busy time always I cannot get a first of all that it's a gorgeous award It's a gorgeous piece of hardware. I've said that about a thousand times in the last six hours And what you guys do for for high school kids around the area It's it's amazing to me and this has been such a great night I thought we were going to have to move this into the American Airlines Center number bodies that were coming through Not tomorrow in the pre-show I mean, we were talking to Francesco. I'm like, there's no way there was an empty seat in the house tonight And there wasn't and and that just I mean we were hearing in the pre-show we heard people through the window We heard the screens and we've been hearing it through here and all the support that everybody's giving each other It's just been You know one of the things I like about this show with all the youthful exuberance It's really like a pep rally from musical theater.

Absolutely agreed and the fact that you guys are doing this for these kids is what's amazing It's it's proving how important the arts are Not only are they important I think the musicals have become part of the cultural fabric of the city and the SM and This year in our 76 years about giving back and And this is one of our numerous programs and one of our most popular programs and I'm sure that there's 3,000 High school students who were screaming tonight who are going to be very horse in the morning. Oh, Absolutely We were talking to the kids from aboline and we we talk about road trips and how it's you know There's so much adrenaline on the bus coming in and then about five minutes into the drive home You could probably drop a pin drop outside the bus and still hear it But then you know they win for best direction and I'm like That's now out the window because the adrenaline's going to carry them three and a half hours home The dedication that these kids put in The way that you guys feature them out on the stage for the medleys and giving them a chance to To display what they've done so much. It's just such an amazing program and You've probably heard this a thousand times today and let me be a thousand in one Thank you for what you guys do it's a team effort of many many people.

I can assure you What you know you're talking in the thousands The work that those kids put out on the stage Represents literally Tends of thousands of hours of work by hundreds of people on their individual campuses and then when they come to us The a number of people that volunteer their time is a great testament to the value that so many people Put in this program. I mean we have hundreds of people that volunteer Just here at DSM on this program to make it happen. Let's tell them how many judges you have that go out to these Schools we have we have between 50 and 60 Entertainment industry professionals that we we recruit as judges that volunteer their time We don't pay them anything and that's amazing that was an amazing thing to me.

Well to take three judges for each show And then to go up you know as far as abalone or wake-o It's a massive understatement. Yeah, there's a massive understatement like I May have said earlier tonight You know, this is the largest program now in the state of Texas and the second largest in the U.S But I would predict and not too long This will be the largest one in the I think we're they're giving us the high sign you guys have to go go shake hands and then kiss babies and all that good stuff We cannot thank you guys enough for having us here We can't thank you enough for stopping down and talking to us. We're looking.

We're already saying next year We want to present we want to be presenters next year So that's that's our mission as the next step Okay, we we love you guys and we we're delighted to have you here We appreciate everything that you do for us. Thank you so much. We look forward to having you with us again All right, gentlemen go enjoy the evening because we're running out of time ourselves Thank you guys so much Gentlemen such a pleasure and we're gonna see you very very soon.

I have no no doubt See you again. We're running out of recording time So we need to go ahead don quit quickly. We've got to wrap this thing up.

We're gonna run out of you stream time Thanks again to everybody at Dallas summer musicals for having us out tonight This has been such an absolute honor and absolute blast We have got to get to the plugs because we are running out of time Visit our website www.theclubhousepodcast.com. Find out everything you need to know and some stuff you don't Please like our Facebook page look up the clubhouse podcast on Facebook put the word podcast on the end or something completely different Follow us on Twitter at clubhouse show Follow us on Instagram at the clubhouse podcast You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram. I am a yes that rob urban that is called ERV I am at Chad in PG69.

I'm at fondong go and you can email me at dawn at the clubhousepodcast.com Email don for information how we can come with do what we did tonight for you With your business. We love doing live remote shows You can email me if you'd like questions comments concerns somebody to go pound sand I am rob at the clubhousepodcast.com I am Chad at the clubhousepodcast.com Charlotte Barker is on Pinterest because we are morally obligated to say that jules wallmic listening to us live tonight as well Our normal show every Sunday night although we're gonna skip this week because tomorrow night We're at the Dallas International Film Festival Tune in tomorrow night right around six o'clock central and we're gonna bring you a lot more dignitaries from the world of film So until next time for Chad for dawn for the empire. I'm rob clubhouses closed still waiting for a pretty power appearance The preceding was a sooner or greater production

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