In April, students at Mingus Union High School performed “Crazy for You,” a musical full of American composers George and Ira Gershwin standards.
On May 26, Mingus Union students performed one last time with songs like “I’ve Got Rhythm.”
But instead of singing and dancing on the stage at Mingus, the students performed on the Arizona State University Gammage stage in Tempe, and their audience was judges for the Arizona High School Musical Theatre Awards. Mingus, along with the other high schools, was in attendance competing for statewide theater awards.
“It’s the same stage that ‘Hamilton’ was on, so they were all geeking out on that,” said Mingus theater and musical director James Ball. “It’s a really fun event for them.”
The awards were selected by a three-judge panel who came to an April performance of “Crazy for You.” In addition to selecting finalists and winners of the awards, the judges gave feedback to the performers, which Ball said was overwhelmingly positive.
The Mingus troupe was nominated for several awards at the event and it also won an award. Alex Goltz, Mingus student and sound designer for the performances in April, won the statewide award for Best Sound Design.
With Goltz receiving the award, Ball raved about Goltz’s success in overcoming the challenge of balancing the more than 30 on-stage performers and the pit orchestra.
Ball also noted some of the feedback the production received.
“The other comment was that the solos were EQ’ed correctly, meaning that the voice coming through the microphone sounded natural and not synthetic,” Ball said.
In addition to Goltz winning, Mingus had many of its student nominees named as top 10 finalists from the 32 musicals competing. The performance was named a top 10 finalist for Best Musical and Male Lead. Mingus student Preston Chalmers was named top 10 for Best Male Lead and Best Dancer, along with Malia Duarte who was listed as top 10 for Best Supporting Actress. Mingus student Zayne Hirsch was also listed as top 10 for Best Supporting Actor, Shenoah Williams was recognized for Best Prop Design, and Amyah Lee and Sara Boykin were voted for Best Hair and Makeup Design.
In addition, Audrey Worden was a state finalist for Best Female Lead and Best Vocalist.
“Every year I go, I just never expect to win anything, so anything that happens is a complete surprise,” Ball said.
Four years ago, the school won several state championship awards during the first year of the competition for its production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” but Ball said he feels that since the number of competitors has expanded in the years since, this win feels even more rewarding.
“This year, to have one state champion and to know that we have so many top 10 finalists of the categories, to me was a much more banner year than in the couple years past,” Ball said.
Ball said he had hoped that Chalmers would have won Best Dancer, and he felt Chalmers was likely to after the extensive choreography of the show. However, Ball admitted that after seeing the winning competitor in a performance of “Singin’ in the Rain,” he realized that the competition was steep.
“Going down there and seeing the other schools, some are absolutely incredible,” Ball said. “Some we can say, ‘Hey we actually hold up our own for Northern Arizona.”
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
