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A strike, unfair working conditions, child labor, all have the Newsies angry. Come see what all the fuss is about at the BHS Drama club’s performance of “Newsies”, opening this Thursday, March 21.
“Newsies” is based on a true story about boys and girls selling newspapers in 1899, going up against two newspaper publishers, Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World and William Randolph Hearst of the New York Journal, to fight to earn livable wages. After the Spanish-American war, people were less inclined to buy newspapers due to uninteresting headlines. The war was bad for the world, but it caused newspapers to have eye-catching headlines. This caused a strike since the newspaper publishers refused to lower the newsies’ cost-per-paper wages back down to pre-war prices. The newsies were not willing to pay more for the lack of enticing headlines. The strike went on for two weeks, and was an important moment in history since it’s one of the first strikes carried out by children.
This performance is different from the last two musicals put on by the Drama club. Instead of being a fantasy play, like “Shrek” and “Mary Poppins”, “Newsies” is based on a real-life story. The Drama Club has been working on this play since January. There are 40 actors in the cast, including BHS students, teachers and BUES students.
Actor Sulan Rodriguez, a sophomore playing Bunson, a nun, and a newsie describes working on the play as tiring but rewarding. There are also 18 crew members and 14 musicians in the orchestra. All have been working hard to put on this show for you this upcoming Thursday, according to Mary Barth, Barnstable Drama Club director.
“[Actors have] been working hard on conveying the message of the story through our acting, dancing and of course our singing!” said Barth.
Opening night is on Thursday, March 21 at 7 pm. There are also performances on Friday, at 7 PM, and Saturday, at 2 and 7 PM. Admission is $10 for students and $15 for other general admission. It will be in the PAC.
“It’s a fun show to watch, and you get to learn what happened in history,” said Rodriguez.
For a full cast list, more information and to purchase tickets visit the show’s website.
