About a year after the national tour of Disney’s Newsies appeared in Chicago, Milwaukee gets its first look at this dazzling musical. Based on a true story – the newsboys’ strike of 1899 – Newsies demonstrates that historical fact can be entertaining if combined with some strategically inserted fiction. Newsies began as a 1992 Disney film of the same title. Although the movie was a financial flop, it managed to create a cult following. The musical version opened on Broadway in 2012. The plight of poor newsboys apparently struck a chord with audiences, as the show racked up more than 1,000 performances. It also earned two 2012 Tony Awards. One of the good things that happen when a Broadway show closes is that actors from the original cast sometimes gravitate to the tours. Several of the actors appearing in the Newsies’ tour fit this description. Another group of cast members – a number of whom have appeared in shows such as the Broadway hit Billy Elliott – get another chance here to demonstrate their well-honed dance chops.
It’s particularly ironic in Wisconsin that the plot of Newsies champions poor and oppressed workers who form a union. It might send a message to the state capital, where Wisconsin’s Republican governor and senate recently pushed through a measure to crush its government unions. (The effort was so “successful” that state politicians are now taking aim at the tenure protections of university faculty.)
From the outset, it’s apparent that Newsies presents a sanitized version of the 1899 street urchins who toiled as street corner newspaper peddlers (none of the athletically toned stage actors look nearly as rail-thin or dirt-stained as photos of the real pint-sized unionizers). Even so, the show deserves credit for eloquently demonstrating the boy’s plight through music and dance.
Many of the characters in Newsies are orphans who have no other way of making a living (other than by stealing). One pair of “newsies” chooses to live outdoors on a fire escape rather than be imprisoned in the rat-infested poorhouses that seem to be on par with those of a Dickensian London.
Under such circumstances, the boys understand that they have to watch out for each other. Nobody knows this better than Jack Kelly. He’s a mouthy, authority-defying newsboy (played by Joey Barreiro). Jack yearns to escape the smog of New York for the fresh air and wide-open spaces of Santé Fe. He dreams of riding palominos and sitting around a campfire. In the meantime, he looks after some of the other boys; in particular, a young boy with a disability named “Crutchie.” (Historical note: There actually was a crutch-wearing “Crutchey” involved in the 1899 newsboy strike. The strike was led by a boy known as Kid Blink, who was partially blind.) Although Barreiro sings, dances and acts with incredible skill as the crafty Jack Kelly, it is really the newsies bunch as a whole that dominates the musical. Much like West Side Story or Oliver!, Newsies is an ensemble dance show. (On the technical side, an amazing, three-tiered set by Tobin Ost also reinforces the images of “West Side Story.”) As for the music, the tunes in Newsies may not be as memorable as those in the aforementioned musicals. But a number of songs (including the catchy “King of New York”) are delivered as outstanding production numbers. The boy dancers have more juice than Reddy Kilowat (a reference to the Milwaukee electric company’s ancient mascot). Christopher Gattelli’s athletic choreography has the cast doing back flips, hand stands and balletic twirls, all delivered with a heavy dose of fist-pumping. (There’s also enough foot stomping and kicking to keep even the younger audience member entertained.) While Disney’s G-rated approach may seem ho-hum to some adults, parents can look forward to an entertaining event with their kids. Even a slow-simmering romance is handled with restraint. At one point, the 17-year-old Jack falls for Katherine, a feisty girl reporter who wants to make a name for herself with “exclusive” coverage of the newsboys’ strike. Jack and Katherine (a pretty and talented Morgan Keene) first meet in a burlesque house owned by Medda Larkin (delightfully played by Aisha de Haas). Medda looks like a plump, well-dressed, turn-of-the-century Madame. Over the years she has befriended Jack. So when he’s on the run from the orphanage manager or Pulitzer’s thugs, Jack knows he has a safe haven at Medda’s theater.
Perhaps the show’s singular weak point is its sharp division between good and bad. Jack, Katherine, Medda, and the newsies are definitely in the “good” category. On the other end of the spectrum is media titan Joseph Pulitzer (played with malevolent glee by Steve Blanchard). Pulitzer decides to increase his company’s revenue by raising the price of wholesale newspapers, a move that is immediately followed by all the other newspapers in town. The boys threaten to strike. Their arguments are so persuasive that even the scabs join their ranks. Even a beating by crooked cops and hired thugs can’t shake their resolve. A few interesting plot twists keep audiences guessing until the predictable ending. The icing on the cake is that this is a Disney production. Disney raises the bar in terms presenting quality family entertainment, and Newsies is no exception. It’s a fast-paced musical that showcases the singing and dancing abilities of its talented ensemble; and doing it with enough flair to make it a Broadway series event worth remembering.
