BEST THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS

BEST THEATRICAL PRODUCTION - MUSICAL
Fiddler on the Roof Springfield Muni Opera You know we are a town that loves our theater when we brave the mosquitoes to head out to the Muni in droves at least four times a year every summer. No show brought out the Off Spray-coated crowds quite like Fiddler on the Roof. Directed by Chuck Hoots, and starring Muni’s own jack-of-all-trades Steve Kaplan (he sings, he acts, he directs, he sits on the board, he drills teeth!) as Tevye, Fiddler is the classic Broadway tale of a poor milkman and his family in a 1905 Russian shtetl as he attempts to maintain his strong faith in the face of his daughters’ changing lives, while the Tsar is evicting Jews from their village. It’s a beloved story of clinging to tradition as the world around you changes.
Runner-up: The Muni’s High School Musical

BEST THEATRICAL PRODUCTION - DRAMA
As You Like It University of Illinois at Springfield Shakespeare’s tale of love, deception and cross-dressing has been performed many times, many ways, in many places. For the first time ever, UIS was the stage, and its students not-so-merely the players. Associate Professor of Theatre, Eric Thibodeaux- Thompson tells us that the show came about as schoolwork. “For the 2008-2009 school year, my idea was to offer, in tandem, a Shakespeare class and a Shakespeare production.” The class, “Playing Shakespeare,” was offered for the first time in the fall of 2008 and by spring, they were ready to take the stage, with Thibodeaux-Thompson encouraging his students to audition. “We had a total of 18 actors in 23 roles. Approximately 80 percent were students, with 20 percent community actors, faculty and alumni. I enjoy a mix of students and community actors. I was very proud in a lot of ways.”
Runner-up: Rod Blagojevich Superstar!

BEST HIGH SCHOOL PRODUCTION
Back to the 80s Sacred Heart-Griffin High School Written like a teen comedy, Back to the 80s features an array of songs more often heard on your favorite mix tape. “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” “Come On Eileen,” and the Rick Astley 80s classic/modern-day Internet sensation “Never Gonna Give You Up” are some hits in this show, first staged in Australia in 2004. Narrated by a near-30 man waxing nostalgic on his high school years in the Me Decade, it’s fun, lively and really colorful. Neons abound. Never heard of it? Director and teacher Bill Bauser reminds us that this is nothing new for SHG. “SHG likes to do shows that are undiscovered. It was fun for the faculty and staff to work on a show with music we grew up with, and fun for the kids to discover a new decade of music they wouldn’t normally get to sing in school.”
Runner-up: Glenwood High School’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat