Sitting in Rezac auditorium, the lights dimming and the live pit starts to play a calm melody. The curtains opened to reveal a hand made set and you see Jack Kelly and Crutchie in Kelly’s penthouse. Manhattan High School’s fine arts performed the musical, “Newsies” on March 6, 7 and 8. Students began working on the play on Dec. 17 to plan this strike against “The World.”
“I think it went really well. We had common struggles, putting everything up together, especially with such a large ensemble,” said senior Julianna da Silva, who played Medda Larkin. “But everything was pieced together really well. And it was all worth it. And everyone had a great time.”
The show had many memorable moments, some that cast members liked more than others.
“My favorite part of the show was definitely when I got us sitting in people’s laps,” da Silva said. “Because it would always be my friends, they would be like, ‘come here, come here.’ I always looked forward to it because it’s like the most interactive I am throughout the show.”
Cast members took time to get to know their characters along with discovering fun facts about them.
“Joseph Pulitzer was actually a real person,” said senior Silas Mire, who played Pulitzer. “I discovered that…Yes, he was the owner of the New York World. He fought in the U.S. Civil War. He had seven children. Then he died in 1911.”
“Newsies” follows a group of paperboys who are fighting against the recent change in newspaper price and better pay. The group of paperboys start a strike to go against Pulitzer and his raised prices. The musical features many songs such as “Carrying the Banner,” “Santa Fe,” “King of New York,” “Watch What Happens,” “Seize the Day” and many more.
“My favorite part about it was just everyone enjoying themselves,” Mire said. “It’s always fun watching people have fun. In musical theater it’s always really fun, even if you’re in the ensemble, it’s a good way to make friends because we’re all one little group.”
The musical also had an open dress rehearsal performance which allowed students who could not attend any of the performances to enjoy the show during school hours.
“We typically do that for our bigger productions,” da Silva said. “It’s typically something that we try to do, especially for people who are better suited for those audiences. It also allows our actors to just have a moment right before opening a show. We like to do that with open rehearsal because it is like experiencing an audience before actually having it.”
For some cast members this is their last performance before graduation. As a parting gift, cast members were also about to take home strike signs and different props.
“Overall, I think it was a pretty good run,” Mire said. “Not too sad because it was a fun show.”
