Cast of NEWSIES Performs on ABC's DISNEY PARKS CHRISTMAS PARADE Today

Music, magic and merriment come together when Disneyland Resort in California and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida present the 29th annual "Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade" holiday TV special, airing today, December 25 on the ABC Television Network. Cast members from Disney's Newsies: The Musical, "carry the banner" down Main Street, U.S.A., with a performance from the Tony Award-winning musical.

Newsies features a score with music by eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken and lyrics by Jack Feldman, with a book by four-time Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein. Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, Newsies is directed by Jeff Calhoun and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli.

The Broadway company of Newsies also features Corey Cott as Jack Kelly, Ron Raines as Joseph Pulitzer, Kara Lindsay as Katherine Plumber, LaVon Fisher-Wilson as Medda Larkin, Ben Fankhauser as Davey, Andrew Keenan-Bolger as Crutchie, and Nicholas Lampiasi, and Jake Lucas alternating the role of Les.

Set in New York City at the turn of the century, Newsies is the rousing tale of Jack Kelly, a charismatic newsboy and leader of a ragged band of teenaged 'newsies,' who dreams only of a better life far from the hardship of the streets. But when publishing titans Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst raise distribution prices at the newsboys' expense, Jack finds a cause to fight for and rallies Newsies from across the city to strike for what's right.

Newsies is inspired by the real-life 'Newsboy Strike of 1899,' when newsboy Kid Blink led a band of orphan and runaway Newsies on a two-week-long action against Pulitzer, Hearst and other powerful newspaper publishers.

Photos by Deen van Meer