The grand reveal has been announced—this year’s musical is Newsies!

Newsies is a historical comedy-drama set in 1899 New York City that follows a group of young newspaper boys or “newsies”. When the New York World publishing company decides to increase the wholesale price charged to newsies, fiery Jack Kelly (played by senior Andrew Cavett) and his gang go on strike.

Jack soon meets Katherine Plumber (played by senior Cate Samchuck), a female journalist driven to make a name for herself within the journalism industry.

Newsies is an exciting story of worker’s rights, organized protest, feminism, love, and labor in the late nineteenth century.

“I really love this show, and I thought I had the characters,” explained Mrs. Susan Metelsky on her choice for this year’s musical (which is also her last as she’s retiring at the end of the school year). “Even though a lot of my females are playing male roles, I didn’t think they would object. They’re all strong singers, and that will counteract the fact that they’re not male.”

Other notable characters are Crutchie played by junior Amara Stewart, Davey played by senior Eli Priest, Les played by junior Sophia Hahn, Medda played by senior Vivian Potts, Wiesel played by senior Jackson Vuckovich, and Race played by sophomore Alyssa Caldwell.

“Newsies is something that a lot of people are going to enjoy performing,” said Cavett. “For me, I was honestly okay with whatever we did, but getting more into it, I’m really enjoying [this show]. We all know this is going to be a big cast, but I absolutely think we have what it takes.”

For the first time since The Music Man in 2018, the cast list has been extended to non-students. In many ways, the story pits adults against kids, so how fitting that several high school teachers have roles including Mr. Kissick as Seitz, Mr. Ludwig as Bunsen, Mrs. Bixler as Hannah, Mr. Inge as Theodore Roosevelt, and Mr. Maker as the mayor. Mr. Schlenke plays Joseph Pulitzer, the show’s main villain.

“I’m very excited to get to actually participate in a show with my students on stage,'' exclaimed Mrs. Bixler. “I think it will be fun to be in costume with them and for them to get to see what I can do, not just choreography, but acting-wise. I’m really excited.”

Mrs. Metelsky added that beginning to work with Mr. Schlenke, in her words, has been “FAN…TASTIC! Fantastic.” She looks forward to working scenes with all of the teachers together in the near future.

This musical is going to be the final show Mrs. Metelsky directs for Beaver Area High School before her retirement at the end of this school year, and it also will be Mrs. Bixler’s final show as a choreographer. Mrs. Metelsky has been directing for 20 years now, and Mrs Bixler has been a choreographer for 16 of those years. Newsies is most definitely going to end their high school musical theater careers on a high note (see what I did there?).

Newsies is quite different from last year’s production of The Little Mermaid. Last year, the biggest worry from a directing standpoint was working with the equipment used to make cast members “fly” on stage. This year, however, the biggest focus is on honing every single cast and ensemble member into their characters.

“My concern this year is the vocals and the dance, because I know the characters are going to be fine,” said Mrs. Metelsky. “The vocals and the dance, and getting the depth into the ensemble, which, in my opinion, didn't really happen so much last year with the ensemble. They were there, they did a fine job, but we never got to take it a step further. And here we have to take it a step further right away.”

The cast began practices at the beginning of the month to work on these objectives. Practices are after school most days and typically run about 90 minutes. Leads and subleads practice either individually or in small groups, and the full cast meets once a week to cover everything.

The opening night is Friday, March 31. There will be four total shows, including a senior citizen’s performance the afternoon of March 30. The show closes Sunday, April 2. Be there, and be prepared to be blown away!