Review - Newsies

If the squeals and cheers of Paper Mill's opening night audience is any indication, the brand new stage version of the 1992 Disney musical film Newsies (a financial flop that has gained a cult following through the years) should prove to be a popular hit among playgoers who enjoy hearing attractive young men belting pop anthems and watching them leap across the stage performing athletic spins and flips. But underneath the flashy performances of its title ensemble, Newsies is a slow-moving, workmanlike musical that takes an interesting, historic episode in the American labor movement and presents it as the kind of spunky entertainment that takes formulaic aim at the heart without earning any emotional payback through well-crafted storytelling.

The score remains the work of composer Alan Menken and lyricist Jack Feldman, though new songs have been added and some lyrics have been revised. Bookwriter Harvey Fierstein has made some major changes in the story as originally presented in Bob Tzudiker and Noni White's screenplay, giving leads more character-defining substance, but the show suffers from having too many characters with unnecessary musical moments, taking time away from the main characters and making their love story appear pasted in.

Set in 1899 New York, the plot concerns the thousands of underpaid boys, usually homeless or orphaned, who hawked newspapers on the street. The system set up by publisher Joseph Pulitzer (John Dossett) required them to buy a daily supply in the morning and they would not be refunded for unsold papers. Jack Kelly (Jeremy Jordan) is a newsie who, like all the others, dreams of a better life. In the film he's nicknamed "cowboy." Not here, but he still sings of his wish to escape New York and live in Santa Fe; a choice of location that goes unexplained and seems oddly random, especially since the lyric gives no indication of what he imagines Santa Fe to be like.

New to the profession are David (Ben Fankenhauser) and his little brother Les (Vincent Angello, fulfilling the show's "cute moppet who says adorably funny things" requirement), who have been sent to work because of their father's job-related injury. Without a union, he's been unemployed without compensation. They arrive around the time when Pulitzer institutes an increase in the distribution cost the Newsies must pay. Inspired by the recent headlines of a trolley strike, Jack and David begin organizing a strike of their own, encouraging Newsies from all papers throughout New York to join them. (Historically, this strike would lead to a movement to support the rights of all child laborers.)

Helping their cause with a headline story is reporter Katharine (Kara Lindsay), herself fighting against the gender-related restrictions of the day. Her affection for Jack is fueled by her admiration for his achievements as a self-taught artist (a new aspect to the plot and Fierstein's best addition) and his emerging talent as an influential editorial cartoonist.

The serviceable score alternates styles between period-flavored ragtime and vaudeville and a more contemporary Broadway pop sound that seems jarring in the period setting. (Another jarringly out of period moment occurs when Fierstein has Governor Roosevelt say of Pulitzer, "He doesn't do happiness.") There's a very good musical scene for Katherine, where she tries writing an article about the strike with her mind continually wandering to romantic thoughts of Jack. More character-driven writing like that is severely needed.

Also severely needed it a reason for the musical's many extended dance moments to exist. As in the film, choreographer Christopher Gattelli has the boys breaking into parades of gymnastic leaps and flips but the book never incorporates dance into the story and, despite the impressive athleticism, it grows redundant and tiresome. There's a fine moment where the boys express their unity and anger with Irish folk steps, but the occasional ballet turns seem out of character for this rowdy, uneducated bunch and when the second act opens with a lively tap dance routine, the company starts resembling the kind of poor, immigrant children you'd find on a 1930s MGM soundstage.

Set designer Tobin Ost provides a trio of hulking three-story scaffolding and stairway structures that dominate the stage, frequently limiting the movement of Gattelli's choreography and director Jeff Calhoun's staging when they're placed far downstage. Scenes staged in these towers get swallowed up, especially when Jordan sings his emotional first act closer from atop one of them; his distance from the seats cutting off any chance to establish an actor/audience connection.

While the cast doesn't contain a weak link, the material and production doesn't provide much opportunity for standing out, either. The company goes through the evening with sufficient skills and charm but Newsies is just too bland to excite. This is one of those cases where a group of talented professionals who have done much better work in the past have simply not hit their marks well. There's a good story in Newsies but perhaps instead of tinkering with improving the source material they might be better off starting from scratch.

Photos by T. Charles Erickson: Top: Jeremy Jordan (center) and Company; Bottom: Kara Linsey and Jeremy Jordan.

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"In London they don't like you if you're still alive."
-- Harvey Fierstein

The grosses are out for the week ending 9/25/2011 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: SISTER ACT (17.4%), MEMPHIS (17.1%), MAMMA MIA! (15.5%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (12.0%), BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL (11.5%), ROCK OF AGES (8.4%), MARY POPPINS (8.0%), CHICAGO (7.8%), PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT (7.7%), THE ADDAMS FAMILY (5.7%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (5.1%), HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING (4.3%), JERSEY BOYS (3.0%), FOLLIES (2.6%), WICKED (1.8%), WAR HORSE (0.7%), THE LION KING (0.6%), THE BOOK OF MORMON (0.2%),

Down for the week was: MAN AND BOY (-9.4%), ANYTHING GOES (-1.1%),