Lethbridge Musical Theatre is back after a five year hiatus with a massive collaborative production of Newsies, happening at the Yates Theatre, Nov. 1-9.
Lethbridge Musical Theatre teamed up with Chinook High School students and their teacher Dave Mikuliak, who directs the 60-member cast.
“It’s a massive production. It’s a large show. It has big energy, And it’s a joyful show, so if you want to be entertained, come to the Yates Theatre. Because we‘d love you to see Newsies,” Mikuliak said.
Newsies allows the actors to really explore all three of the triple threat skills — singing, acting, and especially dancing.
He got the students to rehearse as part of their classes. Mikuliak chose his cast after auditions in June. He is especially pleased with how well it has come together.
“ It’s gone really well. Everyone has really gelled,” he said adding the 30 students have been working well with the 30 community members.
“They’ve really learned a lot. It’s been really reciprocal between my students and the more experienced community members. It’s really been inspiring,” he enthused. He has a long history of working with Lethbridge Musical Theatre going back to 1989, so he is excited to bring Newsies back as a LMT production.
Chinook High School teacher Alisha Hornberger has developed a lot of dance choreography for the production.
“ There are six of my own students in the production, but almost everyone has had to learn to tap dance from scratch,” she said.
“And my sister Hillary has co-choreographed it with me. She has extensive theatre experience,” she said.
“ It has been exciting to watch students who were not comfortable with dancing or nervous about dancing, learn to dance,” Mikuliak added.
Newsies is inspired by the 1899 newsboys strike in New York City, but it touches on a lot of social issues.
“It’s based on a historical event at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was the beginning of unions and workers rights and women’s rights, he said.
The story is about Jack Kelly, who leads a newsboys strike against newspaper mogul Joseph Pulitzer.
“ But there is a love story too as Jack falls in love with Jospeh Pulitzer’s daughter, who is a journalist at the paper, which was really rare then,” Mikuliak continued.
Getting to play the lead of Katherine is a “dream come true” for third year University of Lethbridge sciences student Nicole Furlan.
“ I remember I drove to New York City in 2012 or so with my family and we saw that show and I fell in love with it. It was my dream to be part of it. I never expected it be the lead, I was just hoping for a small a part in it,” Furlan enthused.
“I haven’t acted since I was 11 and I as orphan number 12 in Annie,” she laughed, adding she would love to be involved in another production.
“It’s just the best feeling. When it‘s over, I won’t know what to do with myself. Because this has been my life — school and this,” she said.
Newsies - The Musical, based on the 1992 musical film Newsies debuts Nov. 1 at the Yates. Shows will run Nov. 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 and 9 at 7 p.m. at The Yates Theatre. Shows will also take place at 2 p.m. on Nov. 2, 3 and 9.
Tickets are $22.50 for students and seniors and $27.50 for adults, and can be purchased at www.enmaxcentre.ca or at 403-329-7328. Tickets can also be purchased in person at The Enmax Centre or The Yates box offices. There is an early-bird deadline of Oct. 16, as every ticket purchased prior to that date will be $5 off.
