​
Westlake High School made history yet again, selling out all five shows. Their spring musical, Disney’s The Little Mermaid, drew in a whole new crowd, kids. It also drew the attention of The Helen Hayes Metropolitan Theater Awards, or Metros for short. The Metro judges came to four out of five performances and nominated two of our castmates for awards: Senior, Olivia Schettino and Sophomore, Dean Kapica.
Schettino played the role of Ariel, a curious mermaid who falls in love with a human and trades her voice to the evil sea witch, Ursula, to become human for three days. Her outstanding vocals scored her a Best Female Vocal nomination. “I was overwhelmed by relief,” Schettino exclaimed, “And happiness!!”
Kapica, who played the role of the fat and funny Chef Louis, was nominated for Best Cameo Appearance. “It’s an honor and a privilege and I’m extremely happy,” Kapica noted, “I thank Mr. Cutrone for everything and I want to thank everyone for the support; it’s an honor.”
“I am very excited that two of our cast members were recognized and given nominations in their respective categories. Olivia is an incredible talent and did a fantastic job as Ariel. I’m also very proud of Dean Kapica in his incredibly funny comic performance as Chef Louis. The whole cast did an amazing job and it’s a thrill to have some people singled out and recognized,” Philip J. Cutrone, director of The Little Mermaid said.
There are 53 schools participating in the Metro Awards this year ranging from Bergen County, New Jersey to Westchester County, New York.
The nominations were announced Tuesday, May 16 at 7:00 on lohud.com. The school with the most nominations was Archbishop Stepinac High School with 18 nominations.
Last year, Archbishop Stepinac High School and Hastings High School led with 14 nominations, including Outstanding Overall Production. Also last year, Westlake scored four nominations: Actress in a Supporting Role (Carina Papa as Betty Rizzo); Outstanding Male Vocalist (Anthony Minda as Teen Angel; Best Male Dancer (Mike Anderson as Kenickie); and Best Stage Crew.
The 19th annual Metro Awards are June 12 at SUNY Purchase. The lead actress and actor nominations are required to sing 16 bars of any song they performed in their show. Also, any show that’s been nominated for Outstanding Overall Production gets to perform a little bit of their show for the audience.
Although none of Westlake’s Nominees will be performing at the Metros, they have accomplished something even bigger: representing Westlake theater. They’ve both done a terrific job with their roles and the cast and crew wishes them the best of luck at the award ceremony.