Houston’s Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) hosts the Tommy Tune Awards (TTA) Program every year to celebrate the educational value, artistry, and community of high school musical theatre in the Greater Houston area.
This school year, 66 Houston area high schools within 65-miles of Houston produced a full-length musical to compete in over 17 TTA categories. 54 of these schools were public while 12 were private schools, like Concordia.
Each school is adjudicated by a team of volunteer mentors and professional Houston-based music/theatre artists and those adjudicators will grade the performance and students resulting in nominations and eventually finalists.
Concordia is excited to announce 35 Tommy Tune Award Nominations for the 2024-2025 school year! These students, along with all of the nominees from the other 65 school productions, will be narrowed down to a small group of finalists for each award category.
The finalists for each category will be announced at the beginning of April and those students will be invited to attend the annual Tommy Tune Awards Ceremony on Friday, June 6th at The Hobby Center downtown Houston.
Concordia’s Production Nominations from The Hunchback of Notre Dame include:
- Outstanding Musical
- Outstanding Ensemble
- Outstanding Orchestra
- Outstanding Technical Achievement
- Overall Show Performance
- Overall Show Director & Vision
- Overall Show Design & Technical
- Overall Show Grab Factor
Concordia’s Individual Nominations from The Hunchback of Notre Dame include:
- Outstanding Performer in a Lead Role – Major Meyer ’25 as Claude Frollo
- Outstanding Performer in a Lead Role – Hallie Miller ’25 as Esmeralda
- Outstanding Performer in a Lead Role – Elijah Iwama ‘27 as Quasimodo
- Outstanding Performer in a Lead Role – Ian Schleicher ’27 as Captain Phoebus de Martin
- Outstanding Performer in a Supporting Role – Gabi Gonzalez ’25 as Clopin Trouillefou/Gargoyle
- Outstanding Performer in a Supporting Role – Kenneth Meade ’25 as Father Dupin/Gargoyle
- Outstanding Performer in a Supporting Role – Darian Peters ’25 as Jehan/Ensemble
- Outstanding Performer in a Supporting Role – Mary Catherine Tedesco ’25 as Gargoyle/Ensemble
- Outstanding Performer in a Supporting Role – Caleb Brandon ’26 as King Louis XI/Gargoyle
- Outstanding Performer in a Supporting Role – Finn Collins ’26 as Lt. Frederic Charlus/Ensemble
- Outstanding Performer in a Supporting Role – Caleb Lueckemeyer ’27 as St. Aphrodisius/Gargoyle
- Outstanding Performer in a Supporting Role – Sarah Frerking ’28 as Florika/Ensemble
- Outstanding Signer – Major Meyer ’25
- Outstanding Singer – Hallie Miller ‘25
- Outstanding Dancer – Hallie Miller ‘25
- Outstanding Dancer – Sarah Frerking ‘28
- Outstanding Actor – Gabi Gonzalez ‘25
- Outstanding Actor – Elijah Iwama ‘27
- Honorable Mention Performer – Sarah Frerking ‘28
- Outstanding Stage Manager – Hailey Powell ’25 & Emma Guevara ‘27
- Outstanding Director – Ms. Erica Gallegos
- Outstanding Music Direction – Dr. Lisa Morales & Mr. Jonathan Held
- Outstanding Choreographer – Mrs. Jenny Moyado
- Outstanding Lighting Design – Ms. Erica Gallegos
- Outstanding Sound Design – Mr. Johnny Haaland
- Outstanding Scenic Design – Ms. Cathy O’Bryan
- Outstanding Costume Design – Ms. Erica Gallegos & Mrs. Beth Straub
“This musical was so special to my heart for its artistry and depth of character, with a core message worthy to be told worldwide and the entire cast, crew, orchestra, and directors knocked it out of the park!
The musical of The Hunchback of Notre Dame is based on the French novel of the same title by Victor Hugo and published in 1831. It has been considered a classic of French literature and has been adapted repeatedly for film, stage and television. Focusing on the isolated story of Quasimodo, our hunchback keeper of the bell tower, the Roma Street dancer Esmeralda and Quasimodo's guardian the Archdeacon Claude Frollo in 15th-century Paris.
This story and others of its kind are so rich in history while necessary in the challenges they bring us as a society today. Offering us the challenge of religion vs. relationship, The Hunchback of Notre Dame proves that empty works of religion alone without relying on relationship with a savior is dead. We see time and time again throughout scripture that human works on their own will not save us, but that one must encounter the real love of Jesus Christ for it to impact our actions and intimately change our hearts.
One of Hugo’s key motives in being asked to write his novel was to draw others back to the church, to shed light on the humanity of the body of Christ. Promoting that the church is not for the “perfect”, but for all. He wanted to remind his readers that as a human race we all fall short of the glory of God and are desperately in need of a Savior.
Our cast and crew worked very hard to bring the vibrant energy of Parisian streets and the vulnerability of these complex and relatable characters to the audience and I’m so proud of them all! I can’t wait to see what God has in store for our future productions with these amazing students.” – Ms. Erica Gallegos, Director of Theatre
In Concordia’s rich history, we have been blessed with many talented theatre arts students and many of the productions live on in school history.
In terms of Tommy Tune Awards, in 2023, Ephraim Iwama ’23 won the first and only Tommy Tune Award for Outstanding Actor for his role as Tarzan. Additionally, Concordia has been honored with several other finalists including: Katelyn Hurst ’23 (Outstanding Dancer in Tarzan), Eliza Schumacher ’22 (Outstanding Supporting Actress in Shrek The Musical), Jackson Cook ’21 (Outstanding Lead in Godspell), and Concordia’s 2020 Musical Production of Godspell (Outstanding Costume Design).
Congrats to these students and staff for their hard work on this year’s production! We are proud of all of our students who participated in the cast, crew, tech, and orchestra. We love and support your talents and passion for musical theatre.
For more information on our Fine Arts at Concordia, visit www.SaderNationTX.com/finearts