MLT’s teen division presents ‘Newsies’

Published 2:00 pm Wednesday, August 7, 2024

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Meridian Little Theatre’s Front and Center teen division will present the musical “Newsies” at 7 p.m. Saturdays, Aug. 10 and 17, with matinee performances at 2 p.m. Sundays, Aug. 11 and 18.

Loosely based on the true story of the 1899 newsboys’ strike, “Newsies” expresses the sentiment that young people can accomplish amazing things.

Set in turn-of-the-century New York City, homeless newsboy Jack “Cowboy” Kelly, played by Cooper Ransier, befriends two newcomers to the newspaper delivery trade. When their publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, portrayed by Eliza Sanders, sets new rules that make it harder for his newspaper peddlers to make a buck, the boys go on strike.

“If you would have told me four years ago when we started Front and Center that some of these kids would be on this stage right now doing what they’re doing, I would have been shocked,” said MLT’s Artistic Director Tiffany McGehee.

“It seems like yesterday I gave my first little acting lesson with the inaugural group. We stood in a circle in the MLT lobby and tossed some tennis balls around for a brief introduction to Chekhov’s famous acting technique,” she said. “The guys rolled their eyes at my reference to theater being a sport.”

Those young theater students have come a long way since then.

“The sheer grit and focus I have seen in these kids has turned the shy dancer-only into a poised and dynamic leading lady, the quiet nerdy pal into an inspirational right-hand man, the football player into a vulnerable leader with an emotional well that is deep enough for everyone around him, and the awkward wallflower into a formidable stage presence,” McGehee said. “Young people are not just the future, they are the present.”

With her work on “Newsies,” Carol Merrill marks 30 years in choreography for MLT.

Merrill, owner of Carol Merrill Academy of Dance, said she works with children and young adults in her studio daily, but she has enjoyed adding the Front and Center cast to her work at MLT.

“This cast has worked so hard, just like the actors of the main stage,” Merrill said. “For this production, every character is important, and all these students have developed a close bond with one another.”

The dance instructor said her first venture choreographing the musical “Newsies” was during the COVID pandemic. The cast prevailed and presented a great performance, she said.

“I think audiences will love this production as well,” Merrill said. “It is a great family-friendly experience.”

Ransier, a senior at Lamar School, describes his character Kelly as the confident, experienced leader of the Manhattan newsies. Beneath the surface, however, he’s a talented artist that’s afraid he’s wasting his life in New York and aspires to move west in search of freedom, he said.

Ransier boasts 25 shows under his belt in the Meridian area, including Lamar, Stage 2, Centerstage and Front and Center productions.

“My first show was in second grade at MLT, and since then I’ve become more and more invested in theater and its art form, an experience that I believe has greatly benefited me as a person,” he said.

“The friends I’ve made in theater over the years have been some of the kindest, most creative and most talented people I’ve ever met,” Ransier said. “Doing shows with them truly is a gift and being able to perform a song or scene with people I enjoy being around in real life makes any scene I do with them in a show that much more fun.

“On stage, we’re given the opportunity to make art together and to showcase our talents together, and I think that makes for an enriching experience for the actors as well as the audience,” he added.

For more information about the Newsies production, call the MLT box office at 601-482-6371 or go to meridianlittletheatre.com to purchase tickets.