It’s 1899 in New York City and there’s a newsboys’ strike. St. Francis Fine Arts presents “Newsies” Mar. 11-15.
Director Dino Caputo says the show is about the paperboys of the time going on strike. “It’s a little bit like a David versus Goliath type of show. It’s the big rich business men against the newsies, who are the paperboys and girls.”
“It’s a popular show. There’s the acting, singing and dancing that’s contained in every musical. In this one, it has some different attributes we haven’t done before. It was time for a little bit of a change. The last couple of years we’ve done more Disney-like and fairytale-like productions. We just wanted to move onto this one. It’s been great,” Caputo notes.
There’s approximately 60 cast members, Caputo adds. “St. Francis is known for its musicals and the productions we do. We’re a big process-based school and this project is that way also.”
“The kids have been fantastic throughout the process. With our choreography, choral, our musical piece, the acting and everything that goes on, including the community gets together to build our entire set. We transform our gymnasium into a theatre,” says Caputo. “You’re not coming to watch a junior high show. You’re coming to watch a professional production put on by junior high-aged kids.”
The process for a production at the school starts a year in advance, Caputo explains. “We talk about the building and designing. You’ve got to get the rights to it – all that stuff. When we come in September, we go through the process of preparing the kids for their auditions and we go through our audition process. We don’t make it easy. Going to perform in front of 300 people nightly is awesome, but it’s still a little bit nerve-racking, so we try to educate through the whole process we go through.”
Caputo says the idea is to use theatre to prepare students for other aspects of life. “We have a lot of cross-curricular connections that go on inside the theatre in the show.”
“We start rehearsing, mostly choral and choreography pre-Christmas. Post-Christmas, we start working on blocking and putting the show together,” says Caputo.
Shows start at 7 p.m. Mar. 11-14. On Mar. 15, there’s a matinee at 2 p.m. and an evening performance at 6 p.m. All performances are at St. Francis Junior High School.
Visit Musical online to purchase tickets or for more information. All proceeds from the show go towards Fine Arts Enhancement.
