On November 13th, after school in the auditorium, the theater director of Lafayette High School, Mrs. McCorry finally unveiled what the new musical would be! You must have heard it’s, the well-known movie and Broadway hit, “Newsies”. For those who don’t know, “Newsie”s is a musical based on the Newsboy Strike of 1899. Adapted from the screenplay by Bob Tzudiker and Noni White, it is known for its contemporary dance style and rugged American feel. It emphasizes hope and the early ideas of freedom and power of the people in an entertaining form that any audience is bound to connect with.
As expected, everybody had different ideas of what this year’s play would be, specifically one student who was called out in the auditorium that day. He had set his heart on another well-known movie and beloved Broadway show “Mamma Mia” as Wyland Hanchey explained to me after asking him about this inside joke ” …the student’s favorite musical of all time was Mama Mia. In our Theater class, Mrs. McCorry would always say it’s not “Mamma Mia” and wink at him, so when the unveiling happened, he acted like it was “Mamma Mia” and then actually revealed it was Newsies.” It seems the LHS Theater Company is full of surprises!
Reactions have varied around the school ,some saying that the musical was overdone and were bummed out by it. Some were overjoyed being that it was nostalgic, a musical they had grown up knowing. Even so, you also have students that are oblivious as Taleesha Mcpherson who said “Girl, I don’t know nothing about the musical!” Regardless, we have yet to see what the theater company will do with this 1992 Award-winning musical.
It comes to question, who will play the lead roles of the cast? How will the dances be performed and choreographed? Will the Musical be advertised well enough to be a hit? Will 2 months be enough time to pull off such a musical, while still performing the one-act play? Is it too male-heavy for roles to be successful? It seems that these questions have been asked, and we will have to wait until the performance dates in February to find the answers.
One verdict is because of the iconic music, over-the-top dances, and old-school costumes this is bound to be another fun show to look back and smile on. Not only by the cast, butalso by those who get to enjoy it from the seats.
As always, the LHS Theater company is full of surprises…
