Newtown's Taylor Varga Takes National Best Actor Award

Newtown's own Taylor Varga took the national spotlight Monday night -- and ended the night with the national recognition many Newtown residents already knew he deserved.

The star of this spring's NHS musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying took Best Actor at the National High School Musical Theatre Awards at the Minskoff Theatre in New York CIty, theatre blogger Nancy Sasso Janis reports. 
Varga went through a months-long series of challenges -- alongside 50,000 students from 1,000 schools -- to make it to the stage at the Minskoff. The recent graduate, who capped off four years of spring musicals with How to Succeed, will receive a $10,000 scholarship, according to U.S. News and World Report.

In addition, Bristol's Jillian Cailloutte was among the national finalists. In her most recent blog post, Janis writes of the two:

"Along with their chaperone, Mark Mazzarella (Teacher, St. Paul HS. Bristol) they have spent this past week in workshops, coaching sessions, talk-backs with Broadway actors, rehearsals for tonight with choreographers and musical directors and being seen by significant talent agents, all in preparation for tonight. It's not about the award, it's about what you learn on the journey."

For more about Varga and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, revisit Janis's review of the musical, published prior to its opening in May.