By Joe Contreras, Latin Life Denver Media, Bobby G winners information provided by the Denver Center for Performing Arts (See videos and list of winners below)

Oh, what a night it was. A night to remember. May 17, 2024. To say the excitement was through the roof would be an understatement. They came from throughout the state of Colorado. From both rural and urban communities. Entire families, teachers, friends, and fellow classmates traveled to Denver for the annual Bobby G Awards recognizing outstanding achievements in the production of high school musical theatre. The awards ceremony serves as an opportunity for the DCPA to honor Colorado musical theatre programs and for students to celebrate and support each other.

The Bobby G Awards are named for Robert ‘Bob’ Garner who paved the way for Broadway theatre in Denver. Garner passed away in 1989. The awards were founded by Garner’s successor and former Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) President Randy Weeks who passed away in 2014. Weeks began the Bobby G Awards in 2013 when he decided that high school theatre students deserved as much attention as high school athletes.

Make no mistake. The Bobby G Awards are the Colorado state championships of theatre. Just as in the Tony Awards in New York there are winners and losers, elation and disappointment. “Theatre is the ultimate team sport” said one of the recipients. When you consider all the elements and the hours in staging a theatrical production, those words certainly ring true.

It’s not just all about the performers, there is sound design, scenic design, lighting design, costume design, hair & make-up design, stage management, musical direction, choreography, chorus, musical direction and of course direction.

After receiving 13 nominations, Castle View High School’s production of Frozen took home five awards, including Outstanding Achievement in Direction and Musical Direction.

ThunderRidge High School’s production of Mean Girls: High School Edition received three awards in highly anticipated categories, including Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical. Gabi Karl took home one of the Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role awards; Caleb Kezeor from Woodland Park High School’s production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame received the other.

Gabi and Caleb will be invited to represent Colorado at the Jimmy Awards on Broadway. The event will take place on June 24 at the Minskoff Theatre, home of Disney’s The Lion King. The program impacts approximately 100,000 students annually who participate in high school musical theatre competitions sponsored by over forty professional theatres throughout the US.

The Jimmy Awards have kickstarted many performers’ careers: Reneé Rapp who starred in the recent Mean Girls movie musical; Andrew Barth Feldman who starred opposite Jennifer Lawrence in the Netflix movie No Hard Feelings; and dozens of Broadway stars including Eva Noblezada, Casey Likes, and Justin Cooley.

2024 Bobby G Award winners are listed below. For a full list of nominees and winners, please visit denvercenter.org/bobbygawards.

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Outstanding Achievement in Hair & Make-Up Design

Kendall Wilson

Frozen, Castle View High School

Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design

Molly Arndt & Edy Lang

Frozen, Castle View High School

Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Design

Alexander Heinrich

Into the Woods, Fossil Ridge High School

Outstanding Achievement in Scenic Design

Alexa Fritzler, Hillary Slezack & Christian Cote

Into the Woods, Fossil Ridge High School

Outstanding Performance by an Orchestra

Frozen, Castle View High School

Outstanding Performance by a Chorus

Bright Star, Denver School of the Arts

Outstanding Achievement in Musical Direction

Jay McGuffin, Heath Walter & Rochelle Walter

Frozen, Castle View High School

Outstanding Achievement in Choreography

Alec Doherty, Emily Burkart & Alex Burkart

Chicago: Teen Edition, Cherry Creek High School

Claudia Carson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Stage Management

Zoe Goldman

Catch Me If You Can, Erie High School

Robert & Judi Newman Rising Star Award

Zack Rymkiewicz

Damian; Mean Girls: High School Edition, ThunderRidge High School

Outstanding Achievement in Direction

Rochelle Walter, John Dreher & Sophie Lemire

Frozen, Castle View High School

Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical

Mean Girls: High School Edition, ThunderRidge High School

Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role

Ana Barringer

Bambi Bernet; Curtains, Liberty High School

Ben Davis

Monster; Young Frankenstein, Littleton High School

Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role

Gabi Karl

Janis; Mean Girls: High School Edition, ThunderRidge High School

Caleb Kezeor

Quasimodo; The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Woodland Park High School

Special Achievement Award Recipients

Outstanding Special Achievement in Sound Design

Mallory Clark & Stella Epstein

Heathers: High School Edition, Fort Collins High School 

Outstanding Special Achievement in Puppetry

Noah Reske, Kayden Hill & Cain Housand

Little Shop of Horrors, Riverdale Ridge High School 

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ABOUT THE JIMMY AWARDS:

The National High School Musical Theatre Awards® (NHSMTA®), otherwise known as the Jimmy Awards®, was established in 2009 by Pittsburgh CLO and Nederlander Alliances, a division of The Nederlander Organization, to elevate the importance of theatre arts education in schools and reward excellence in student performance. The program impacts approximately 100,000 students annually who participate in high school musical theatre competitions sponsored by over forty professional theatres throughout the US.

Since its inception, NHSMTA has been the catalyst for more than $6,000,000 in educational scholarships awarded to deserving young performers. Named for Broadway impresario James M. Nederlander, this year-round program is administered by The Broadway League Foundation Inc.