The Newsies delivered their musical performance at the Brighton Center for Performing Arts on March 8th-10th and March 14th-17th. Directed by history teacher Michelle Holowicki and choir teacher Phil Johnson, Josh Holowicki, Kristine Stuenkel, and Lindsay Harkins rounded out the creative team. It was lead by Senior Connor Hall, who plays the newspaper strike’s leader Jack Kelly.
“I have given the directors quite the scare throughout rehearsals, I have been very accident prone and almost fallen off of many sets,” Hall said.
The cast of Newsies have been practicing since November. The practices did not really pick up until around January. Then, they switched to having practice just about everyday.
“At the start of our practices they ran until 6 pm after school. Near the end we were there until 10 pm consistently, “ freshman Hannah Crouch said.
Just before opening night, Hall was asked to do a morning interview on the local radio station, 93.5. Hall was there for about 20 minutes talking about the show. The interview took place in Howell, Michigan with Mike and Jon of WHMI.
Senior Connor Young played trumpet for the orchestra pit. The pit was not required to be at the rehearsals until the final weeks. They would go to rehearsal later in the evening while the cast was served dinner. Musicians warmed up as cast members put on their makeup and got into costume.
All the work the cast put in, both on and off the stage was clear, from building a retractable three story set piece to practicing their dancing for hours on end.
The set pieces in the musical showed the hard work of the set crew and cast. With the help of several parents, stage crew, and creative team. Parent Jim Young led the construction of the massive fire escape and other set pieces. Parent Denise Mackew helped paint the set.
“We spent over 500 hours just painting,” Mackew said.
All the students were required to help with set building or decorating or other tasks to help around the musical. The amount of hours varied depending on if were on-stage or off-stage. If were are off-stage they have to work ten hours. If they were on-stage they have to work 20 hours or more.
Those grueling hours paid off, as several important people went to see the cast perform. Ethan Steiner, who plays the character Les in the Broadway version of Newsies saw the show. He also spoke to the cast and crew about it. Even State Representative Elissa Slotkin had attended the show. According to her Facebook page,
“Extra! Extra! Brighton High School’s production of Newsies was incredible! I was blown away the level of talent and work that went into the show. A huge thank you to Superintendent Greg Gray, school board members, and the cast and crew for the warm welcome and backstage pass!”