Most Valuable Players

In Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley—where sports usually dominate—school systems now vie just as fiercely in the annual Freddy Awards, a sort of junior Tony Awards (named after a theater-ghost mascot) recognizing excellence in high school stage-musical performances. When regional TV personality-turned-theater-CEO Shelley Brown produced the Freddys as a live broadcast extravaganza—with full-blown costumed musical numbers and solos at the historic State Theater Center for the Arts—it became the showbiz/school/media event of the year (and a wellspring of scholarship money for winners). Aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network, filmmaker Matthew D. Kallis's Most Valuable Players takes viewers behind-the-scenes for one season when three schools mount coincident productions of Les Miserables (dig the dueling Fantines), while other finalists bring it on with Bye Bye Birdie, Guys and Dolls and Camelot. Students interviewed even include a few jocks who—whether sidelined by injury or attracted by the footlights—discover a new rush in live entertainment, despite some peer accusations of homosexuality (brushed off as more like good-natured macho ribbing than bullying). A tragic health crisis for one of the principle coordinators of the competition eventually brings a note of gravitas to this amped-up drama full of bubbly show-must-go-on ambiance. Sure to appeal to fans of Glee and the High School Musical franchise, this is recommended. [Note: this is also available for $95 w/PPR for high schools and public libraries, and $295 w/PPR for colleges and universities from Ro*co Films Educational (www.rocoeducational.com).] Aud: H, C, P. (C. Cassady)