With the closing of the musical, cast, crew and audience members all reflect on how they enjoyed the Newsies musical these past weeks.
The cast spent nearly every day after school and it paid off for Disney’s Newsies, a story about newsboys in 1899 fighting for their rights. Will Lemcio plays Davey Jacobs, a character who helps the newsies of New York form a union and lead a strike. “The best thing about performing in front of an audience is when you’ve been practicing the same thing so many times you start to get a little bored with it and then you get an audience. When they cheer for the dances, it feels great. Getting into character as Davey I could see a lot of connections with him and myself because he doesn’t want any trouble, he just wants to get the job done and that’s very much me. We both do whatever we can do to not make a big scene. He’s very focused and here to do the job, not to make friends, but as he goes along, he is more a part of the team,” Lemcio said.
Behind the scenes the backstage crew is running around handling props, costumes, and keeping the audio and lighting in check. The crew helping with the set has turned the high school theater into the New York City streets of 1899 with the outfits from the costume department to match the theme. “I’ll miss in between shows and at mealtime. I like getting to talk to everyone and I think that you get to know people based on the forced proximity. I’m going to miss being around people all the time. It’s so much for tech week. I love it when I’m sitting in the hallway and then a cast member runs past, I love just chatting it up. You meet new people that you wouldn’t know usually,” Sabine Kenney said.
Seeing the show is sure to be worth a visit with audience members leaving positive reviews. “My favorite part of the musical was the big group songs because those were fun. They were at a food place and the waiter there was very funny. I love Jacobi. I’d recommend newsies because it’s very entertaining and it’s fun if you want something to do. The storyline was very clear, and it was done well,” Zachary Wynder said.