Lethbridge Musical Theatre is back after a five year hiatus with a massive collaborative production of Newsies, happening at the Yates Theatre, Nov. 1-9.
Lethbridge Musical Theatre teamed up with Chinook High School students and their teacher Dave Mikuliak, who directs the 60-member cast.
“It’s a massive production. It’s a large show. It has big energy, And it’s a joyful show, so if you want to be entertained, come to the Yates Theatre. Because we‘d love you to see Newsies,” Mikuliak said.
Newsies allows the actors to really explore all three of the triple threat skills — singing, acting, and especially dancing.
He got the students to rehearse as part of their classes. Mikuliak chose his cast after auditions in June. He is especially pleased with how well it has come together.
“ It’s gone really well. Everyone has really gelled,” he said adding the 30 students have been working well with the 30 community members.
“They’ve really learned a lot. It’s been really reciprocal between my students and the more experienced community members. It’s really been inspiring,” he enthused. He has a long history of working with Lethbridge Musical Theatre going back to 1989, so he is excited to bring Newsies back as a LMT production.
Chinook High School teacher Alisha Hornberger has developed a lot of dance choreography for the production.
“ There are six of my own students in the production, but almost everyone has had to learn to tap dance from scratch,” she said.
“And my sister Hillary has co-choreographed it with me. She has extensive theatre experience,” she said.
“ It has been exciting to watch students who were not comfortable with dancing or nervous about dancing, learn to dance,” Mikuliak added.
Newsies is inspired by the 1899 newsboys strike in New York City, but it touches on a lot of social issues.