Newsies Jun

West Leigh Junior School staged their performance of Newsies Jun at The Belfairs Academy in their large theatre area. The stage seemed massive at first and shrouded in black cloths with a minimal set but soon demonstrated that this allowed the performers to fill the stage with colour and personality to tell their story. The West Leigh pupils certainly did that. The 87 strong cast were full of energy and enthusiasm and filled not only the stage but the front of the auditorium with voices and personality often accompanied with flags, posters, bikes and skateboards.

The story of Newsies lends itself to a young cast as many of the main characters were newspaper boys and girls. The action was supported by back projections in fluorescent colours which set the atmosphere beautifully and the set changes, therefore, became straightforward and well organised. Well done backstage crew. 

The main character, Jack Kelly, was performed by Bethany Cripps on the night I attended. Bethany had remarkable stage presence and navigated the difficult role, veering from rebellious teenager to concerned friend with ease. Bethany has a strong clear voice and sang beautifully in her songs especially when in harmony with Davey. She showed such confidence as she led the group through the strike. Davey, played by Eddie Cripps, was a great side kick and, despite battling a few sound issues, sang and performed confidently.

The cast had a good go at American accents and, generally, maintained them throughout

Charlotte Maddison, as Crutchie, played her role with confidence and her speech was beautifully clear throughout.

Medda, played by Primrose Perry, and her Bowery Brigade of Isabella Moore, Olivia Aggus and Emma Pickford were a lovely group of singers who sang and danced really well. Katherine Plummer, the journalist, played by Emily Reed, was a great actor. She held a very important and influential role with clarity and ease.

It was so lovely to see that every young person had a named role in the show, and I must apologise for not mentioning everyone, but I must mention the Pulitzer Company who were absolutely great. Theodore Waters played the part of Mr Pulitzer so well, especially through a rather superb beard and moustache. The baddies were great at being so nasty and I must just mention Jack Hopkins who played Theodore Roosevelt with enormous gravitas and authority! He too had a stupendous moustache, well done to the costume and props folk for sourcing and creating so many great props. I particularly liked the fact that it looked as if the Newsies had created their posters themselves.

The whole cast, in this show, were fabulous. They sung and performed with barely a hitch and, as I looked along all the performers in the big songs, everyone knew and were performing all the words. As they walked out of the hall and off the stage, they were still ‘in character’; it was so great to watch.

Congratulations must go to Mr Dunn for creating, organising and rehearsing this show along with his colleagues. It was such a great show. Such careful thought had gone into each and every moment and it was so lovely to chat through the show with him afterwards. I really hope he now enjoys relaxing after such a huge undertaking.

There were a few sound and light glitches but, considering it was the first night and the company had only just got into the performance venue a few hours earlier, the action flowed smoothly. The cast, especially, coped with any hiccups of late entries with great maturity and the pace never faltered. The choreography was lovely especially in ‘Once and for all’.

This is such a busy show and it was delightful to see so many people included in the fun. It must be noted that there were a group of pupils who took on the difficult jobs of cueing sound and lighting as well as solving problems that occurred throughout the show. You don’t get the curtain calls but without your hard work the show could not go on. Well done to you all.

I loved the curtain call of projected pictures and the people involved in that group of pictures leaping to their feet and saying ‘that’s me’

Well done, Mr Dunn, this was so much fun and you have produced a great result. Thank you so much for the warm welcome you gave us, I can’t wait for your next show.

 

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