Superior High School students fill stage with dance during 'Newsies'

May 5—SUPERIOR — Have you heard the news? The Superior High School musical, "Newsies," opens Friday, May 12.

Inspired by the real-life

newsboys strike of 1899,

the musical focuses on strike leader Jack Kelly and his band of friends. The show features a slate of hummable tunes by Alan Menken and Jack Feldman — "Seize the Day," "King of New York," "The World Will Know," and more — and a series of big dance numbers.

"We chose 'Newsies' because we wanted to do a show to highlight the amazing dancers we have in our program right now," said director Amber Gilbert. "'Newsies' is definitely a 'dance' show!"

During rehearsal Monday, May 1, the stage was flooded with action, from leaps and cartwheels to slides, with an unusual move involving actors dancing on newspaper pages.

"We believe it's important to have a program that exposes students over the four years they're with us to a large collection of different experiences," Gilbert said. "We want to see them grow in their skills."

Many choir members are in the cast as well, rounding out the harmonies for the big musical numbers. Even the performing arts center's new lights will have a star turn, according to stage manager Lily Holmquist. The crew expects to use color and shadows to create mood effects, sometimes multiple times within songs.

"It's a fun play to do," said Holmquist, a junior. "And it kind of makes me proud seeing all of this come together with a lot of freshmen in this cast of people that haven't been in this type of thing before."

Extra! Extra! The musical features one of the school's largest cast and crews ever, with 67 students in grades six through 12 involved.

In addition to high school thespians, there are six younger students in the show, with two of them playing larger roles — seventh grader Martin Pfeil as Crutchie and sixth grader Frank Robbins as Les.

"It's always so fun to have wonderful and talented middle schoolers in our high school productions," Gilbert said.

The story is familiar to many of the students. Holmquist saw "Newsies" on a middle school choir trip to the Duluth Depot, and has watched the 1992 Disney movie starring Christian Bale.

The musical follows newsboys in New York city as they face off against newspaper heavyweights Joseph Pulitzer, owner of the New York World, and William Randolph Hearst, who owned the Evening Journal. Sparked by wholesale price hikes, their movement gained traction in the city.

"They're going on strike because they have to pay more for the papers to sell them and they're not making as much either way. They're struggling just to keep clothes on their back and just feed everybody's families," Holmquist said. "It's an inspiring story of kids all banding together completely on their own to try and fix this huge problem in their economy and their lives."

Read all about it! Local newspapers make a cameo on stage.

The newspaper bags, bundles and pages used as props in the show were donated by the Superior Telegram and theDuluth News Tribune. The bags are missing their reflective strips and audience members won't see any color pages, but they're local news props.

Newsies will be performed at 7 p.m. May 12-13, and 1 p.m. May 14. Tickets are $12 for adults, $8 for students. Tickets are

available online

and at the door. Visit

SHS Drama on Facebook

for more information.