Las Vegas boy has key role in Utah ‘Newsies’ production

Summerlin has a presence this season at Utah’s Tuacahn Amphitheatre: Will Haley, 12 and a seventh-grader at Odyssey Charter Schools, is one of the stars in Disney’s “Newsies.”

Will has been acting since kindergarten with Hollywood Kids Academy and moved on to Super Summer Theatre at Spring Mountain Ranch for “Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” He also has appeared in Signature Productions’ shows at Summerlin Library.

Shauna Oblad, on the board of Signature Production, met Will when he was about 7. He was auditioning for the part of Gavroche in “Les Miserables.” The community theater group could only choose one boy.

“We lined up like 10 boys who (had) the skills to do the role,” Oblad said, adding, “I knew he would catch the hearts of the audience. He’s still doing that at Tuacahn. You can’t take your eyes off him.”

At Tuacahn, Will plays Les, a newspaper peddler. The musical is loosely based on an 1899 New York City newsboy strike. The fictional Jack Kelly leads the strike against historic newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer. The show opened in June and runs through Oct. 18; visit tuacahn.org.

Will’s audition was in early January in St. George, Utah. He went prepared with a monologue and two songs. Instead, he was handed a packet with two scenes from the show and two songs to learn ASAP. He and another boy, a local to St. George, were the only ones called back in.

“I’d seen him before, in ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ He played Chip,” Will said of the other boy, Gabe Layton, adding that “I was terrified. I had to show them that I could really do this part.”

Will had seen “Grease” at Tuacahn, but being hired meant being privy to the inner workings. The backstage area, he said, was larger than he’d imagained. To get into position, actors can hurry through a tunnel that runs under the stage.

Director Jeffry Denman worked with Haley to correct his one weak spot: talking too fast, a result of being nervous in front of his largest audience ever, 2,000 people.

“It helped me slow it down so the audience can (better hear) what I’m saying,” he said. “My part, it has a lot of funny lines.”

Tuacahn provides housing for the cast, as many members are from New York City. Will has been staying there with his dad, Shaun, an attorney whose work can be done online. Mom Jenn and brother Ken, 14, visit as they can. Twentysomething Daniel Scott Walton has become a friend of Will’s and offered acting tips. One piece of advice: Sometimes there’s “too much acting,” which means the actor is pulling focus to himself to deliver lines, rather than toning it down for the good of the whole production.

Blocking was the hardest part to learn, he said. The director changed things around as they were in rehearsals. The show includes a lot of dancing. It can be strenuous but he still has to deliver his lines despite being kind of out of breath.

“One number, ‘King of New York,’ is really tough. It’s hard to sing and dance at the same time,” he said. “But the dancing, it’s probably the most fun, it’s just fun. I’m sad when it’s a ‘Momma Mia’ night and I don’t get to go on.”

Will’s brother, a freshman at the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts, is slated to appear in Super Summer Theater’s “Young Frankenstein” this month.

“We never encouraged it; they begged us to put them in (acting) classes, begged us for this and that, and we just went along for the ride,” Jenn said. ” … Both of them have been like that their entire lives.”

Will said he hopes to work on Broadway and tour with a Broadway show. He would tell other young actors to pursue their dreams.

“If I can do it, anyone can,” he said. “Don’t give up.”

Contact Jan Hogan at jhogan@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2949.