On April 7, the teenage performers at Mingus Union High School took to the stage in a musical performance of “Newsies,” the 2012 Broadway musical based on the Disney film from 1992.
The young thespians donned raggedy clothes and brought the 1899 newsboys strike to life. Senior Alex Lloyd starred as Jack Kelly, the leader of the striking newspaper delivering children, while fellow senior Joanna Westling played his opposite, Katherine Plumber, a newspaper reporter who becomes inspired by the kids’ activism.
The success of the Mingus performers went far beyond the Verde Valley when on Saturday, May 25, the performance won the award for “Best Musical” and five others at the Arizona State University Gammage High School Musical Theatre Awards in Phoenix, competing against other schools throughout the state. “Absolutely I was surprised. It didn’t hit me until after they called my name that I had to go on stage,” Mingus theater director James Ball said. “When you go into theater competitions, there’s no rankings in terms of schools, so whether you have 5,000 students or 500, every school is ranked the same. So we were going against Mesa and Arizona School For The Arts, private performing arts high schools, and we’re this Title I school in rural Arizona going down to the big city. It’s this little school that traveled the farthest going up against these big schools.”
In addition to the top prize, Newsies won awards for Best Sets and Props, Best Hair and Makeup, Best Sound Design and both Best Supporting Actor and Best Dancer for Preston Chalmers, a senior who is president of A Troupe Of Ridiculous Thespians, the Mingus theater club.
“It’s a little unreal,” Chalmers said. “I was sitting there with all the supporting actors and dancers and I was saying, ‘Oh I can’t wait to see them win!’ And then they called my name and I thought ‘Well, that’s weird.’”
Chalmers, who was also the lead in last year’s “Crazy For You,” played Davey, a kid from a middle- class family who has to start selling papers with his younger brother Les when times get hard. He dedicated his award to his 9-year-old co-star Jayce Caron, who played his brother.
Chalmers is heading back to ASU next year for the musical theater program and said that winning the award was a nice reassurance that he really does have the talent to make it as an actor and dancer — especially for his dad.
In addition to the wins, Mingus was named a finalist in several other categories — Best Lighting, Best Lead Actor for Alex Lloyd, Best Supporting Actress for Mikayla Gaydon and both Best Lead Actress and Best Vocalist for Joanna Westling.
“I can’t even put it into words,” Westling said of the recognition for herself and the whole theater team. “I’ve been doing this for four years and I’ve competed at Gammage for four years as well and to receive the honor of Best Musical in my senior year is absolutely phenomenal. It’s just the greatest honor. It’s the best graduation present I could receive!”
The awards were judged by a team of adjudicators who attended performances throughout the state. In addition to the awards, the event in Phoenix included showcases of
all the competing schools on the professional ASU Gammage stage. Mingus performed a medley of “Once And For All,” “Something To Believe In” and “Seize The Day,” from the production.
“It was huge. A couple weeks ago, we had just seen ‘Wicked’ on that very same stage,” Lloyd said. “It was kind of unreal to be looking around and think, ‘Oh, this is what all these incredibly talented people saw. I’m doing some of the same stuff, I’m walking in some of the same places.’ It was just unreal. I look back to that night — it feels more like a dream than anything.”
“Mingus has an outstanding arts program with dedicated, passionate teachers and amazing students,” Mingus principal Genie Gee wrote in an email. “This recognition is well- deserved, and I think it’s so impressive that our Cottonwood school can compete with the best in Arizona and come out on top. There is some- thing very special about ATORT and the work of James Ball and his theater group. Arts education is thriving at Mingus Union High School and I really couldn’t be prouder — I’m on Cloud 9.”
For Ball, the joy of seeing his students rewarded is paired with the bittersweet feeling of seeing some of the talented Mingus seniors that made “Newsies” a success graduate. Ball attributes the high quality of this performance in large part to the work that the theater program had started two years before, training the students in higher level choreography that was present in both last year’s “Crazy For You” and “Newsies.” He hopes to bring an even higher level of singing and dancing talent to next year’s “Shrek the Musical.”
“I think that we’ll live up to the standard that our community has come to expect form us,” Ball said. “I think for years we’ve done quality shows that people have really enjoyed. Whenever you go into an arts competition or anything like that, as much as you like the awards, you don’t do it to try to get the awards.“
