In 1899, Jack Kelly (Jordan) makes a living as a newsboy, selling papers for Joseph Pullitzer (Blanchard). Jack works along other newsboys, called newsies, including his best friend Crutchie (Keegan-Bolger). Jack is well-known among the newsies and commands respect. He befriends Davey (Fankhauser) and Les (Steiner) Jacobs and takes them under his wing.
Pullitzer decides to increase the newsies price for the papers to motivate them to sell more papers. The newsies are outraged and form a union, led by Jack and Davey, and strike. Jack is the face of the strike, while Davey lays out what they need to do. Their strike catches the attention of new reporter Katherine (Lindsay), who asks for an exclusive story. Can they take on Pullitzer and win?
This is a special filming of the Broadway production of Newsies. The Broadway show ran on Broadway from 2012-2014, with a book by Harvey Fierstein.
The show is based on the 1992 movie Newsies, which was based on the 1899 Newsboys strike. The movie featured songs by Alan Menken and incredible choreography. The show took all the majority of the songs from the movie, while adding some new ones and reworking parts of the existing songs. The show opened with Jeremy Jordan, Ben Fankhauser, and Kara Lindsay in the lead roles. The show was nominated for 8 Tony Awards and won 2: Best Choreography for Christopher Gattelli and Best Original Score for Alan Menken and Jack Feldman.
In addition to the song changes, the show also made some changes to the characters. Apart from Davey and Les, the Jacobs family does not appear. The character of Sarah Jacobs and the reporter, Bryan Denton, are combined into a new character: Katharine. They also cut down on the number of newsies, including Kid Blink (the name of the actual leader of the 1899 Newsboys Strike).
I love the movie and I also love the show. I fell in love with the soundtrack and YouTube clips of the show, but didn't have the opportunity to see the show. This taping reunites the original leads, including Andrew Keegan-Bolger as Crutchie, and other talented performers (many of whom appeared in the show on Broadway or when the National Tours). The dancing is phenomenal and the whole cast grabs your attention from the beginning. Like the film, one of the best characters is Race (Racetrack in the film), portrayed here by Ben Cook. He gets to shine in the "King of New York" song. I fell in love with the cast and the performances, and ended the show with a smile and a desire to watch it again.
If you love the film, check out this performance... and if you love the show, give the movie a chance.
Disney's Newsies the Broadway Musical (2017) 149 minutes
Director: Brett Sullivan
Starring: Jeremy Jordan as Jack Kelly
Ben Fankhauser as Davey Jacobs
Kara Lindsay as Katherine
Steve Blanchard as Joseph Pulitzer
Aisha de Haas as Medda Larkin
Andrew Keegan-Bolger as Crutchie
Ethan Steiner as Les Jacobs
Tommy Bracco as Spot Conlon
Ben Cook as Race
Jordan Samuels as Specs
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