The Columbia Players celebrate winning Best Musical at the High School Musical Theatre Awards at Proctors in Schenectady. (L to R): Logan Ploss ’21 (Will Bloom), director Marc de la Concha and Ethan Ploss ’19 (Edward Bloom).

For the second year in a row, Columbia High School won Best Musical at the High School Musical Theatre Awards at Proctors in Schenectady. The Columbia Players won in 2018 for “Cinderella” and again this year for their performance of “Big Fish.”

The awards were announced on Saturday evening at Proctors.

In all, 30 high schools entered the awards program and nine were nominated for Best Musical (awarded to three schools, one in each group that was determined by the show’s budget). Columbia was nominated along with South Glens Falls (“Sister Act”) and Scotia-Glenville (“Mamma Mia!”) in Tier B. Columbia was also nominated for Best Technical Execution.

“Being in Big Fish has truly been one of the best experiences of my life, and I’m sure that all of my castmates will agree,” said Ethan Ploss ’19, who played Edward Bloom, in his acceptance speech. “So much work has gone into making this show great.”

Watch Columbia Win Best Musical and Ethan Ploss’ Acceptance Speech (start video with 3:30 remaining)