While the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic dropped the curtain on all but a handful of high school musicals in 2020, most school districts in the Lehigh Valley decided the show must go on for the spring 2021 season.

That should change for the 20th anniversary of the Freddy Awards, with an in-person show planned, 7 p.m. May 26, in the theater and broadcast live on WFMZ television and website.

According to State Theatre Center for the Arts Freddy Awards Coordinator and Producer Jamie Balliet, there are 27 high schools in the Lehigh Valley and Warren County, N.J., participating in the Freddys and planning spring musicals for 2022.

The 2020 Freddys were virtual. The 2021 Freddys included one song-and-dance number that was socially-distanced.

Says State Theatre President and CEO Shelley Brown in an October 2021 interview with Lehigh Valley Press Focus, “This year, so far, one-half of the participating schools say they are doing full-out musicals.”

“People have always said, ‘What are you going to do for the 20th to make it [The Freddys] really special?’ For me, doing it is going to make it special,” Brown says in the October interview.

In 2021, with support from school administrators, parents and the community, high school theater departments, student thespians persevered despite the ever-changing obstacles thrown their way.

In order to follow CDC and Pennsylvania Department of Health COVID social distancing and safety protocol, shows were performed outdoors and-or recorded digitally for online viewing.

Liberty High School’s “Urinetown” and Freedom High School’s “Pippin” played to live audiences on separate weekends in Bethlehem Area School District Stadium.

“Pippin” was chosen to match the talents of the available students, says Freedom director Justin Amann. It was also a flexible fit for the cast of 24.

It was an easy decision to go forward with a show for 2021, according to Amann, saying, “The harder part came with how to pull it off and when would be the best time to do it.”

A three-day nor’easter in February 2021 burst an HVAC pipe in the auditorium, providing another challenge for the Freedom production.

“Our stage was flooded and we lost our stage for two months,” relates Amann. “We were practicing in hallways. We were in dance rooms. We were in the gymnasium. We were outside …” Sets for the show were built in the auditorium aisles.

It was decided to devote limited resources to live performances because the stadium could accommodate a large socially-distanced audience.

Catasauqua High School’s theater department chose to digitize its production of “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” and release it as a video on demand (VOD) for budget reasons. The play was selected because it could be done with a small cast.

“I had only 12 students that were really interested in doing a show. This show fit the bill, plus I felt it was ‘pandemic friendly,’” explains director Brenda McGuire, who adds, “You didn’t have to put students close together to get the story across.”

Key scenes were digitally recorded in and around the high school campus. “I feel this was a positive learning experience for the exploration of another part of the entertainment industry,” McGuire says.

“The Spitfire Grill” at Bethlehem Catholic High School was presented live in-person for one performance, with a digital recording available as VOD for one week.

In part, the play was chosen for its small cast and simple staging. Most of the action takes place in a diner with a few scenes outside the back door.

More importantly, according to director Diana Tice, “It was a very challenging piece of work.” The musical drama was selected for its “story of redemption” in complicated relationships. “We believe that if we raise the bar high they will definitely reach it. And they sure did,” says Tice.

Northampton Area High School opted to put together a tribute video, “Songs from Seasons Past: A Musical Revue.”

“Because our show is typically in March, we felt a showcase would most closely follow the COVID-19 protocols that were still in place at NASD,” says director and choreographer Gianna Neal.

“We were able to give students the opportunity to perform musical theater numbers while also staying safe, which were our top priorities,” Neal adds.

When the pandemic abruptly ended the 2020 season, most high school theater departments were able to repurpose costumes and sets from canceled shows for subsequent productions.

“Doing this musical revue, we were able to reuse a lot of the beautiful sets and costumes that we had made for ‘Cinderella,’” Neal says.

Freedom director Amann says that much of the set and costumes from its shut-down “Mary Poppins” were adapted for a virtual 2020 production of “A Christmas Carol.” Costumes, props and set pieces were loaned to Northwestern Lehigh High School for its 2021 production of “Mary Poppins.”

Freedom got its renovated auditorium back in time for a November 2021 run of “Miracle on 34th Street.”

COVID-related circumstances thwarted 2021 seasons for several theater departments, including those at Salisbury High School, William Allen High School, Dieruff High School, Notre Dame High School, Lincoln Leadership Academy and Moravian Academy.

Every director interviewed for this article overflowed with praise for students involved in the theater productions.

“I really think that students are more resilient than adults. We learned to be adaptive,” says Amann.

Despite setbacks, directors and students welcomed the chance of acquiring new skills. Like McGuire, some directors look to digitally record shows while still offering in-person live performances.

With pandemic restrictions preventing the Freddys’ evaluations process for a second year, the State Theatre Center for the Arts, Easton, and WFMZ-TV produced another televised and online tribute for the Freddy Awards in 2021.

While adhering to COVID protocols, young actors from schools were brought together outdoors to film musical numbers for the “Freddy Awards Celebration,” televised May 27, 2021.

Information: https://statetheatre.org; 1-800-999-7828