Slippery Rock Musical nominated for 9 Mancini school musical awards

May 14—SLIPPERY ROCK — The Slippery Rock High School musical production of "Newsies" has been nominated for nine of the 13 Henry Mancini Awards, including a nomination for best actor.

The musical, which ran from April 11-13, was directed and choreographed by Deanna Sparrow, with help from Alexandra Franco-Tuten, and produced by Denton Zeronas.

"It was an amazing group to work with, and seeing the show come along was really special. Newsies had always been special to me," Sparrow said. "It's about a group of kids coming together to do something and to see our group of kids come along to do this, it's really special and such a special group."

Anderson Franco was nominated for best actor for his role as Jack Kelley. If Franco wins, he will earn a trip to New York City, where he will spend nine days getting the chance to work with theater professionals, and be nominated to win a Jimmy Award, which is a national high school musical theater award.

"Anderson is so talented, when he is on stage he really listens and you can really feel him responding to whatever his character is being told," Sparrow said. "On top of his incredible talent he's also so kind and humble."

On top of the solo nomination, the musical also received eight nominations for awards. Slippery Rock falls within the Budget Level 2 division in all categories, except for best actor, which does not have divisions.

The production is also nominated for Choreography Execution, Best Costume Design, Best Crew/Technical Execution, Best Ensemble, Best Execution of Direction, Best Lighting Design, Best Scenic Design and Best Musical.

Sparrow thanked the crew and cast of more than 80 people, which includes all the parents who had a role in making it come together, for their dedication and hard work.

"It's such an honor to see that a board of musical professionals is able to recognize all the hard work that we did, but more than that I love seeing all the people in our own community recognize that hard work," Sparrow said.

On top of all their nominations, a student, John Barkley, has been selected for a CLO Academy Scholarship. These scholarships allow students to attend Pittsburgh CLO Academy of Musical Theater and take classes for a summer.

The award ceremony will be held on May 19 at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center in Midland, Pa., and will feature performances from many of the nominees, including a performance made up of two members from every participating school.

This year's keynote speaker will be Arielle Jacobs, who starred as Princess Jasmine in the smash-hit Broadway musical Disney's Aladdin.

Founded in 1994, and a program of Lincoln Park since 2014, The Mancini Awards are a celebration of outstanding student achievement in high school musical theatre in Beaver, Butler, Lawrence, and Mercer counties. The Mancini Awards are part of the National High School Musical Theatre Awards (The Jimmy Awards)

The Mancini Awards are named for the late American composer and conductor Henry Mancini, who grew up in West Aliquippa, Pa.

Ty Kohler can be contacted at tkohler@alliednews.com.