A number of Tri-City performers are up for Ovation! awards this month for Metro Vancouver musicals they appeared in — or were a part of — last year.
Port Coquitlam’s Valerie Easton is nominated in the category of Outstanding Direction of a Musical for Cabaret, a Royal City Musical Theatre production that ran last spring at the Massey Theatre in New Westminster.
She is also a finalist for Outstanding Choreography of a Musical for Cabaret, and for the Arts Club Theatre’s Mamma Mia.
Easton faces Nicol Spinola in the latter category; the Coquitlam dance teacher is shortlisted for her steps in Cinderella, a Theatre Under the Stars musical that ran last summer at the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park.
Coquitlam’s Erin Aberle-Palm is named in the Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Musical - Female category for her portrayal of Mary Hatch in the Gateway Theatre’s It’s a Wonderful Life.
And Port Coquitlam’s Damon Calderwood is listed in the Outstanding Supporting Performance of a Musical - Male for taking on the role of Herr Schultz in Cabaret.
Gleneagle secondary graduate Max Hall is up against Owen Scott, a Grade 6 student at Eagle Mountain middle, in Outstanding Newcomer in a Musical - Male for their respective parts in Pageant: A Musical Parody (Something Extra Collective) and A Christmas Story (Align Entertainment).
Meanwhile, the Coquitlam-based Align Entertainment — run by Tri-City residents Chad Matchette, owner and artistic director of the Lindbjerg Academy of the Performing Arts, and Patti Volk — is shortlisted Outstanding Community Production of a Musical for Legally Blonde; its children’s ensemble in A Christmas Story has already earned a special Ovation! award from the jury.
The winners will be announced Jan. 27 at the Vancouver Academy of Music.
