P.O. Box 691 Sebring Florida USA 33871 Tel: 863-382-2525
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P.O. Box 691 Sebring Florida USA 33871 Tel: 863-382-2525 |
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Judy Vekasy - Always up to tempo By: Roy Riedy |
Judy Vekasy is a retired R.N., a pianist and organist. She is the mother of 4 and the grandmother of 4, and is married to (as she puts it) long suffering Lou. She began Little Theatre work in Adamsville, Tennessee in 1981, and move to Highlands Ridge in 2000. She has been the accompanist for many musicals before she moved to Sebring and her first musical assignment at the Little Theatre was Frank Oberhausen's masterful musical, The King and I, in January, 2001, a musical that shared first place with Melanie Boulay for holding the most awards in HLT history until the 29th Season, when Frank Oberhausen and Kathy MacNeill directed Man of La Mancha, and broke that record. The King and I was also the musical that provided Judy with a nomination for a Production/Technical Zenon for Musical Director and Accompanist.
In November of 2001 Judy was once more working with Frank Oberhausen and Kathy MacNeill on their Season opener, Guys and Dolls, again as Music Director and Accompanist. The play had to compete with Joe Willis' sensational Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Melanie Boulay's popular Peter Pan, but despite that stiff competition, Judy was awarded her first Zenon for her musical contributions to both Guys and Dolls and Peter Pan, the latter for which she directed the orchestra.
During the performances of Peter Pollard's Foxfire, Joe Willis' Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Mike Logsdon's Move Over Mrs. Markham, Judy and her husband Lou, worked as House managers and in the Box Office.
The Twenty-ninth Season opened with Frank Oberhausen and Kathy MacNeill's remarkable revival of Man of La Mancha, and Judy was teamed up with Frank and Kathy for a third time as their musical director and accompanist. At the 18th Zenon Ceremonies in October, 2003, Man of La Mancha broke all existing Zenon records by amassing 10 Zenons making it the most decorated musical in Zenon history.
So far, and it's only three years, Judy Vekasy has worked on five musicals at Highlands Little Theatre, been nominated for three Zenons and been awarded two; she has been mentioned in thirteen Little Theatre Newsletters, and in twenty-four local newspaper articles for a citation factor of 49. Mrs. Vekasy has become a powerful force at HLT and we are very happy that she is here to keep us up to tempo.
