It was the best day ever for everyone involved with Parkland’s The SpongeBob Musical when the production received 12 Freddy nominations. Working relentlessly to perfect the show led to them earning the highest honor at the ceremony. 

The Freddy’s is an annual ceremony to acknowledge and reward exceptional high school music theater productions and performances in the Lehigh and Northampton Counties, Pennsylvania, and Warren County, New Jersey. The ceremony’s goal is to give exceptional students in theater the same recognition athletes get for their talents. This year the ceremony took place on May 23rd at 7 PM and was broadcast live on WFMZ. 

The Freddy Award ceremony consists of schools nominated for best show performing a song from their show, scholarships, and awards. There are awards for individual performances and for the efforts of the entire cast and crew. 

Among the 12 nominations The SpongeBob Musical earned, four of them were for individual performances. Vasilis Motsenigos(11) as SpongeBob was nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. Ethan Silver(12) as Patchy the Pirate was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Ensemble Member. Eric Wood(12) as Squidward Q. Tentacles was nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. Agidio Poloni(11) as Patrick Star was nominated for Outstanding Featured Performance by an Actor. Poloni admitted, “I honestly didn’t think [I was going to receive a nomination]. I didn’t even know that it was a category, so when they announced my name, I was just shocked.” 

The SpongeBob Musical is extremely fun and unique. This made it challenging to execute. “SpongeBob was a deceptively difficult show to put together.  There were so many technical aspects in lighting and sound, complex harmonies in the music and very specific character work in this production that made this show a challenging one,” stated the director, Lori Colacito.

At the Freddy’s, the cast and crew didn’t fail to win some hardware to put on display in the A-Wing. The SpongeBob Musical won Outstanding Ensemble. The dynamic duo of SpongeBob and Patrick made their mark at the ceremony. Motsenigos as SpongeBob won Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role and Poloni as Patrick Star tied for Outstanding Featured Performance by an Actor. Everyone involved with the show received their final standing ovation when they won Overall Outstanding Production of a Musical. 

Winning this award is the ultimate goal of every theater. It shows how dedicated everyone on stage and behind the scenes was to make this production phenomenal. Ethan Silver said, “The musical had an extraordinary team of people behind it. From the direction, music direction, stage crew, pit, choreography, and costumes, everyone worked hard for the show to succeed. I think that Spongebob received so many nominations because the show is unbelievably fun and spreads joy to the audience.”