Niceville High School (NHS) Theatre Department will present Disney’s Broadway musical Newsies this May in the Niceville High School auditorium. “We are so excited about this production,” says NHS Theatre Department Director, Ritchie Jackson. “Newsies is a high energy, feel good musical that is an audience favorite for those who have seen it, and becomes an audience favorite for those who never had.”
With a score by Alan Menken and Jack Feldman and book by Harvey Firestein, the lavish production is directed and produced by Jackson, with choreography by Nicci Fahle and vocal direction by Michael Walker. The musical, based on the 1992 film and real-life events of the 1899 New York city paperboy strike, Newsies tells the story of a band of newspaper boys and girls who rally to strike against Joseph Pulitzer and other publishing titans to protest the unfair conditions that they work under. “Thanks to our amazing choreographer, Nicci Fahle and our Vocal Director Michael Walker, NHS Theatre has once again brought out the very best for our cast and crew, and the students involved in this show have done an amazing job bringing this story to life. Nicci has acted as our Choreographer in the past on 2022’s A Chorus Line and last year’s production of Chicago. This year we brought Michael Walker on board, and the three of us have proven to be quite a team.”
NHS’ Theatre Department has enjoyed tremendous successes with their past musical productions including The Little Mermaid Jr., Mamma Mia!, She Loves Me, A Chorus Line, and Chicago, and Jackson says, “I really think this show will be our highest grossing show yet. After all, it’s Disney and a crowd pleaser whose message shows the power of standing up for what you believe in and what’s right. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that a sweet love story is woven into the show’s script as well.”
“If you haven’t been to a NHS Theatre production before, you will find that high school theatre is not what you remember it to be. NHS produces college caliber shows, and we strive for theatrical excellence in every production that we do – that commitment is even a part of our official motto, ‘Bringing theatrical excellence to the stage’. We instill in our cast and crew a real sense of doing top notch, quality theatre that not only gives our audiences an amazing show, but teaches our theatrical arts students that theatre education is no joke at NHS. The work is hard and a major time commitment for the students, with student lead and student run production teams, so that the kids get real world involvement in the creative process. These enormous productions don’t just happen; you have to build them step by step and piece by piece. The kids in my department work hard to produce the high-quality shows that NHS has become known for.”
Newsies is produced with permission by MTI and opens May 3rd at 7 p.m. and plays again May 4th (2 p.m. and 7 p.m.), May 10th (7 p.m.) and 11th (2 p.m. and 7 p.m.). VIP tickets are available for $20 which include early seating 10 minutes before the general public, a small bottle of water and a bag of popcorn. General admission tickets are also available for $15. All tickets are sold exclusively through www.gofan.co (not .com).
