On Saturday May 25th, the cast and crew of Bye Bye Birdie will be heading to the Mishler Theatre in anticipation of winning actor specific awards through The Isaacs.
The nominations were announced on Friday, April 26th to the students during 1st period. The production was nominated in every category that was available to them. The student nominations included the following:
- Jacob Caracciolo was nominated as Albert Peterson for Best Male Lead
- Trinity Riva was nominated as Rose Alverez for Best Female Lead
- Christian Jennings was nominated as Harry MacAfee f0r Best Male Supporting Actor
- Annie LeGrand was nominated as Kim MacAfee for Best Female Supporting Actor
- Gigi Juart was nominated as Ursula for Best Featured Actor
- Miranda Tornatore was nominated as Mae Peterson for Show MVP
- Kimmy Bennett, Jace Rimmey, Christian Jennings, and Annie LeGrand were nominated as The MacAfee Family for Best Ensemble
The cast and crew were enthusiastic to find out that they were also nominated for best production as well!
“I was thrilled with the Isaac nominations this year!” said director, Molly Burns. “To be nominated in every category we were eligible in is no small feat and doesn’t happen often.”
Molly Burns, the director of Bye Bye Birdie, has been working with the music department for three years now. It started when she stepped in for their 2022 production of Beauty and the Beast, and from there she had directed Grease as well as Bye Bye Birdie. She has played a very large part in the musical and seeing the pure joy on her face while reading off to the cast and crew really reflected how proud of the production she was.
“I’m so grateful to be nominated back to back these past two years, and I could not be more proud of our full sweep for nominations,” said senior Trinity Riva, who played Rose Alvarez in the musical. “We worked so hard, and I’m glad the hard work is paying off!”
A few of the bigger dance numbers will be shown at the ceremony as well. Shriner’s Ballet was nominated for best dance number, which was one of the smaller more specific parts of the show that took a ton of cleaning and organizing. The people involved with that were Trinity Riva as Rose Alverez, and Jake Mercer, Derek Stivers, Dalton Poorman, Lucas Fulmer, Christian Jennings, Thad Dick, and Collin Matthews as the Shriners.
“I couldn’t be happier for the cast and crew in their accomplishment of receiving a nomination in each category possible. Each individual and group that was nominated are very deserving of that nomination, and truly put in the time and effort,” said Mr. David Logue, the Bellwood-Antis choir director and music director of Bye Bye Birdie. “It takes a whole group of people who are willing to learn, try, fail, and succeed together to make something great happen, I believe the Cast and Crew of Bye-Bye Birdie excelled in this area!”
Another one of the bigger dance numbers that was nominated as Best Musical Number was “Telephone Hour” which was a depiction of how fast word spreads in Sweet Apple, Ohio. The main people involved in that number were Tristin Riva, Derek Stivers, Giffin Kyle, Lily Burns, Amira Snyder, Alia Bennett, Aliyah Smith, Morgan Kienzle, Gigi Juart, Dolton Poorman, and Killian Worthing.
“I couldn’t be more proud of everyone involved and just like sports or other activites who receive recognition for their accomplishments, the Isaac awards were created to do the same for high school musical theater,” said Molly Burns. “It’s such an honor to be nominated and a tribute to the strength of our musical program here at Bellwood-Antis!”
The cast and crew are overjoyed, and they can’t wait for May 25th to see what all they win! Good luck to everybody involved!
