Looking back on a decade of Freddy Awards

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/freddy-awards/index.ssf/2012/05/looking_back_on_a_decade_of_fr.html FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES The Freddy Awards, which honor the best in high school theater programs in Lehigh, Northampton and Warren counties, celebrates its 10th anniversary Thursday night. Here’s a look at the awards ceremony over the years: 2003: Twenty-two high schools participated in the inaugural ceremony. Phillipsburg High School was awarded best musical for “Once Upon a Mattress.” 2004: The awards were hosted by WFMZ-TV’s chief meteorologist Ed Hanna, who made a surprise entrance crooning “Singin' in the Rain.” The Freddy for the best musical went to William Allen High School in Allentown for its production of “Jekyll & Hyde.” 2005: Freedom High School took home best musical for “Crazy for You.” 2006: Parkland High School won the best musical award for “Beauty and the Beast.” 2007: Wilson Area High School won for best stage crew. The award is given in the name of U.S. Army Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert, who was killed in 2003 at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait. Seifert was a member of Wilson’s stage crew when he was a student there. Whitehall High School’s “The Scarlet Pimpernel” won best musical. 2008: A documentary film crew from Los Angeles had cameras rolling throughout the program. Canyonback Films later released a full-length documentary called "Most Valuable Players." Emmaus High School’s “Les Miserables” won best musical. 2009: Southern Lehigh High School’s “West Side Story” won best musical. Vic Kumma, who worked at the State Theatre and was the Freddys coordinator from the awards’ inception until his death in late 2008, was memorialized at the ceremony with a video tribute. 2010: A power outage caused by a thunderstorm delayed the show’s start by half an hour. Easton Area High School won best musical for “Ragtime (School Edition).” 2011: The best musical award went to Whitehall High School for “Li’l Abner.” 2012: Freedom High School leads the pack with 17 nominations going into Thursday’s awards ceremony. The show starts 7 p.m. and is being broadcast live on WFMZ-TV Channel 69 from the State Theatre in Easton. The network will air a preshow program starting 6:30 p.m.