After two months of rehearsals, Dickson High School will be performing the musical “Newsies” for the public on Saturday.
“Newsies” is loosely based on the New York City newsboys’ strike of 1899. It tells the story of Jack Kelly, the informal leader of the newspaper boys from The New York World. When Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the World, decides to raise the price for the paperboys to buy the papers they will sell, all the other publications follow suite. Jack helps organize paperboys from across the city to all go on strike.
Aiding the paperboys is young reporter, Katherine Plumber, who covers the story. Once Pulitzer enforces a city-wide blackout on coverage of the strike, she helps Jack get the story out by using an unexpected printing press.
I attended dress rehearsal Tuesday evening, and “Newsies” is a fun, fast-paced show. The cast is clearly enjoying themselves and giving their best with the intricate choreographed dances.
Speaking of intricate choreography, one of the show’s best performers is junior Ethan Ellis in the role of Crutchy. As the character name suggests, he uses a crutch. Therefore the crutch gets incorporated into all of the moves. He is also among the show’s standout performers.
“It’s actually a broom stick with a two by four covered by a rag, and it kind of hurts honestly,” Ellis said. “But it’s been so much fun. Especially because here in the play and outside I’m paired up with my best bud Jack Kelly (Junior Zeek Hudson).
Hudson stars as Jack Kelly. This is his second musical having also appeared in Dickson’s 2023 show, “Descendants.”
“I thought Junior Year, go big or go home,” Hudson joked.
Sophomore Ayva Gibson stars as Katherine Plumber. This is her third musical having also appeared in “Descendants” last year and Dickson’s production of “Into the Woods” in 2022.
She said she finds the story especially inspirational.
“When you deep dive into the lyrics of the songs, they have so much meaning,” she said. “It’s so inspirational. These are a group of really poor characters but in songs like ‘Seize the Day,’ they’re really taking charge of their lives.”
Junior Aydyn Olguin plays Pulitzer, who ends up coming around by the end of the show.
“It’s fun to be the villain,” he said. “I’ve never played the good guy before. Last year I was Jafar, and the year before that I was Prince Charming in ‘Into the Woods,’ and he had a lot of bad guy characteristics. I think being the villain suits me more.”
Performances of “Newsies” are set for Saturday at 2:30 and 7 p.m. at the Dickson Schools Auditorium. Tickets are $5.
