The McCoy Rigby Excellence in Arts Awareness Honoree
George Pennacchio
George Pennacchio is the longtime entertainment reporter for ABC7 Eyewitness News. He also hosts the station’s yearly Oscar pre and post-shows, which are syndicated LIVE all around the world.
During his broadcasting career, George has won three Emmy Awards. He has been been honored with the Press Award by The Publicists Guild of America for his coverage of the entertainment industry, won several National Entertainment Journalism Awards, and he's only one of six journalists who have received the Critics' Critic Award from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, North America's largest critics group.
George serves on the board of the charity group, The Thalians, which raises money for mental health awareness, currently supporting our Wounded Warriors. In their spare time, George and his wife, Erin, love to travel, and have spent the last two decades sharing their home with rescued greyhounds, and they currently live with their “girls,” Emmy and Audrey.
Our Faith, Trust and Fairy Dust Honorees
CHELSEA FRANKO
Chelsea Emma Franko is an award winning actress and singer from Southern California.
When she was 22 years old, Chelsea won the prestigious competition, LA’s Next Great Stage Star which opened doors for her to perform around the country. Some of her favorite regional credits include Marta in Company; Gloria Thorpe in Damn Yankees; Ado Annie in Oklahoma!; Lady of the Lake in Spamalot; Roxie Hart in Chicago and Wednesday in The Addams Family.
Her solo debut cabaret “Chelsea Emma Franko: The Girl From Apple Valley” won her the broadwayworld.com Critics Choice Award for Best Female Cabaret Artist in 2012.
Chelsea is very thankful to be one of the first women to portray Elsa in the World Premier cast of Frozen: Live at the Hyperion in Disney’s California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort. She was also chosen by Disney to appear as Elsa in a series of national commercials for the Disneyland Resort.
In 2017 and 2018, Chelsea traveled across the US and Canada on the Second National Tour of Wicked as the Standby for Elphaba. After 15 months of “defying gravity,” Chelsea came home to work for the Mouse, where she can still be seen every week climbing ice stairs and “letting it go.”
Brent Barrett
Brent Barrett, is no stranger to the stages of Broadway, the West End, concert halls, recording studios and television. On Broadway, Brent has played “Billy Flynn” in CHICAGO-the Musical, has toured numerous times with the production, and received a Los Angeles Drama Critics Award. He played “Captain Hook”, opposite Cathy Rigby’s, Peter Pan. He spent two years in Las Vegas as the “Phantom” in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular, and played the role in Germany for six months, in German. He received an Olivier Award nomination for his starring role in the London premiere of Kiss Me, Kate, which was recorded for PBS. Other Broadway roles include "Tony" in the 1980 revival of West Side Story, “Frank Butler" in the revival of Annie Get Your Gun opposite Reba McEntire, "Charles Castleton" in the Alan Jay Lerner-Charles Strouse musical Dance a Little Closer, "Baron Felix Von Gaigern" in Grand Hotel, (also in the West End) "Maximillon" in Candide, and "Tommy Albright" in New York City Opera's Brigadoon. Brent originated the role of “Hannibal, the cannibal, Lecter”, in Silence! The Musical. He also starred in the City Center Encores! production of The Pajama Game and as King Arthur in the Paper Mill Playhouse’s Camelot. Off-Broadway credits include Closer Than Ever and March of the Falsettos. Numerous regional theater credits include: “Ben” in Follies, “Lawrence” in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, “Georges” in La Cage.
Brent has received critical acclaim performing as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, The Royal Albert and Royal Festival Hall in London, with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, Minnesota Opera, Opera Pacific, Michigan Opera, the Birmingham Symphony and the Liceu Opera House in Barcelona. Brent is the founding member and producer of The Broadway Tenors, and is also part of The Four Phantoms in Concert. Solo albums include Christmas Mornings, The Alan Jay Lerner Album and The Kander and Ebb Album. Other recordings include Brigadoon, Grand Hotel, Dance a Little Closer, Closer Than Ever, One Touch of Venus, and The Maury Yeston Songbook.
On television and in film Brent was featured in The Producers, Stealing Chaplin, Hercules, Longtime Companion and All My Children. Visit BrentBarrett.com.
