- Performances: 1,004
- Open / Close: March 29, 2012 – August 24, 2014
- Tony Awards: 2; Best Choreography & Best Original Score
- Box Office: $109,000,717 (or ~$119M in 2020 dollars).
- Fun Fact: The fastest of any Disney musical on Broadway to turn a profit, the company’s initial $5 million investment was recouped in seven months.
Podcast
The first episode of the podcast welcomes University of Richmond professor and “Newsies” superfan, Dr. Caroline Weist, to dig into the discrepancies between “Newsies” on stage and on screen.
You may remember this musical as having exceptional dancing. The enduring legacy of the show, as far as I’m concerned, is the emergence of Jeremy Jordan as a star in his role as Jack “Cowboy” Kelly, leader of the 1899 Newboys Strike. For deep state Broadway nerds, it marks the most recent high-profile credit for Jeff Calhoun. Calhoun is a choreographer / director who will show up several times on this list: he won a Best Choreography Tony for the 1994 production of “Grease,” #63 on the longest-running list, and will get name-checked in next week’s entry, “Big River.”
- Fun Fact #2: Additional “Grease” connection: Jeremy Jordan is married to Ashley Spencer who won second place on the TV reality show, “Grease: You’re the One That I Want.”
“Newsies” had a convoluted journey to the stage, starting out as a film starring plucky rising star, 17-year old, pre-Batman Christian Bale. Hoping to revive the old-time family musical, Disney might have been trying for the next “Oliver!” but this David v. Goliath story was a bit too muddled in its message to catch on with audiences. Released in 1992, the film bombed, earning less than $3M at the box office, even with top-flight Disney-financed talent like Alan Menken providing the music (Menken’s long-time collaborator, Howard Ashman, was dying with AIDS and wasn’t involved).
The awkwardness of a musical about child labor is particularly pronounced in the film version. Sure, “Oliver!” was about preteen criminals but it was also about love and redemption. Not only is “Newsies” explicitly about the conflict between unionization and the free market but the story’s resolution involves a “both sides win” deal that may be politically instructive but is dramatically unsatisfying. Along the way, Teddy Roosevelt gets called a socialist, Jack proclaims “It’s no sin to be poor,” but this story doesn’t really want to delve into class warfare. Corporate overlord Disney may have been happy with a “see, we all can get along” message but, without “Les Miserables” style conflict, the show whimpers to a close running on the feeble fumes of compromise.
The stage version doesn’t fix these problems but, whoa, look at all that dancing! The theatrical creative team tightened up the story, dropped a subplot or two, and spiced up the love interest. Theater crowds ended up dwelling less on the milquetoast messaging and more on the “rah, rahs” for NYC (the borough of Brooklyn is essentially a hero in the story) and the amazing kids with their balletic, gymnastic dance moves. Songs like “King of New York,” catchy and generic enough to be dropped in almost anywhere in any show, benefit from an energetic ensemble and a rousing tap treatment.
- Fun Fact #3: When the tap dancing on the tables didn’t project adequately, Calhoun had mics installed underneath.
The show’s biggest asset, though, was Jeremy Jordan. With his heavy brow and dark features, he’s basically got resting rebel face that he uses to project implicit threats but that he leavens with an otherwise youthful physicality, necessary given that he was nearly 30 when he took the role. His best scenes make use of his wise-guy pugnaciousness in contrast to the stuffy people in power, like paper publisher Joseph Pulitzer.
His best weapon, by far, is his voice. Even saddled with a heavy New Yawk accent, he breaks out with crystal clarity in songs like “The World Will Know.” Hear his phrasing and occasional leaps into a higher register in “Santa Fe.” His sincerity sells (almost) the otherwise stagnant “Something to Believe In.” If you aren’t a believer, this clip — complete with a heartwarming personal anecdote plus being amazing live — should win you over.
Random bits:
- The whole Medda subplot is a bit of a mess. So you’ve got burlesque — in a Disney movie! — and she provides a window into Jack’s artistic side. Still, besides her risque aside to Teddy Roosevelt, I felt the whole thing could have been jettisoned.
- Character names like “Crutchie” and “Specs” — now that’s creativity!
- Kara Lindsay as Katherine “Plummer” (spoiler alert: actually Pulitzer!) rocks an amazing purple suit early on that I don’t think is period appropriate.
- Superhero connections: Christian Bale, of course, would go on to be The Batman. Jordan has been a costar on TV’s “Supergirl” since it’s inception. The star of “Supergirl,” Melissa Benoist, did a stint in “Beautiful: The Carol King Musical” in 2018. Running from 2014-19, “Beautiful” is currently #28 on the Longest Running List with over 2,416 performances. On Broadway, as in life, all things are connected.
- The funniest line in the show is a great meta aside from Teddy Roosevelt: “Don’t stand there letting these children sing…endlessly.”
- Playbill did a great “Where are they now?” feature on the cast last year.
- Thanks to Disney, there is a truly awesome version of the live musical, filmed at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles and available on YouTube and Amazon Prime.
Final Grade: B+