Ready Freddy?

Well, here we go.

Big screams erupt whenever Emmaus High School is mentioned at the  in Easton tonight for its performance of "Phantom of the Opera."

Since the first installment of Patch's coverage of the musical, we've been waiting for this night.

And what a production it was! With Jennifer Pytlewski as the female lead, Christine and Wesly Clerge as the Phantom himself, we knew they would go far.

The first two awards of the evening go to Northern Lehigh and Bethlehem Catholic for orchestra and individual dancer, respectively.

Next to Pius X High School for "The King and I."

For Featured Ensemble, the Freddy goes to: Allentown Central Catholic for "Beauty and the Beast."

Next, at tie and Woohoo! Phantom's first Freddy for Featured Female Ensemble Member! Kayleigh Jardine for her performance as Madame Giry.

Next comes Outstanding Achievement in Lighting: And the Freddy goes to Moravian Academy for "Honk."

For Outstanding Chorus, Dieruff High School wins the Freddy for its production of "Hair."

Our own Jennifer Pytlewski is making her first appearance in the medley performed by several leading ladies. It's incredible when viewers realize these girls are still in high school. They're absolutely amazing -- every single one of them.

For Outstanding Small Performance, the Freddy goes to Southern Lehigh for "Annie."

Oh my gosh. "Masquerade"! Fabulous! And the crowd LOVES them.

And Wes Clerge as the Phantom with Pytlewski. A breathtaking performance.

Now the Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. The excitement is just mounting by the minute. Northwestern Lehigh wins for "Cabaret."

A special award now from Shelley Brown for Most Valuable Player. It goes to a student who has received more nominees than anyone. Congrats to Morgan Reilly from Parkland High School.

Now to the Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. Congratulations to Wilson Area High School.

Turning to the award for Scenery, Freddy recognizes Northern Lehigh's production of "Once on This Island."

The award for Outstanding Choreography goes to Hackettstown High School for "Footloose."

And, another one for Hackettstown High School -- the Vic Kumma Award for Outstanding Solo Vocal Performance goes to Adrienne Novack.

The nominees for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role just finished performing an incredible medley. The judges really had a tough job on this one.

Dieruff High School wins the 2011 Freddy Award for Educational Impact for its production of "Hair." The entire school got involved in studying the 60s and the students who accepted the award called it a "life-changing experience."

Outstanding Stage Crew Award (In honor of Captain Christopher Seifert) goes to North Warren Regional High School for its "Phantom of the Opera."

The Student Achievement Award, sponsored by "The Express-Times" and LehighValleyLive.com, goes to Nicholas Bonsell of Parkland High School. 

The tension is definitely mounting as Parkland wins for Outstanding Production Number. There are only a few awards left.

Best featured performance by an actor goes to Thom Niemann of Blair Academy for "The Drowsy Chaperone." Sam Steele from Moravian Academy wins for best featured performance by an actress. Second win for Moravian tonight for "HONK!"

The Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role goes to Parkland High School’s Ben Mays. Sarah Klingel of Pius X was singled out for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for "The King and I." All nominees in these two categories were truly amazing. So young and so talented.

Overall Production of a Musical by a Smaller School was a tie -- Hackettstown High School for "Footloose" and Wilson Area High School for "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee."

In the final award of the night, Whitehall High School was recognized for Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical for "Lil Abner."

Emmaus has been nominated for 16 awards tonight:

• Outstanding Performance by an Orchestra

• Outstanding Use of Costuming

• Outstanding Performance by a Featured Female Ensemble Member: (Kayleigh Jardine as “Madame Giry”)

• Outstanding Achievement in Lighting

• Outstanding Chorus

• Outstanding Small Ensemble Performance: (Jennifer Pytlewski, Ted Swanson in “All I Ask of You”)

• Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: (Julia Wagner as “Carlotta Guidicelli”)

• Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: (Ted Swanson as “Raoul”)

• Outstanding Use of Scenery

• Outstanding Choreography

• Vic Kumma Award for Outstanding Solo Vocal Performance: (Jennifer Pytlewski in “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again”) 

• Outstanding Stage Crew (In honor of Captain Christopher Seifert)

• Outstanding Production Number: (“Masquerade”)

• Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: (Wesly Clerge as “The Phantom”)

• Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: (Jennifer Pytlewski as “Christine Daae”)

• Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical

Here at the Lower Macungie and Emmaus Patches, we're partial to our Phantom players, (of course!!!) but the performances we're seeing make us wish we had been able to see all 29 performances.