NEWSIES to Hold Auditions for Broadway, North American Tour in Las Vegas, 1/31

Disney Theatrical Productions will hold an open call audition for male dancers for both the Broadway and upcoming North American touring productions of Newsies, the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical smash, in Las Vegas on Friday, January 31 at 4pm at the Alexis Park Resort Hotel (375 East Harmon Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89169). This audition will be first come, first serve and is for technically-trained Equity and non-Equity male dancers between 16 - 22 years old of all ethnicities who can tap and sing well.

This audition will be overseen by Lou Castro (Associate Choreographer for Newsies) who has worked on the Broadway productions of Women on the Verge, 13, Sunday in the Park with George and Altar Boyz. Please contact Rebecca Smith or Erica Benken with Kirvin Doak Communications to schedule an interview with Castro.

When:
Friday, January 31, 2014
Starts promptly at 4:00pm

Where:
Alexis Park Resort Hotel
375 East Harmon Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89169

Prepare:
All dancers should bring sneakers, tap shoes, kneepads and a photo/resume.

As previously announced, the Newsies North American tour will play the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas during the 2014-15 season; engagement dates will be announced at a later time. For information or to register for advance ticket access notifications, visit NewsiesTheMusical.com/Tour, Facebook.com/Newsies and Twitter.com/Newsies.

Newsies features a Tony Award-winning 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 Tony nominee Jeff Calhoun and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli, who won a 2012 Tony Award for his work.

The show received 23 major theatrical nominations - including eight Tony Award nods - and won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Score and Best Choreography. One of Broadway's highest profile hits, it has been featured nationally on "Dancing with the Stars," "The View," "Good Morning America," "Nightline," "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade," and "The CBS Thanksgiving Day Parade."

Included in the best-of year lists for Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, and The Daily News, Newsies can be counted one of the most critically-praised shows of recent seasons. Entertainment Weekly raves, "stop the presses! Newsies is an irresistible, high energy winner... a surprise sensation!" Time Out New York calls Newsies, "an invigorating extravaganza! A barnstorming, four-alarm delight," and The New York Times hails it, "a musical worth singing about," praising the "terrific songs - buoyant melodies by Alan Menken and rousing lyrics by Jack Feldman - and a sweet, funny, emotionally satisfying book by Harvey Fierstein."

When Newsies' premiered at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ it engendered extraordinary interest from the media and public alike, prompting Newsweek.com to call the show, "one of the biggest surprises of the season...the talk of the town."

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.

The stage version introduces seven brand-new songs by the original team of Menken and Feldman while keeping many of the beloved songs from the film, including 'Carrying the Banner,' 'Seize the Day,' 'King of New York' and 'Santa Fe.'

Since the film's 1992 theatrical release and subsequent DVD release, Newsies has grown into a cult phenomenon, and for years had been the single most requested title of all the Disney musical films not yet adapted for the stage. (The film featured a screenplay by Bob Tzudiker & Noni White (Tarzan, 102 Dalmatians).)