Milwaukee Public TV set to air Tommy Awards tonight

Milwaukee Public Television, and Wisconsin Public Television, will be airing the statewide musical theater “Tommy Awards” tonight.

The Tommy Awards are named in honor of state musical theater alumni Tom Wopat, a Tony Award-nominated singer and actor from Lodi. We probably know him best as Luke Duke from the “The Dukes of Hazzard” that aired from 1979 to 1985.

The Tommy Awards ceremony was held at the Overture Center in Madison in June and featured performances from a number of area high school students on winning productions.

Divine Savior Holy Angels High School, Oconomowoc High School, Shorewood High School, Wauwatosa West High School and Waukesha West High School will be featured in the broadcast running at 8 p.m. on WPT and 9 p.m. on MPTV 10.1 HD and 36.2.

“The 2013 Tommy Awards is part of MPTV’s and WPT’s multi-year collaboration, ‘Young Performers Initiative,’ which celebrates Wisconsin’s young artists,” Milwaukee Public Television reported in a release.

“Overture Center’s Tommy Awards program is an education initiative that recognizes, honors and encourages excellence in musical theater production among area high school students.”

Area winning performances included:

DIVINE SAVIOR HOLY ANGELS HIGH SCHOOL received an Outstanding Musical award for its production of “Legally Blonde,” and an ensemble from the cast of the musical performed at the awards ceremony.

OCONOMOWOC HIGH SCHOOL was honored for Outstanding Musical for their production of “Oklahoma!”  Oconomowoc junior Emily Menting was awarded Outstanding Lead Performer and performed a solo excerpt from “Many A New Day.” Drew Weiland was awarded Outstanding Lead Performer and performed a solo excerpt from “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’.”

SHOREWOOD HIGH SCHOOL was awarded Outstanding Musical for its production of “Spring Awakening,” and ensemble from the cast performed an excerpt from “The Dark I Know Well,” featuring senior Julia Wilkinson and sophomore Marissa Noe.

WAUKESHA WEST HIGH SCHOOL senior Austin Merschdorf was awarded Outstanding Lead Performer in his performance in the school’s production of “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast,” and Merschdorf performed a solo excerpt from “If I Can’t Love Her” from the musical.

WAUWATOSA WEST HIGH SCHOOL was awarded Outstanding Musical for its production of “A Chorus Line,” and a trio ensemble from the cast performed an excerpt from “At the Ballet” at the ceremony.

The production will be rebroadcast at 3 p.m. on Sunday on MPTV 36.1 HD.