Interview: Andrew Wilson of NEWSIES at Orpheum

NEWSIES! is leaping onto the stage at Omaha's Orpheum Theater. This high-energy musical based on historic events opens February 16 for a six day run. I spoke with Andrew Wilson, Dance Captain and Swing for NEWSIES, about his background and his experience working with the show. This is what he had to say

TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF:

Yes, so I grew up north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in a very small town called Grove City. I was a competitive gymnast, and then I started dancing pretty late--when I was 16. I had already been self-teaching myself because I had always wanted to be a dancer. I was involved in band, and choir, and plays, and what not. Then when I was 18, I got into school to be a dentist, but I said, "Okay, I'm going to give myself one year in New York City. If I make it, then that's where I am meant to be, and if not, I'll go back to be a dentist." So here I am twelve years later!

YOU KNOW, I WAS GOING TO ASK YOU IF YOU HAD A GYMNASTIC BACKGROUND. I READ THAT THERE ARE 31 BACKFLIPS IN THE SHOW.

Oh wow, I've never even counted how many there are. That's interesting. (2 minutes later and an acre tally...) There are about 49 "acrobatic" moves in the show, including back and front handsprings, handstands, rolls, kartwheels, back flips, aerials, etc.

I HAD THOUGHT THAT MAYBE YOU HAD STARTED OUT DANCING AS A LITTLE GUY TAKING DANCE LESSONS LIKE "BILLY ELLIOT," BUT YOU DIDN'T START TAKING LESSONS UNTIL YOU WERE 16?

A lot of male dancers I have met have similar experiences to mine. It's hard to be a young kid, especially in a small town, and say, "I wanna be a dancer." So I started out in the gymnastics route, but I always had an interest in dance. I switched whenever I had, I guess, the nerve in high school to finally follow my passion.

YOU SOUND REALLY WELL ROUNDED WITH BAND, CHOIR, DANCE, AND MUSICAL THEATER...A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING.

Yeah, I mean that's musical theater, right?

YOU'RE LIKE A QUADRUPLE THREAT!

I would hardly call myself that! No labels here - just trying to live life and spread positivity.

HOW DID YOU KNOW YOU WANTED TO BE A DANCER?

How did I know? I knew because I guess I would say that it's intrinsically born in me. I can't NOT dance. Whether it's literally pushing a grocery cart down the aisle and you just have to be tap dancing behind it, or whenever you go to a water fountain and you find yourself leaning over it in a arabesque. :-) When I hear music, I think of choreography. Whenever I see a show, I'm inspired and I want to dance.

WAS THERE ONE PARTICULAR SHOW YOU HAD SEEN AS A KID THAT REALLY GRABBED YOU?

The first show I saw on Broadway in New York City was Susan Stroman's OKLAHOMA. To this day, I think it's still some of the best choreography I've ever seen on stage. And that's when I knew...I said, "This is what I want to be doing."

DID YOU EVER AUDITION FOR "SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE?"

I didn't. I believe I had graduated high school already and it wasn't really popular back then, so it wasn't one of those things that I desired. And then I was in New York City doing theater. It wasn't something I ever thought to pursue.

DO YOU DO CHOREOGRAPHY AS WELL?

I do here and there, when I have time. It is definitely something I would be interested in getting into.

I READ THAT NEWSIES IS INSPIRED BY A REAL LIFE NEWSBOY STRIKE in 1899. ARE THE CAST MEMBERS INTRODUCED TO THE STORY?

We very much are. The entire creative team made sure that when we started rehearsals, and for every new cast member as well, that everyone is well informed on the actual events. We were provided with dozens of books, photos, articles and real-life accounts of the boys, the strike, Pulitzer, Hearst, etc. These were real boys. Most of the characters in the show are all named after the real boys who were part of the strike. Jack Kelly however, is a fictionalized name - his real name was Kid Blink. They would meet on the Brooklyn Bridge every day and he would give these impassioned speeches to the youth. Our show hints at history without forcing it down your throat. There's a scene at the beginning where Joseph Pulitzer says circulation is down; the war is ended. That's the Spanish American War he's referring to; during which the circulation was over 500,000 papers per day. After the war ended the circulation went down to 300,000, and when the strike started it went to under 75,000. There are hints of the actual history without the script outright stating, "The Spanish American War was going on and Joseph Pulitzer was famous for yellow journalsim..." It is hinted at and hopefully will inspire our audience to go home and do even more investigative research - maybe even inspire a new generation of not only dancers, but maybe journalists!

DO YOU EVER FEEL LIKE A WRANGLER HAVING TO ROUND UP THE YOUNGER KIDS IN THE SHOW?

One would think that, however, these boys are so wise beyond their years. We had a gentleman who was 16 years old in our show, and he was one of the most talented, humble, sweet people I've ever worked with. We actually all learned a lot from him. But luckily no...the boys are very responsible. They're SO talented. Christopher Gattelli, the choreographer and Jeff Calhoun, the director, say it's not only about talent that books the job. It is charisma, how you carry yourself, and asking themselves, "would I actually want to work and spend time with this person?" - that all encompasses the hiring process. I think they chose really great people. I've never felt like a wrangler. We do have two young boys in our show that you have to pay some attention to, but they have their own wrangler.

DO THE YOUNGER BOYS HAVE THEIR PARENTS COME ALONG?

Yes, their parents are with both of them. They usually just come with one parent. It happens to be a grandmother to the one and father to the other. We have a woman named Bernadette who both is a tutor and wrangler. She's one of our favorite people on tour. She's wise and fantastic to be around. The kids' families and tutor are such a part of our show. We've had, what...Five Les's now and we've grown so close to their parents. They're almost like our parents. If you need a therapy session or someone to get you coffee during the show, or if we just want to hang out after the show, we've always been really drawn to them.

WHAT'S THE HARDEST THING ABOUT BEING A DANCE CAPTAIN?

Hmmmmm...it's a lot of work. Everyone in our production works so hard. So, I would never say that I work harder than the other people in our show. It's hard to juggle the amount of information you have, so I have it all written down. I have it in an app for my iPad called Stage Right. It was invented by the brilliant man named Jeff Whiting who was Susan Stroman's associate director and choreographer - a great man.

I maintain the integrity of the choreography of the show and teach new cast members their choreography and blocking. I also take notes on the show and try to remain a positive person throughout the tour as well. I am also a swing, which is a great challenge for my aging brain!

I ASKED MY FACEBOOK IF ANYONE HAD ANY QUESTIONS FOR YOU. ONE OF THE QUESTIONS WAS ABOUT HOW MANY TRACKS YOU HAVE.

I understudy 18 tracks in the show. That includes Newsies, Oldsies, and Girlsies - ahem, let me explain... we lovingly call the older gentlemen in our show "Oldsies" and the girls are the "Girlsies."

THE SECOND QUESTION FROM FACEBOOK WAS HOW CLOSELY DO YOU WORK WITH THE STAGE DIRECTOR?

I think maybe you mean the stage manager? Our production stage manager, Jeff and I work very closely together. He's sort of the resident director of the show. I'm kind of like the resident maintenance choreographer of the show. We meet every day before the show to talk about what our goals are for the day, and then we'll have meetings talking about upcoming rehearsals. I'll say, I need this "x" amount of hours, and he'll say, "okay, I can give you this many." And then I make a breakdown of our schedule for the day. We're going to spend 15 minutes on this or 20 minutes on that, or we going to add these two things at this hour. It's a lot of time management. You always want to be respectful of the actors' time. Whenever you're working six days a week and traveling on the seventh, it's tough having rehearsals and everything. So the stage manager and I work very closely. If I happen to be watching the show and I notice something, maybe technical or acting notes, I can write it down and give it to him. Then if he sees choreography things that I maybe missed, he can give it to me...so we work hand in hand. The production stage manager takes the reigns of the whole production. You always go to him. So if I have a music note, like the tempo is too fast or too slow, I go to the stage manager and he delivers the notes to other people. He's Grand Central Station of information.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD?

One thing I like to think about is people tend to ask ...how do I word this question..."Do you have any advice for aspiring actors?" People come to the show who are often younger, aspiring performers. Or the other question is, "What's your dream show?" The answers to those two questions are: The key to success is obviously working hard and diversifying yourself, but the MOST important advice in this career is losing the instinct to compare yourself. Losing that initial urge to think, "I didn't book this show and that person did." You know, the universe will always bring you to exactly where you're meant to be and what you're meant to be doing. And it will shield you from what you're not meant to be doing. So, anytime you don't get the job, instead of saying, "Oh, I'm so mad at myself! I deserved to have that," you say either a) "It's not my time yet," or b) "Thank the universe I was shielded from that, and something else is going to be delivered." You can't compare your path to other peoples'.

And whenever anyone asked me what's my favorite show, I used to be one of those people who'd say I have this dream role!, but when you say things like that in this world you create unrealistic expectations and it can add a lot of stress. Now I ask people, "Did you ever imagine doing NEWSIES?" And they say, "No, I can't believe I'm part of this show and it's amazing!" And I go, "Well, if you didn't expect to be part of this show, and this beautiful thing came to you, maybe the universe's plan is always right. I no longer say this is the show I want to be doing. I just say I'm open to whatever artistic endeavor is next.