The most critical eyes, those of pre-pubescent teens. That’s who the Newsies company performed Act I for on Friday, Nov. 7., in preparation for opening night.
“It was the people that participated in theater from PCMS. But then we were also told it was all of the eighth graders from PPMS,” senior Nathan Snyder said. “So there were like 200 pre-pubescent teens in our auditorium watching us perform.”
Having an audience to perform for and not just empty chairs made a big difference to the cast. With a few rocky moments in the process of creating Newsies, Snyder pointed out that the pressure of the audience helped increase the effort and motivation of the cast, with fellow peers agreeing with this “up” in momentum.
“I would definitely say that it kicked our production into gear,” senior Iman Elmi said. “I think a lot of students kind of realized that it’s serious, our show is coming up, it’s very soon, and a lot of the transitions that we weren’t too sure of, or the blocking or movement became a lot more apparent whenever they had people in front of them watching.”
Newsies is a harder production to pull together, in all aspects of the show. On stage, you have a large ensemble in the spotlight, rather than just following a single character the whole time. Furthermore, on top of the rigorous singing and dancing that has to be done in this ensemble, the pit band is another tedious part of the show.
With thirteen members of the pit band and three directors, the pit band is a pivotal part of the production. Dr. Matthew Bonsignore conducts, and Kylee Smith plays the keys, this partnership shows the collaboration it takes to pull off a production such as Newsies. But overall, practice makes perfect for the pit band.
“Our rehearsals for the past few months have been really beneficial in getting us to know our own parts,” senior Kylie VanNess said. “So that when we get with the cast and they’re taking their tempos all differently or something, it’s easier to adjust.”
Rehearsals for the pit have been twice a week from 7-9 p.m., rehearsing without the cast to begin with. Moving into November, the pit began rehearsing with the cast in order to start putting parts together and making adjustments. Initially, there was some conflict between the ensemble and pit, with many members of the cast becoming sick leading up to the showing.
The intricate set of the stage is also a very influential factor of the production. Most of the set pieces are large and have wheels that enable them to be moved by the cast on, off, and around the stage depending on the scene. These moveable pieces can be a hazard if not correctly placed or stopped. During the showing for the middle schoolers, a potentially threatening situation occurred while moving a piece of the set.
“One particular set piece, a staircase, did not go where it was supposed to,” VanNess said. “But Charlotte Sweet [female lead] and Finley Pennington [male lead] are wonderful. They continued on with their scene anyways, and they adapted.”
VanNess, seeing this from the pit, explained that the people that were in charge of moving the set wanted to fix their mistake and jerked the whole structure a foot to the left while Sweet and Pennington were still on it, singing and dancing. According to members of the cast and pit, this is not the first time that’s happened.
With all that was observed, the conclusion of the first act allowed for the middle schoolers in the audience to ask questions and tour the stage. Some students looking into continuing in theater had some beneficial questions for the cast.
“I am a co-designer for hair and makeup, and there were a lot of really interested people in how they can get themselves involved in designing and helping out backstage for their own musical, which is ‘Suessical’ in the spring.” Elmi said. “So I just talked to them, and I told them, talk to your teachers, because your teachers are always going to be really helpful, and they’re going to want you to succeed, and it gives you so much expertise for when you get to high school.”
Some students, though, had some questions out of their youthful curiosity.
“They asked us how a normal rehearsal would go, how we got hair and makeup,” Snyder said. “Then afterward, one of the middle schoolers asked me specifically if I was an adult man, and I had to inform her that I was just a 17-year-old senior. She proceeded to look me up and down and went, ‘Oh’. So that felt great, felt really confident about that.”
With the chaos of stage malfunctions and middle schoolers, the cast and pit have identified the points they need to hit on and ensured the progress moving into the second act. With showings on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and an additional 2 p.m. showing on Saturday, the Newsies of Platte County are sure to take down “The World” with their performance.
