Review - Newsies: Slow News Day

If I said that Newsies hasn't improved any since its premiere engagement at Paper Mill would you roll your eyes and mumble something about how haters are going to hate?

Ten years from now, after Disney has extended the show's limited Broadway run for the 37th time, Newsies will no doubt be regarded as the plucky little musical that went against the odds and proved the naysayers wrong; an erroneous point because I can't think of anyone who would have ever doubted that Newsies would be a huge hit. After all, it has all the ingredients needed for musical theatre success in the 21st Century; attractive young men belting pop anthems and leaping 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.

As in the 1992 film (a financial flop that has gained a cult following through the years), the score is the work of composer Alan Menken and lyricist Jack Feldman, though new songs have been added and some lyrics have been revised. (If you were of a cynical nature, you might say that just enough revisions were made to claim the score is at least 51% new, qualifying it for Tony Award consideration.) A change from the Paper Mill production has new cast member, the engaging Capathia Jenkins as the helpful Bowery music hall star, given a new song that makes the same non-impression as the character's previous number.

Bookwriter Harvey Fierstein has made some major changes in the story as originally presented in Bob Tzudiker and Noni White's screenplay, giving the leads more definition, but the show suffers from having too many characters with unnecessary musical moments, taking time away from the main pair 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 sings of his dream for a better life in Santa Fe; a choice of location that seems oddly random.

New to the profession are David (Ben Fankhauser) and his little brother Les (Lewis Grosso and Matthew Schechter alternate in 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.

While director Jeff Calhoun's company doesn't contain a weak link, the material 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 have achieved better results by starting from scratch.

Photos by Deen van Meer: Top: Jeremy Jordan (center) and Company; Bottom: Aaron J. Albano and Jess LeProtto.