The Class of 2029 rounded off a busy fall term with a rousing rendition of the musical “Newsies Jr.” The capstone project of Peddie’s Freshman Musical course, the show is always highly anticipated by parents, teachers and students alike. On Saturday evening, the Peddie community came together to fill all but a few dozen of over 500 seats at the William Mount-Burke ’54 Theatre, deliver enthusiastic cheers and even give standing ovations at curtain call.
Freshman Musical is a one-term theatre course where a small ensemble of freshmen works to put together the junior (shortened) version of a full-length musical production. This year’s show, “Newsies Jr.,” tells the story of Jack Kelly, a young newsboy on the streets of New York who kickstarts the formation of a newsie union and leads a strike for child labor rights. It stars Lucas Goodman ’29 (Jack Kelly), Sewon Lee ’29 (Crutchie), Hawthorne Hughes Pearsall ’29 (Davey), Sophia Mondello ’29 (Katherine) and Alyssa Bolshtyansky ’29 (Pulitzer).
In addition to Director Mr. Cirnigliaro and Music Director Ms. Green, who are the main teachers of the class, the creative team is composed of Technical Director Mr. Lucs, Arts Office member Ms. Anker and a select group of upperclassmen who help direct, choreograph, oversee technical elements and otherwise guide the young students through production. A full cast and crew list can be found at the end of this article.
Student applications for the production team are sent out each spring. Being on the team gives upperclassmen an opportunity to connect with underclassmen as well as experience a different aspect of theatre than they might be used to. “I got to do a lot of things that I normally don’t do in shows because I normally participate as a cast member,” said Assistant Music Director Stephanie Oh ’26. Oh also reflected on how being the only senior on the creative team forced her to step into a larger leadership role, mentioning that it felt intimidating but “was a cool learning experience.”
Freshman Musical allows some of Peddie’s youngest and newest students to get to know one another and form close bonds early on in the year through constant collaboration and teamwork. “Sometimes when you don’t know your lines, just working with your friends on learning them, that was also a fun process for me,” said cast Member Hawthorne Hughes Pearsall ’29. “This is my first year here, obviously, so being able to have a group of people who we’re very close-knit with, it’s very nice,” he said.
Cast (in order of program appearance):
Lucas Goodman – Jack Kelly
Sewon Lee – Crutchie
Hawthorne Hughes Pearsall – Davey
Riley Allen – Les
Sua Yoon – Race
Michael Chan – Albert
Agnes Yung – Muriel, Dorothy
Paige Ting – Nancy
Danan Chan – Specs
Meghana Indupuru – Pigtails
Berina Guo – Hazel
Cadence Shuster – Buttons, Police Officer
Vanessa Harisson – Tommy Boy, Police Officer
Eva Sbarro – Romeo, Police Officer
Ariana Gomez – JoJo, Woman
Paige Ting – Spot Conlon
Kay Blackwell – Medda Larkin
Lauren Su – Ada
Malli Shah – Olive
Annabelle Song – Ethel
Qinyi Li- Minnie
Julian Bertrand – Pat, Bill
Sophia Mondello – Katherine
Joseph MacKenzi – Darcy
Simoni Gupta – Hannah
Francesca Sbarro – Governor Teddy Roosevelt, Snyder
Alyssa Bolshtyansky – Pulitzer
Kamryn Rulewich – Wiesel
Ben Weihe – Morris
Anagha Kamath – Oscar
Ian Han – Bunsen
Mira Dhanaraj – Seitz
Jia Zhang – Police Chief
Creative Team
Mark Cirnigliaro – Director
Marisa Green – Music Director
Julia Patella ’20 – Choreographer
Addison Bonchev ’27 – Stage Manager, Assistant Director
Fiona Maher ’27 – Associate Director, Assistant Director, Assistant Choreographer, Costume Designer
Stephanie Oh ’26 – Assistant Director, Assistant Music Director
Olive Ahn ’27 – Assistant Director, Costume Designer
Liam Zagury ’27 – Lighting Designer
Aarushi Gupta ’26 – Follow Spot Operator
Nina Chevres ’25 – Sound Operator
John E. Lucs ’90 – Technical Director
Marilyn Anker – Arts Office
