Broadway Comes to Creek

Theater and television star Ben Fankhouser, best known for originating the role of Davey in the Broadway and HBO film versions of Newsies, visited Silver Creek on October 24th. He performed in the school’s auditorium alongside the cast of this year’s musical, giving Silver Creek Drama students a rare opportunity to work directly with a professional Broadway actor. The experience offered Silver Creek performers a new perspective on their show and the chance to learn, grow, and refine their work.

This year, the Silver Creek Drama cast is performing the musical Newsies in February. The musical is set in the early 1900s and follows a group of newspaper boys and an aspiring journalist as they fight for better pay and more humane working conditions, based on real events that helped spark the early child-labor movement in New York City.

In October, the cast got the chance to work with one of the stars of that same musical, and he helped them improve their performance.

The afternoon included a three-hour workshop where the students sang, danced, and acted, with feedback from Fankhouser. He helped them polish the choreography and vocal work for three songs, “Seize the Day,” “King of New York,” and the duet “Something to Believe In.”

Then, family, friends, and others were invited to the evening performance. It featured those three songs, as well as three solo performances from Fankhouser: “What Do I Need with Love,” from Thoroughly Modern Millie, “She Loves Me,” from She Loves Me, and “Out There in Santa Fe,” an arrangement of “Santa Fe” from Newsies and “Out There” from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

In the original production, Fankhouser played Davey, who Silver Creek theater director Tracy Knick described as “the true leader of this strike against child labor.”

Knick was particularly excited to have Fankhouser lead the workshop because she loves what the character Davey brings to the show.

“Davey is my personal favorite character,” Knick said. “I know people love Jack Kelly because he is the traditional, romantic hero, but what I love about Davey is … he encourages Jack Kelly to be the mouthpiece for the strike, when he’s really the brains behind it all.”

Eddie Crotser is a sophomore at Silver Creek who is playing Crutchie Morris in Newsies. He was unable to perform in the evening show alongside the rest of the cast, but he still attended the workshop and watched the performance from the audience.

Crotser was astounded by Fankhouser's performance and his interaction with the cast. He invited the entire cast to call him by his first name, Ben.

“Ben is a king,” Crotser said. “He was amazing in every way, shape, and form. He was so nice to everybody, and his performances were incredible.”

Crotser was not alone in his excitement. In the days leading up to the workshop, many in the cast were overjoyed. , a senior at Silver Creek, is playing Medda Larkin in Newsies.

“I’m really excited to be able to sing and dance on stage again… and we get to work with a Broadway star, which is just amazing,” Wirkkanen said.

Milo Capparelli, a sophomore who is playing Les Jacobs in the show, is very grateful for Fankhouser’s workshop.

“It was a really cool opportunity,” Capparelli said. “Like, when else am I ever gonna get a chance like that?”

Fankhouser also gave a lot of advice around the minute details of acting, something Knick really appreciated.

“[Ben] was able to talk to our actors to really question them about the why of what they are doing,” Knick said. “Why do they do the things they do in the script, and what does that look like in how they hold their bodies and the different ways that they exhibit their personalities.

“Not just the accents, like the New York accent that everybody is playing with, but the volume of certain lines conveys meaning; the speed at which you deliver words, let alone lines; how you hold your body, what little movements you make; and he really talked about the importance of everybody acting at all times.”

This is something that Knick has discussed with the cast many times, but now it is much easier to make it consistent. Knick is simply able to remind them of “what did Ben say?” and everything makes more sense.

“I wish I had recorded just that snippet for future generations,” Knick said.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many actors, but Knick hopes to offer similar workshops in future years.

“I think if it gives value to our whole Silver Creek High School community, not just the Newsies family, and if we can see that enhances the audience experience, then we'll be able to make a more informed decision to see if we can [have similar opportunities in the future],” Knick said. “And then, of course, all these special things cost money, so it becomes a funding concern.”

Knick arranged this opportunity through the company Showmance Entertainment, which aims to connect people across the world of entertainment. They organize live events, theatrical productions, consulting, talent booking, and entertainment travel, with a special focus on connecting young people to unforgettable performing arts experiences.

In addition to the workshop with Fankhouser, the Silver Creek cast will also get the opportunity in January 2026 to work with Kara Lindsay, who played Katherine Plumber in the same original Broadway run as Fankhouser. She was also Glinda in the Broadway production of Wicked.

Lindsay’s workshop will be online, as she is unable to attend in person. The cast will use this opportunity to really dive into every single character, line, and movement that can transform a good show into a great one.

These workshops are one-in-a-lifetime opportunities for the cast and will have an incredible impact on the quality of the final show. This production of Newsies is double-cast, meaning that each main role is played by two actors, each performing two of the final four shows. The four performances run from February 25th through 28th. At the workshop, both casts performed together on stage, combining their voices.