Nearly a month has passed since prospective cast members got their first feel for the upcoming Saline High School Drama Club production of Newsies: The Musical. [1,2]
In a number of respects, the process of shepherding script to stage unfolds along an expositional path much like any neatly packaged story. With some fifty people assembled in a large choir room — actors, director functions, support for recorded music accompaniment — last night was dedicated to first full read of the show set to open on February 28, 2020. [3-9]
Mechanically, Director Rebecca Groeb fielded newcomers’ questions about matching individual skin tones with theatrical makeup and how application instructions would be given. Several printed materials were distributed, including a rehearsal schedule that involves a minimum of five days each week beginning on January 6.
Each performer was required to make a commitment that all assigned lines would be memorized no less than twenty-five days prior to opening.
Family support will be a prerequisite as well. “There are many behind-the-scenes tasks to be completed in order to ensure a successful production,” read one form. Each student will be required to secure help from a parent or guardian in at least one support function, ranging from publicity and set-building, to make-up and assistance with the “Dinner Theater” performance on Saturday, February 29, 2020.
Ms Groeb subsequently told Saline Journal that it’s not uncommon to have a few budding thespians drop out at this point when the obligations become clear to them.
As for the evening at hand, this was not a group that appeared ready to unplug from studies and sit back to passively ride out the last eleven days of 2019. Many put highlighters and pencils to pages the moment that scripts were in hand. Arms and shoulders burst from chairs in sync with words on cue with written stage direction for animation.
Musical numbers were sung for anyone still in the building, well into the Saline High School SWWC wing. [10]
While key roles have clearly been cast, there are a number of performance elements that could only be addressed with the ensemble in place. For example, Newsies is a period piece inspired by the real-life newsboys strike during the summer of 1899 in New York City.
“I’ve seen it staged in different time periods,” Rebecca Groeb explained. “But I think it works best in its own time, and people still know what a newspaper is.
There were female newsies even then. We have more females in our cast then males, which is typical. The show is written for male newsies and that’s powerful, and I know our female cast members can play male roles. They’ll learn to move differently, stand differently, interact differently.
Ideally, the audiences won’t be able to tell which are males playing males and which are females playing males. As a director, I love that as a challenge; actors love that as a challenge.
She closed rehearsal by encouraging everyone to start working their parts this weekend, and to continue doing so throughout the holiday. “January 6 is going to come up really fast,” she emphasized. “February 3 will come even faster.”
All eyes were on the director as she spoke. Everyone appeared to know exactly what she meant.
At this point in any production, a variety of other preparations are being made concurrently.
For example, details of a multi-tied set are still being finalized, with structural engineering to follow prior to actual fabrication. Behind-the-scenes logistics are being planned as well; for example, to facilitate costume changes in order to maximize the number of people on stage for impressive mob scenes.
“It’s all pop music,” Ms Groeb noted. “People tend to think that’s easy because it’s familiar. But it’s not written for the stage, like Oklahoma! That’s not what we have for Newsies. This isn’t going to be easy.” [13]
Across the board, a busy two weeks for everyone involved between now and return of students to school on January 6, 2020.
Or, to follow the exposition parallel suggested above, that will be the start of Act II for all that will go into getting Newsies: The Musical to its opening day at the Ellen A Ewing Center for the Performing Arts.
References
- “It only seems like pre-production on ‘Newsies: The Musical’ started two days after the fall Saline High School drama closed” Dell Deaton (November 27, 2019) Saline Journal.
- “Newsies (1992)” IMDb.
- “Three-Act Narrative Structure” Indiana University.
- “The Three Act Structure” Pen & Sword (October 17, 2016) YouTube.
- “3 Act Screenplay Structure – Screenwriting Tips & Myths” Click Imagination (August 20, 2015) YouTube.
- “The evolution of pace in popular movies” James E Cutting (December 19, 2016) National Institutes of Health, US National Library of Medicine.
- “Newsies: The Musical” (February 28, 2020) Saline Journal.
- “Newsies: The Musical” (February 29, 2020) Saline Journal.
- “Newsies: The Musical” (March 1, 2020) Saline Journal.
- “South & West Washtenaw Consortium: SWWC” Saline Area Schools.
- “Blast From the Past: Newsboy Strike of 1899” Liz Stern (July 12, 2012) New-York Historical Society Museum & Library.
- “Read all about it: The story of the newsies’ two-week strike against publishers Pulitzer, Hearst” David Nasaw (August 14, 2017) New York Daily News.
- “How ‘Oklahoma!’ Birthed The Modern Musical” Laura Stavropoulos (August 1, 2018) U Discover Music.
