Disney’s Newsies: The Broadway Musical is thoroughly delightful in the splendid production at Stages St. Louis.
Surprisingly, Disney did not intend Newsies to be a Broadway musical when the show was in development. Newsies is based on the 1992 movie musical of the same name starring Christian Bale. The film failed at the box office but attracted a cult following on cable and home video. Fans of the movie clamored for a version they could perform themselves, and they created their own versions in the absence of one from Disney.
Disney bowed to the demand in the mid 2000s. When told that a version for licensing would be developed, the original composer, Alan Menken, insisted that he and his collaborator, Jack Feldman, do the work themselves. Tony Award–winning dramatist Harvey Fierstein joined the team to rework the story. In addition to making changes, Menken and Feldman added seven new songs and an eighth one before the national tour.
A four-week tryout run at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey was so successful that a 12-week limited run on Broadway was quickly set up. That production continued for two-and-a half years and turned a profit faster than any other Disney musical. A two-year national tour followed the Broadway run.
The title characters in Newsies are ragamuffins who subsist by selling newspapers. The inspiration for the story is a historical event: the newsboys’ strike of 1899. It was prompted by a rise in the price publishers charged newsboys for a bundle of 100 papers. At that time, morning papers were often delivered, but afternoon papers were mostly sold by newsboys.
In the musical, Joseph Pulitzer represents the publishers. The strikers’ leader is charismatic young man named Jack Kelly. He is a talented artist, but he earns his living as a newsie in New York City while dreaming of a better life in Santa Fe.
The newsies first demonstration is quashed by strikebreakers, but a young reporter named Katherine Plumber writes favorably about the strike. An attraction develops between Jack and Katherine, but they have secrets that stand in their way.
Daniel Marconi as Jack and Taylor Quick as Katherine create vivid characters and strong chemistry. Christopher Gurr is a powerful antagonist as Pulitzer.
Jack’s friends and followers in the strike are sympathetically played by Matthew Cox as Crutchie, Richard Spitaletta as Davey, and Davin Wade as Davey’s younger brother, Les. Anita Michelle Jackson is a charmer is the vaudeville star, Medda Larkin. She has a close friendship with Jack, who Jack paints backgrounds for her theater.
The production gets irresistible energy from Steve Bebout’s direction, Lindsay Joy Lancaster’s choreography, and David Nehls’ music direction. The excellent Stages ensemble is a diverse group. “We aimed to paint a more-complete picture of the children of the Lower East Side,” Bebout says in his program note, “since this was a group of native-born New Yorkers and immigrants. And, yes…young women sold papers too!”
Ann Beyersdorfer’s scenic design gives the show a striking industrial look that fits the turn-of-the-20th-century setting. Saki Kawamura’s projections and Sean M. Savoie’s lighting add flexibility to the staging. The period atmosphere is enhanced by Brad Musgrove’s costumes, Daniel Paller’s hair and wigs, and Mike Tracey’s sound. The exciting fight choreography is by Bart Williams.
Newsies continues through August 25 at the Ross Family Theatre at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center, 210 East Monroe Avenue.
—Gerry Kowarsky
Photo © Phillip Hamer Photography
