2025 Blumey Awards Overview

 

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PRESENTED BY BANK OF AMERICA

Blumenthal Arts is excited to continue the celebration of high school musical theater with the 2025 Blumey Awards program! The Blumey Awards recognize, reward, and encourage talent and achievement in musical theater among high school students within the Charlotte region. The program highlights the importance of musical theatre and arts education within the community.


The 2025 Blumey Awards ceremony will be held at the Belk Theater, the home of the PNC Broadway Lights Series, on Sunday, May 18, 2025. The following student performances will intersperse the award presentations: musical numbers from six finalists for the Best Musical Award, musical numbers featuring the Best Actor and Best Actress nominees from every participating school, and two medleys featuring the top scoring students nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress. The order of performances, arrangement and orchestration for the ceremony will be led by New York-based professional music composer/conductor, David Dabbon.

2025 NOMINEES & FINALISTS

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2025 PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS

The schools competing include:

 

NAME OF SCHOOL

NAME OF MUSICAL

 

A.L. Brown High School

 

 

Little Shop of Horrors

Ardrey Kell High School

 

Legally Blonde

Ashbrook High School

 

The SpongeBob Musical

Ballantyne Ridge High School

 

The Lightning Thief

Cannon School

 

Mamma Mia!

Carmel Christian School

 

Oklahoma!

Catawba Ridge High School

 

Little Shop of Horrors

Central Academy of Technology & Arts

 

Les Misérables School Edition

Central Cabarrus High School

 

Chicago: Teen Edition

Charlotte Catholic High School

 

Fiddler on the Roof

Charlotte Country Day School

 

Bright Star

Charlotte Latin School

 

The Drowsy Chaperone

Christ the King Catholic High School

 

The Music Man

Concord Academy

 

Guys and Dolls

Concord High School

 

Hairspray

Cox Mill High School

 

Disney's The Little Mermaid

Cuthbertson High School

 

Anastasia

Davidson Day School

 

Once Upon a Once More Time High School Edition

East Lincoln High School

 

Matilda the Musical

East Mecklenburg High School

 

Pippin

Gaston Christian School

 

The Sound of Music

Gaston Day School

 

Once Upon a Mattress

Hickory Grove Christian School

 

Seussical

Hickory Ridge High School

 

Something Rotten

Highland School of Technology

 

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Hopewell High School

 

Mamma Mia

Indian Land High School

 

Chicago: Teen Edition

Jay M Robinson High School

 

Mama Mia

Kings Mountain High School

 

Disaster

Lake Norman High School

 

Anastasia

Lincoln Charter School

 

The SpongeBob Musical

Lincolnton High School

 

Something Rotten

Marvin Ridge High School

 

Mary Poppins

Mountain Island Charter School

 

Mean Girls High School Edition

Myers Park High School

 

Freaky Friday

Nation Ford High School

 

The Lightning Thief

North Gaston High School

 

Mean Girls High School Edition

North Lincoln High School

 

Pippin

Northwest Cabarrus High School

 

Seussical

Northwest School of the Arts

 

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Northwestern High School

 

Hello Dolly

Palisades High School

 

Little Shop of Horrors

Parkwood High School

 

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Revised)

Piedmont Community Charter School

 

West Side Story

Pine Lake Preparatory

 

Heather the Musical: Teen Edition

Porter Ridge High School

 

Mamma Mia

Providence Day School

 

Peter Pan

Providence High School

 

All Shook Up

Shelby High School

 

The Lightning Thief

South Mecklenburg High School

 

Legally Blonde

Weddington High School

 

Chicago: Teen Edition

West Cabarrus High School

 

The Addams Family

Westminster Catawba Christian School

 

Hello, Dolly!

William Amos Hough High School

The Addams Family

More about the Blumeys

2025 Blumey Awards Handbooks

Categories and Awards

Our goal is to create a magical and exciting evening like that of The Tony Awards, thrilling the audience and the student participants alike. A full house of 2,100 is expected for this evening gala in the Belk Theater, the home of the PNC Broadway Lights Series. Composer David Dabbon of New York will arrange and orchestrate the selections performed for the evening. He will also conduct an orchestra of 20 professional musicians, in addition to our participating Blumey students performing on stage!

Like the Tonys, our ceremony will feature one live number from each of the six Bank of America Best Musical Award finalists. The Blumey Awards opening and closing numbers will highlight all the finalists for Best Actor and Best Actress from each participating school, as well as medleys showcasing the top Best Actor and Best Actress nominees!

Between performances, winners in all 15 categories will be announced with awards presented by local celebrities.

2025 Award Categories

The awards will be given for excellence in the following categories:

  • Bank of America Best Musical (Tier 1 & 2)
  • Best Actor
  • Best Actress
  • Best Supporting Actor
  • Best Supporting Actress
  • Best Featured Performer
  • Best Ensemble/Chorus
  • Best Student Orchestra
  • Best Choreography Execution
  • Best Overall Direction
  • Best Student Costume Designer
  • Best Student Set Designer
  • Best Student Stage Manager
  • Best Student Reporter Award

Adjudication Overview

A panel of three carefully selected qualified professionals will view and evaluate a public performance of each participating school's musical production in the school's home venue. Judges will utilize a comprehensive rubric to score all qualifying categories. After the awards ceremony, adjudication notes will be provided to teachers to share and utilize as appropriate for educational growth. The highest score will determine the winner in each category and winners will be announced during the awards ceremony on May 18, 2025.

 

Each school’s Best Actor and Best Actress nominees will be invited to attend a three-day intensive workshop that includes voice, acting and dance training with industry professionals to prepare them for a second round of adjudication. Schools must be willing to excuse daytime absences for their nominees to attend the intensive. 

 

The second and final round of adjudication will follow the intensives. Each school’s Best Actor and Best Actress nominee will be provided an audition time slot and will be adjudicated by a panel of industry professionals such as casting associates, agents, actors, directors, and producers. 

 

Best Actor and Best Actress winners are determined by a combined total score from their production performance and audition adjudications. 

Blumey Awards Program Education Series

The following FREE opportunities are available to participating schools:

  • Blumey Student Reporter Program
  • Student Players in an Orchestra
  • Audio and Lighting Workshop
  • Stage Combat Workshop
  • Dance Intensive Masterclass
  • My Director Made Me Dance Workshop
  • Stage Management Workshop
  • Set Design Workshop
  • Costume Design Workshop
  • Resume and Headshot Workshop
  • Upping Your Audition Masterclass: Selecting and Refining Your Audition Packet
  • Technical Portfolio Workshop
  • Best Actor/Actress Nominee Blumey Bootcamp

Blumey Student Reporter Program

FAQ

How are the Blumey Award winners selected?

A panel of three Blumenthal-selected judges will attend and score each participating school based on detailed guidelines. The highest score will determine the winner in each category and winners will be announced during the annual awards ceremony.

What is the purpose of the Blumey Awards?

Our goal is to recognize, reward and encourage talent and achievement in musical theater among high school students and highlight the importance of musical theater and arts education. 

Are there other programs like this around the country?

More than 50 cities host similar programs. Patterned after Broadway’s Tony® Awards, a competition for high school musicals was conceived 20 years ago by Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. Since then, the concept has spread across the nation, and in 2009, an annual national awards program, The Jimmy Awards, named after James M. Nederlander, chairman of the Nederlander Producing Company of America, was created to provide a week of professional training in New York for students named Best Actor and Best Actress at the regional awards.

How do I register my school?

Registration for the 2025 Blumey Awards will open October 4, 2024. A registration link will be added to this webpage by 10:00 am on October 4, 2024.

Teachers who attend the information session will recieve advanced priority registration (see above to register).

Registration is free and is limited to the first 50 qualifying schools. Please carefully read the entire handbook (linked above) before registering. 

Sponsors and Supporters

Thank You To Our 2024 Blumey Awards Sponsors

Kelli and Mike Richardson

Learn more about sponsorships

There are a number of ways to partner with Blumenthal Arts on The Blumeys in 2025, including sponsorship and volunteer engagement.

2025 Sponsorship Opportunities

Contact us

For more information about the Blumenthal Arts High School Musical Theater Awards, please email blumeyawards@blumenthalarts.org.