By Bruce Campbell
Staff Reporter
The hardest part for an Okotoks mother and her two daughters in getting ready for their roles in “Oliver!” wasn’t memorizing the lyrics or the dance steps, it was listening to dad talk about having a leading role.
Kevin Newman has the role of Mr. Brownlow in Windmill Theatre Players’ production of “Oliver!’ while his wife, Trisha and daughters, Emily and Adryann Newman, are ‘just’ chorus members.
“Oliver!” is based on the Charles Dickens’ classic “Oliver Twist” which is about an orphan growing up among a gang of pickpockets and crooks the Artful Dodger and Fagin in 1800’s London.
“When we were going to the dress rehearsal he told us he had to go in a separate car because he couldn’t be seen with just chorus members,” said Emily, a Grade 5 student at Dr. Morris Gibson School. “We told him ‘as if’ and he got in.”
Emily said it was all part of family fun and she is proud of her dad for trying something new.
“He’s brave enough to go on stage in front of all those people,” Emily said.
Dad got the acting bug because he might have been feeling left out.
His family has been part of High River’s Windmill Theatre Players for years. He was relegated to being the chauffeur and helping out with the production crew while his family was on stage.
“I have never been on stage before,” Kevin said. “Trisha has been in tons of plays and my kids were in ‘Wizard of Oz’ so we thought this time we would audition as a family… Trish and the girls are in chorus and somehow I got a main role.”
So does he ever rub it in?
“Constantly,” Kevin said with a laugh. “I’m thinking of putting a star on the bedroom door… it’s a little bit of bragging rights at the kitchen table, but all in good fun.”
However, unlike other big stars — Pitt, Clooney, Affleck — Kevin is helping with the dishes after getting up from the table.
It took a while for him to get comfortable on stage.
He said the biggest difficulty hasn’t been memorizing lines, but how to handle surprises on stage.
“In theatre nothing goes as scripted,” Kevin said. “The big challenge for me is being able to react in character if something goes wrong... We had a couple of missed lines in the dress rehearsals and I had to drop in if someone forgets a name or line and I had trouble with that.”
Kevin’s had experience in a “principal” role before. He’s the headman at Spitzee School in High River. He has also done plenty of public speaking in the past as the announcer for the Highwood Mustangs home football games.
Even with that experience, he was nervous when the curtain went up on Nov. 23.
“This is completely new to me,” Kevin said. “As fun as it is, I get nervous before I run a school assembly or announce a Highwood Mustang football game, but it’s a good nervous and the people at Windmill are fantastic in helping me.”
As a principal he’s always telling his students to try new things so he felt it was time to practice what he preaches.
“I’m putting myself out there doing something I have never done before,” Kevin said. “We teach that to my kids at home and at school to try new things, take risks. I guess I am practicing what I am preaching.”
However, nobody wants Kevin to risk singing.
It’s understandable why Kevin has a speaking role and is not in the chorus, according to his daughter Adryann, a Grade 7 student at Okotoks Junior High School.
“Dad can’t sing at all,” Adryann said. “All of us can sing, but when dad sings we just all laugh. When he auditioned he had to sing and he got a role where he doesn’t sing at all.”
However, it turns out dad got the last laugh.
“He tells us that when he is rich and famous and living in Hollywood he will come back to Okotoks to visit us,” Adryann said with a chuckle. “He also said he’s going to have to take a limo on opening night… it’s really been a lot of fun doing this as a family.”
Trisha has been part of Windmill since the 1990s and she is confident her hubby will be back on stage.
“He’s got the bug,” she said. “I know he has enjoyed doing this with the kids.”
Kevin might have the bug, but he’s learned there are major sacrifices that have to be made when you are a star.
He didn’t watch his beloved Stampeders play the Argos in the Grey Cup Sunday because of a matinee of “Oliver!”
“I guess I will have to PVR it,” Kevin said last week. “I hope nobody tells me the score.”
“Oliver!” continues this week with dinner theatre Nov. 29 at 6 p.m.
Regular performances are Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the Highwood Memorial Centre in High River. For ticket information call 403-652-7913 or email [email protected]
