Carver High School Theater Cast and Crew Bring Home 7 Tommy Tune Awards

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The Choice School’s “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical” production received the Outstanding Musical Award.

The 2023 Tommy Tune Awards from Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) returned triumphantly to the stage this year as a loud crowd cheered with delight at each award. The annual ceremony spotlights Houston area students’ talents.

Carver High School’s theater, a finalist in 10 categories in the 2023 Tommy Tune Awards, took home seven awards in the Tier 1 competition.

7 Tommy Tune Awards Go to Carver HS Theater

Outstanding Musical — Summer: The Donna Summer Musical

Outstanding Director — Roshunda Jones-Koumba, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical

Outstanding Music Direction — Pamela Dickson, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical

Outstanding Costume Design — Bailey Day and Cora Frasier, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical

Outstanding Stage Management — Emani Caston and Niya Kelly, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical

Outstanding Actor — Ryan Randolph, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical

Outstanding Dancer — Faith Bumper, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical

Actor/singer Michael James Scott

Forty-seven Houston area schools participated in the Tommy Tune Awards. As one of the seven best musical nominees, the troupe performed “Hot Stuff” and “Last Dance” from Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. Outstanding Leads, Actor, and Dancer nominees Morgan Childs, Alyssa Dorsey, Ryan Randolph, Faith Bumper, and Giovanni González-Cisneros performed in featured numbers throughout the evening. Morgan and Alyssa also performed in the leading actor medleys and the other nominees in their category. Delores Sells and students from different participating schools performed with Broadway actor and host for the evening Michael James Scott.

Director Roshunda Jones and Technical Theater Director Jabari Collins lead the Carver Theater Department. Beginning in 2008, Jones and Collins started to have their theater students compete in the Tommy Tune Awards program. To date, Carver has earned over 109 nominations. This year is the seventh time Carver has received the Best Musical nomination.

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Jones-Koumba and Collins thank the entire production team: Denzel Taylor, choreographer and Carver alum; Pamela Dickson, musical director; Donte Wright, assistant musical director and Carver alum; Bryce Nelson, on drums and Carver orchestra; Elias Flores, sound director and alum; Carol Stone, vocal coach; Cordero Jennings, multimedia projections and alum; Trey Lewis, graphics and Carver alum; and Kristin Wilson, photographer and Eisenhower Ninth School theatre director.

Through the power of education, artistry, and community, the Tommy Tune Awards give students the opportunity to share their creative accomplishments with their greater-Houston community.

“We are ecstatic to be back in person this year,” said Jacob Shideler, TUTS Interim Director of Education. “Seeing these students shine and support one another in this shared passion for the arts is the greatest thing about the Tommy Tune Awards.”

A Theatre Under The Stars program, the Tommy Tune Awards, recognizes and rewards excellence in musical theatre artistry by high school students and their teachers in the greater Houston metropolitan area. The Tommy Tune Awards, named after the Broadway legend and Houston native, offer an opportunity for students and educators to share their creative accomplishments while instilling in young people the value of engaging in the performing arts as a lifelong pursuit.

Throughout the 2022-23 school year, adjudicators evaluated every participating school’s show, focusing on each element of the production. The adjudicators are a group of Houston-based theatre professionals with backgrounds as performers, designers, directors, choreographers, and musicians; and with years of experience in arts education and administration.

The Tommy Tune Awards are named for Broadway legend, Houston native, and Lamar High School alumnus Tommy Tune. A performer, director, and choreographer with more than 50 years of stage experience, Tune received nine Tony Awards for his work in the following productions: Seesaw, My One and Only, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, Nine, Grand Hotel and The Will Rogers Follies. He was also awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2003 by President Bush.