Newsies: The Musical

Occupy Wall Street, salary inequalities, newspapers closing—do these explain why a belly-flopped Disney film has captured Broadway’s spirit?  The timeliness is certainly obvious in Newsies: The Musical, based on an 1899 newspaper peddlers’ (“newsies”) strike. However, the show also offers a package of talent.  Directed by Jeff Calhoun at the Nederlander Theatre, it has an action-packed, straightforward plot by Harvey Fierstein (Hairspray), a catchy score with music by Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast) and lyrics by Jack Feldman, and a young cast with energy on fire. It also stars Broadway’s latest matinee idol, Jeremy Jordan, a busy guy this past year, performing at the Paper Mill Playhouse production of Newsies, then moving to Broadway as Clyde in Bonnie and Clyde, and back to Newsies, now on Broadway.

It is the turn of the last century, long before TV “special reports” and instant internet flashes. Jordan plays brawny Jack Kelly, one of the kids hawking “papes” on the Lower East Side streets. Jack is the main man, the one other newsies gravitate to and Jordan evokes the 17-year-old’s tough, hot-headed manner, his artistic core and his dream of going to “Santa Fe” because it sounds so peaceful. Standout performers in his gang include “Crutchie” (Andrew Keenan-Bolger), a devoted sidekick, and brothers Davey (Ben Fankhauser) and Les (portrayed at alternating performances by Lewis Grosso and, at this performance, Matthew J. Schechter, a shrewdly impish scene-stealer). The brainy Davey and his feisty little brother, Les, are working to boost their family’s financial woes.

When hardhearted publishers like Joseph Pulitzer, portrayed by John Dossett, charge the newsies another penny for their daily package of newspapers, the boys are outraged. Jack demands a strike, but Davey urges him to first form a union. The other Lower East Side newsies are on board and eventually they get all the newsies around the city to join.  Suddenly, Pulitzer has a fight on his hands and the urchins have the tycoon’s big guns to battle.

The appeal of a strike in a light-hearted musical, however, goes just so far, so bring on the romance. Katherine is a young reporter struggling to break the male glass ceiling (hints of Nellie Bly). In her engaging Broadway debut performance, Kara Lindsay plays a spunky Katherine who agrees to write about the strikers. Her ensuing romance with Jack inspired a new love duet, "Something to Believe In."  Medda (Capathia Jenkins), madam of a strip house, adds her support.

Calhoun directed the show with pizzazz, keeping the company scooting up and around Tobin Ost’s rolling scaffolding and staircase set that switches smoothly to the elegant office of Joseph Pulitzer. Fierstein’s focus zoomed in on the 19th century with his ear on the colloquialisms. Menken and Feldman’s songs do not reflect the turn-of-the-century, but their contemporary sound highlight the play’s gusto and “Seize the Day” acclamations in songs like “Carrying the Banner.”  Dossett defines Pulitzer with a strikingly appropriate addition, “The Bottom Line.” Lindsay does a fine job with “Watch What Happens” as she faces the blank sheet of paper, and Jenkins shows her spicy side with “That’s Rich.” Choreographer Christopher Gattelli designed non-stop athletic and energetic leap, flips and quicksilver tapping and a catchy newspaper slide for the boys.  Jess Goldstein dressed the cast in well-detailed, turn of the century costumes with newsboy caps that kids in the audience later clamored to buy in the lobby.

Newsies is a rousing, well-crafted, family-friendly musical with the good-time coziness of young romance and right versus wrong. After the upcoming theater awards and a healthy run on Broadway, this looks like a promising one for the road.

(Pictured: Jeremy Jordan and the cast of Newsies; photo by Deen van Meer)

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
April 1, 2012
www.cabaretscenes.org