Shea's Performing Arts Center And Disney To Offer Free Streaming Performance Of NEWSIES

Shea's Performing Arts Center and Disney are teaming up to offer 2,205 students from the Buffalo Public Schools, Starpoint Central School District, Kenmore Union Free School District, Fillmore Central School District, Genesee Valley School District, and the Jamestown Public School District free access to a pre-recorded streaming performance of the Disney's Newsies: The Broadway Musical.

With the impact of the pandemic on theaters and schools, Disney is committed to innovating new ways for students to remain engaged with the performing arts. By providing this Newsies Virtual Fieldtrip, Disney is investing in the next generation of storytellers and inspiring them to create the futures they imagine. March is Theater in Our Schools Month, and now more than ever students and teachers will benefit from the connection and engagement offered by events like this.

"Our vision is to provide equitable access to the arts in Western New York, and we are thrilled to partner with Disney Theatrical Group to offer eligible schools free access to Newsies: The Broadway Musical," said Thembi Duncan, Shea's Performing Arts Center Director of Arts Engagement and Education. "There is no replacement for live theatre, but until we can gather again and experience that magic, we can use digital streaming technology to celebrate the art of storytelling."

"Since the onset of the pandemic, we have been working to find creative and accessible ways to provide our content free to students and educators," said Lisa Mitchell, Disney Theatrical Group's Director of Education & Audience Engagement. "Earlier this year, we offered a virtually accessible version of The Lion King Experience, a unique holistic arts education program that provides students and educators an immersive introduction to theater-making through the lens of the Broadway production of The Lion King. We are now thrilled to offer Newsies: The Broadway Musical as a virtual field trip to 20 markets across the country in partnership with non-profit performing arts centers, including Shea's Performing Arts Center. They have an excellent reputation for delivering quality education programs, and we are excited to have them introduce this energetic and inspirational production to their students."

NEWSIES, the new American musical, features a Tony Award-winning score with music by eight-time Academy Award-winner Alan Menken and lyrics by Jack Feldman, a book by four-time Tony Award-winner Harvey Fierstein and is 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 on the show. Since opening on Broadway in 2011, NEWSIES has played 1,711 performances between Broadway and the North American tour, to more than 2.5 million audience members in 65 cities across the country.

In 2017, "Disney's Newsies: The Broadway Musical!" made its premiere in-cinemas nationwide. Captured live at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, the film features original Broadway cast members, Jeremy Jordan," as Jack Kelly, Kara Lindsay as Katherine, Ben Fankhauser as Davey and Andrew Keenan-Bolger as Crutchie, and NEWSIES North American Tour stars Steve Blanchard as Joseph Pulitzer, Aisha de Haas as Medda Larkin, and Ethan Steiner as Les.

"Disney's Newsies: The Broadway Musical!" is currently streaming on Disney +.

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.

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