By Lauren Yarger
Think “Mickey Mouse Club on steroids” and you have a pretty quick picture of Disney’s latest Broadway offering, a staged musical version of their 1992 hit movie Newsies.
The stage is filled with an ensemble of more than 30, most of them males, hopping, tapping, flipping, tumbling, spinning and singing their way through music by Alan Menken (Beauty & the Beast) and lyrics by Jack Feldman (the over-the-top choreography is by Christopher Gattelli).
Director Jeff Calhoun delivers two and a half hours of non-stop smiles, sweetness and staged cute, but hold the presses, the audiences love the entertaining and family-friendly show. It has been extended through Aug. 19. Indeed, the night I attended, the crowd enthusiastically laughed on cue and willingly delivered thundering applause whenever possible.
This stage version has a book by Harvey Fierstein to tell the story of a group of newsies, boys who make their living delivering newspapers for the World, one of New York’s largest papers at the turn of the 20th century. They go on strike when publisher Joseph Pulitzer (John Dossett) decides to increase the amount the newsies (all except one here, cast as much older than you would expect when thinking newsboy) must pay to purchase their papers.
Leading the revolt is streetwise Jack Kelly (Jeremy Jordan) who teams up with newbie newsboy, Davey (Ben Fankhauser) and his kid brother, Les (shared by Lewis Grosseg and Matthew J. Schechter), who have left school to earn some money to support their family following an accident which has put their father out of work. If he had been in a union, they discover, things might have been different, so they eagerly join the newsies’ efforts to organize and make a stand against the sleazy Pulitzer.
Assisting them in their efforts are a woman reporter, Katherine (Kara Lindsay), who hopes reporting on the strike will bump her from reviewing theater to the front page. There might also be some romance in store between her and Jack. Entertainer Medda Larkin (Capathia Jenkins) also helps by lending her theater as a rally venue for the strikers. Standing out from the ensemble in other roles are Andrew Keenan-Bolger as Crutchie, a newsie who walks with a limp and who takes a terrible beating (not seen) for the cause, and Kevin Carolan as Gov. Teddy Roosevelt.
The action takes place around or on a three-story, three-piece moving truss (Tobin Ost). Jack’s sketches (he’s an artist) and some location paintings are projected onto it (Swen Ortel, projection design). Costumes are by Jess Goldstein. The score is pleasant, but not Menken’s best. In amongst the 18 numbers is some noticeable repetition. Michael Kosarin supervises the music played by a full-sounding orchestra and provides the vocal arrangements. The nice orchestrations are by Danny Troob.
Newsies runs at the Nederlander Theatre, 208 West 41st Street. Tickets: 866-870-2717
Christians might also like to know: -- No notes. It doesn’t get more wholesome than this. Enjoy.
Thanks for this review, Lauren.
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