I hated the movie "Newsies." Hated hated hated it. I found it plodding, forced, cloying, and resolutely earthbound. My roommate at the time, Todd, has a father who's an actor, and his father appeared in "Newsies" as Robert Duvall's assistant or something. Todd and I went to see the movie together, and when we exited the theater, I turned to him and said, "If that movie kills movie musicals, I'm going to blame your dad. You know that, right?"
Well, "Newsies" did kill movie musicals, at least for a while, but I was big enough not to blame Todd's dad. (At least not entirely.) And, for me, "Newsies" has always been a sort of short-hand reference for bad movie musicals.
So, when I heard that Disney Theatricals was planning a stage version of the movie, I was understandably nonplussed. But the word from Paper Mill Playhouse was good. Really good. So good, in fact, that although the production was initially intended as a kick-start for a licensing property, Disney found itself with an unexpected hit on its hands.
Broadway World's Richard Ridge was thrilled to sit down and speak with nearly all of this year's Tony Award nominees at the official Tony Brunch on May 2, 2012, and we will be bringing you special coverage on all of them throughout the awards season. Today we bring you Alan Menken and Jack Feldman, co-nominees for Best Original Score for Newsies.
Jeremy Jordan earned a 2012 Tony Award nomination for his leading role of reluctant rebel Jack Kelly in Disney's new musical Newsies. Jordan sat down with Playbill to talk about crafting his character, working with director Jeff Calhoun (a fellow 2012 Tony nominee) and the show's creatives, and becoming the unofficial leader of the cast of newsboys in real life.
Newsies choreographer Christopher Gattelli, nominated for a 2012 Best Choreography Tony Award, talks about collaborating with his young cast to tell story through dance.
It's rare to see a large ensemble of male dancers together in a musical. They are an arresting sight inNewsies. I'm trying to think of when we last saw an ensemble like this. What's the show that sticks in your mind that was a male dance show in the past? CG: The one that was inspiring to me was [the film] "Seven Brides [for Seven Brothers]," but I actually [danced in] the Jerry Zaks [tour of] Guys and Dolls [in 1992-93]. Chris Chadman choreographed that, and he was a huge inspiration to me in me choosing to do [choreography] as a profession. It was a group of, like, nine guys — Sergio [Trujillo] was in our group, Andy [Blankenbuehler] was in the group, this crazy-talented group of guys. I remember being surrounded by that amount of male talent and masculinity. And what [Chris] was able to bring out of us was incredibly inspiring to me. That is my last recollection of that kind of ensemble of men — technique, masculinity, the facility that we all had. To me, [Newsies] is that next group.
At the top of the rehearsal experience ofNewsies, did you ask the guys, "What are your individual 'specialties'? What tricks can you do?" Everybody seems to have a featured moment.
CG: The boys now call it "Circus McGurkus." [Laughs.] I was those boys 20 years ago. And you work really hard in class to find those special things that you can do, those little extra things that make you special. So, when I had them in the room, I said, "Look, I've been there, I've done this. If there's something that you'd like to do, or I could possibly use in some way to make use of story, but also feature you in a way, let's see it." Not everything they can do is in the show, but if there was a moment that we needed a little something — like Ryan [Steele]'s spins, when he spins on the newspaper. To me, that's a perfect way of marrying what he has to say about that paper — just grinding it into the ground — yet doing a skill that is stunning; it's kind of meshing all those different worlds.
It's story.
CG: It's story. It's absolutely story. Even when they back-flip, what that represents is their vitality and their energy and their youth. Pulitzer wouldn't do that. He's grounded. He barely gets out of his chair. So, that's the Old Generation. This is the New Generation — it's them flying and soaring. So every step, even though it may look a little fireworky, is very thought out. Everyone gets their moment to shine, and I'm really proud of them for letting me do that with them.
Are there iconic dance moves from the film that are borrowed? Choreographers steal, right? CG: Not necessarily. Kenny made [the dancing] a little more anachronistic. Because of the time, it was '91, MTV was in full — Paula Abdul was popular. It had a little more funk in it, a little more synchronized dancing. When we took another look at it, we wanted it to be a little more grounded in musical theatre. For me, I wanted it to be a little more grounded in ballet and technique. The boys — even though they're rough and scrappy and they live on the streets — they still take pride in their work. Even though they're young, there's a sense of pride in what they do — delivering the papers the best they can, earning a living the best way they know how. That's the way I thought they should handle their physicality.
Discipline. CG: It's discipline. And, if we're going to physically express ourselves through this, we're going to do it really well and not kind of like messy. They would have pride in the way they're going to tell this. That's why I was really adamant about using ballet.
Stage and film choreographer Michael Kidd, who did the film of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," must have inspired you — he was the best of both those worlds, balletic and athletic.
CG: He pushed the guys in those movies. They all could do double tours. They could all do this phenomenal masculine dancing, so he was a big inspiration to me for this show.
Beyond the dancing, the show is a huge cardio workout. There are — what? — three flights of stairs on Tobin Ost's set? They are running up those stairs. CG: The stairs! And then they're on, like, the fifth floor in the dressing room. [Laughs.] Yeah, they're all over the place with the set. Thank God for Tobin and his genius idea. But, yeah, they're up and down the stairs and they'retapping. And then, what a lot of people don't talk about, which I find is almost the most impressive thing in the show, is the fight sequence after "Seize the Day." These guys have just done a full act. They just did one of the biggest dance numbers they could do, including all of their technique and everything, and then they go into a full-on fight with the scabs and the goons — they're doing full-on stage combat — a stage of twenty men throwing barrels and sliding and driving bats!
You can't be pushing 40 and dancing this show, can you? CG: No! [Laughs.] I don't think I could do it. They're resilient. [When creating the choreography,] I tried to protect them and their bodies. I said, "You're talented, and I want you in the show...so let's be really smart about how we construct this and what we honestly can do eight times a week."
What debt do you owe the 1992 film, and original choreographer Kenny Ortega, visually or dance-wise? CG: I absolutely was inspired by it. I was [our Newsies] boys' age when it came out. I'm 39, so it was 20 years ago — I was their age. At the time, we didn't have YouTube, we didn't have these ways of seeing [dramatic dance] … So I go to the [movie] theatre and I see hundreds of boys dancing. They're all amazing. They're all incredible, doing things that like a lot of us couldn't do — pushing the boundaries of what we could do, physically. And to see the way Kenny utilized that to help tell the story, it was completely inspiring — and I think it helped pushed me to do what I do now.
Are there iconic dance moves from the film that are borrowed? Choreographers steal, right?
CG: Not necessarily. Kenny made [the dancing] a little more anachronistic. Because of the time, it was '91, MTV was in full — Paula Abdul was popular. It had a little more funk in it, a little more synchronized dancing. When we took another look at it, we wanted it to be a little more grounded in musical theatre. For me, I wanted it to be a little more grounded in ballet and technique. The boys — even though they're rough and scrappy and they live on the streets — they still take pride in their work. Even though they're young, there's a sense of pride in what they do — delivering the papers the best they can, earning a living the best way they know how. That's the way I thought they should handle their physicality.
Discipline.
CG: It's discipline. And, if we're going to physically express ourselves through this, we're going to do it really well and not kind of like messy. They would have pride in the way they're going to tell this. That's why I was really adamant about using ballet.
Stage and film choreographer Michael Kidd, who did the film of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," must have inspired you — he was the best of both those worlds, balletic and athletic.
CG: He pushed the guys in those movies. They all could do double tours. They could all do this phenomenal masculine dancing, so he was a big inspiration to me for this show.
The morning the Tony nominations are announced, phones start buzzing with texts and calls for the happy few who get nods. As usual, Broadway.com is among the callers offering congratulations and getting responses. Here are the first reactions from 2012 Tony nominees. Congrats to all!
Harvey Fierstein
Nominated for Best Book, Newsies
"Tomorrow morning is the gang bang [Tony nominee brunch]. The nice part of being the book writer is I can go lie down [after the brunch] and they have to go do two shows. I let the phone tell me [about being nominated]. I knew somebody might call me if we got nominated. So Richie Jackson called and I was able to congratulate him and Jordan [Roth]. Then, of course, I looked at the list and began with the, ‘How could they…!? Why didn’t they…!?' Well, I only had two of those really bad. My Dick Latessa, my darling husband [from Hairspray] and then my darling son (sometimes lover, sometimes son) Matthew Broderick [Torch Song Trilogy]. Life is really short and life is very hard, I think you celebrate everything that’s worth celebrating. I spend as little time on the downside of life as possible and the most time celebrating as allowed. I was raised by Jerry Herman—I believe in ‘It’s Today.’ How will I celebrate? I’ll go over to Alan Menken’s, so we’ll celebrate for a little then I’m teaching a friend to make chili tonight. We’ll have a chili party."
Hit plays might be bombing on screen this year, but in recent years, hit movies have been fodder for some of Broadway’s biggest successes. This year was a banner year for screen-to-stage adaptations, with “Once” and “Newsies” among the most-nominated shows for this year’s Tony Awards, and “Bonnie & Clyde,” “Ghost,” and the beleaguered “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” capturing a few nods, too.
The first thing you are likely to notice about the new hit Broadway musical “Newsies” is the refreshingly human scale of this show about a newspaper delivery boys’ strike in New York City a century ago.
Although it is a Disney production — based on a flop movie from 1992 — the musical is not over-produced in the style of the same company’s “Tarzan” or “Aida.” You never get the feeling, so prevalent at other contemporary musicals, that the creators are trying to camouflage bum material with technical razzle dazzle.
“Newsies” backed into Broadway with unusual modesty a month ago after a successful 2011 try-out engagement at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey. The Disney organization hedged its bets in New York City by announcing the musical would have a limited engagement at the Nederlander Theatre through the end of the summer.
Reportedly, the property was originally selected by Disney for development — with a new book by Harvey Fierstein — primarily for school productions around the country. With a large cast of characters made up mostly of young people under the age of 20, the show would be perfect for high schools and community theaters.
The New Jersey test run demonstrated a larger commercial potential in “Newsies.” And, judging by the tumultuous audience response at the Broadway performance I caught last week — and the multiple Tony nominations yesterday — the “limited engagement” should continue for several years to come.
Without ever feeling heavy-handed, the show deals with serious issues — the abuse of working class people by their bosses, the way that city life can grind the spirit out of ambitious young people — but it’s all done in a lucid, entertaining style that is pleasingly old-fashioned.
“Newsies” is a throwback to a Broadway era when musicals were meant to play to large audiences of all ages and backgrounds by wrapping good stories and well-drawn characters in a strong book, tuneful score, and show-stopping dance numbers.
Unlike many of the Disney productions, which play like well-oiled machines, “Newsies” derives much of its power from the strong personalities of the actors on the stage.
Jeremy Jordan gives a genuine star-making performance as Jack Kelly, the newspaper hawker who leads the strike against management trying to squeeze more money out of the poor kids who sell papers on the street.
Like Hugh Jackman, Jordan is a potent combination of charisma and talent — a real leading man in a theater scene dominated by female musical comedy stars and eccentric male stars like Nathan Lane, Sean Hayes and David Hyde Pierce. Jordan is in the tradition of Robert Preston and Jerry Orbach — a real actor who can carry a show without overpowering it and who has all the necessary equipment for romantic leading man roles.
Here’s hoping that Broadway doesn’t quickly lose Jordan to the movies or TV.
Based on the Disney movie of the same name (remember a teenage Christian Bale in the role of Jack Kelly?), “Newsies” is a showcase of energetic male singing and dancing, and a leading man oozing with charm, sensitivity and a great singing voice.
Set in New York City in 1899, “Newsies” is about newsboys that are not treated well by their employer, the newspaper The World. They are poor, starving and neglected, and depend only on whatever income they can get from selling the paper on the street. When the newspaper’s price goes up, the boys are directly affected and they decide to go on strike.
Jeremy Jordan plays Jack Kelly on the Broadway stage. He’s a great singer for sure, but he’s also an emotive actor, engaging us from start to finish. All the other newsies are equally talented, including four male dancers from “So You Think You Can Dance.” The dancing was ridiculous (great) and the music by Alan Menken and Jack Feldman, infectious and catchy. We were on our feet!
The morning the Tony nominations are announced, phones start buzzing with texts and calls for the happy few who get nods. As usual, Broadway.com is among the callers offering congratulations and getting responses. Here are the first reactions from 2012 Tony nominees. Congrats to all!
Jack Feldman Nominated for Best Score, Newsies
“I turned on NY1 to watch the announcement because I knew Newsies would be nominated in a bunch of categories. Since I’m five years old, all I ever wanted to do was write for musical theater. I didn’t know exactly what that meant when I was five, but I remember saying it to a neighbor of mine! This whole experience, long before Broadway was even a fantasy, has been the best professional experience of my life. Even when we thought it was going straight to licensing, the opportunity to revisit this material has been a gift. To go to the theater and listen to the reaction and see the faces on those kids... at Paper Mill Playhouse, they never held for applause—a number would end, and they’d go right to the next cue. For this production, they do hold for applause, and when a number gets a reaction and I see the faces on that stage, I just lose it. It’s 12 Broadway debuts, and it is worth everything to see that. [A Best Score Tony nomination] is like the icing on the icing on the icing.”
Current Role: A Broadway debut as Davey, Jeremy Jordan’s second in command, in Disney’s hit musical Newsies.
Making Headlines: A lifelong fan of the 1992 film that inspired his Broadway show, Fankhauser couldn’t imagine making his debut in any other musical. “I have known Newsies for as long as I can remember,” he says. “To find out that I was going to be in the premiere of this stage production? I was pinching myself.” Fankhauser, who once starred as Crutchie in an unauthorized version of Newsies, was the last principal player cast in the musical. “I couldn’t get an audition initially,” he recalls, “but they were trying to find a Davey who could sing it, dance it and act it.” Once he got in, the young actor won the role in only two days. “I had just moved to New York, and it was my first gig. It’s totally mind-blowing every day!”
Rock Star on the Road: Fankhauser’s first professional credit came after his sophomore year at Ithaca College, when he assumed the role of tender gay youth Ernst in the national tour of Spring Awakening. “We felt like rock stars every night,” he says of hitting the road in the Tony-winning tuner. “We were in this extremely popular show about sex and coming of age. We got to do ‘Totally F*cked’ and ‘Bitch of Living’ and people were screaming from the audience.” The fun didn't end on stage, either: “We had our fair share of showmances,” Fankhauser admits with a laugh. “When you do a show about sex and hormones, it was destined to happen.” When pressed if he had a showmance, Fankhauser hesitantly responds, “Um…yeah. I’ll say it.” But no names!
Spring Awakening vs. Newsies: While auditioning for Spring Awakening, Fankhauser was fortunate enough to see the show’s original Broadway cast in action—which inspires inevitable comparisons between that young and talented company and the current Broadway cast of Newsies. “I do think we have something in common,” he muses. “We are both putting on musicals that really give the people what they want, surprise them and leave them with a sense of themselves.” Though the two musicals are very different on the surface, “It’s about a young generation finding its voice, and both those stories have something really relatable to offer,” Fankhauser adds. “They create an energy that you can only find in the theater. It’s an electric buzz the audience has, and it’s different every night. It’s really, really exciting.”
The morning the Tony nominations are announced, phones start buzzing with texts and calls for the happy few who get nods. As usual, Broadway.com is among the callers offering congratulations and getting responses. Here are the first reactions from 2012 Tony nominees. Congrats to all!
Jeremy Jordan Nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical,Newsies
"I'm still waking up! It still hasn't really hit 100% yet. It takes a while for things to hit me. You can't really describe it, it's just a feeling—a thankfulness and gratitude. I woke up at 8:15 and then fell back asleep and started dreaming about watching the Tony Awards on my phone and had a dream I was at the Tony Awards in a huge thunderstorm. Lightning in my dream woke me up and it was 8:29, so I grabbed my computer really quickly and watched [the nominations] in bed. Ashley [Spencer] was with me; I didn't really call anybody—I got a few phone calls and 1,000 tweets. [I’m excited for] the actual ceremony, getting your name announced on TV. You watch the Oscars, Golden Globes and Emmys and millions of people watch. They call their names and their faces light up, that really excites me—and getting to perform, seeing all my friends there. I've been in the Broadway community for a few years now, and so many friends got nominated. It'll be exciting to see everyone. I think once I'm sitting at the Tony Awards I'll be freaking out."
Elizabeth Jane Cochran didn't exactly make headlines when she was born in Western Pennsylvania 148 years ago this Saturday. But all of that would change when -- at just 16 years of age -- Ms. Cochran took up the pen name Nellie Bly and thus became America's first female investigative reporter.
Nellie tackled the sort of stories that few men would dare to do. Like spending 10 days undercover in a New York City lunatic asylum so that she could then reveal how poorly the patients there were being treated.
Or -- better yet -- how about the time when Ms. Bly wanted to pull a Jules Verne. See if it was indeed possible to go Around the World in 80 Days. So armed with just a single dress, a sturdy overcoat, several changes of underwear and a satchel of money which she kept tied around her neck, Nellie set out from Hoboken, NJ at 9:40 a.m. and then managed to make it all the way 'round our planet -- traveling 24,899 miles mostly by rail & boat -- in just 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds around our planet. Besting Phineas Fogg's fictitious record for circumnavigating the entire globe by more than a week.
Disney added Newsies to its repertoire of Broadway musicals, with its recent opening at the NederlanderTheatre. By now, the movie has become a cult hit, and almost everyone was forced to watch it during middle school or high school for a history, music or social studies class. The catchy tunes and somewhat interesting love story always kept our interest during forced screenings in class, but the play adaptation takes the story of Newsies to another level.
NEW YORK — A man works for decades and can barely scrape together enough pennies to fix his fridge. He shuffles into his home late after fruitless workdays, filled with an increasingly urgent despair. Then to top it all off, he’s fired.
ABC’s John Berman hung out with the (now Tony-nominated) cast of “Newsies.” He notes that the plot for the hit Broadway musical, set in 1899, sort of tells the story of a Occupy Wall Street movement of its time, with much better dancing.
“Newsies” stars Ryan Steele, who plays Specs, and Ryan Breslin, who plays Race, show off a few pirouettes for our cameras:
The Transport Group has launched its online benefit auction which will be available until May 10.
Over 20 Broadway shows have full packages up for bids (each include two producer seats, a backstage tour, and a signed poster), including Once, Newsies, and The Book of Mormon. For example, the Newsies package includes a backstage tour from cast members Ben Fankhauser and Andrew Keenan-Bolger.
There is also a package featuring lunch with Bobby Steggert and Transport Group's Artistic Director, Jack Cummings III, and a specialty VIP package from its own upcoming all-star concert ofBaby on June 18.
Other auction highlights include tickets to TV tapings and sporting events, spa/fitness/beauty packages, fashion/jewelry items, signed TV/theatre memorabilia, and private workshops with NYC agents, casting directors, and acting teachers.
All proceeds from the auction benefit Transport Group and winning bids are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.
What if a pirouette could bring world peace? What if a cartwheel could change the world? What if people read actual newspapers made of actual paper?
No, it wouldn’t take a miracle for that to happen, it would just take the hit Broadway musical, “Newsies.”
Nominated for eight Tony Awards today including the coveted “Best Musical,” this unlikely show about unlikely kids defying the odds is having headline-grabbing success at the box office and with critics.
“Newsies” is the more or less true story of a paperboy strike in New York City in the summer 1899. It was sort the Occupy Wall Street of its time, with much better dancing.
While most of the teen and 20-something cast members of the Broadway show admit to rarely reading newspapers — they get their information from Facebook and Twitter, they say — they do think the show has struck a chord with their audience.
“We feel so blessed to be part of a show that celebrates this kind of thing that’s going on in our world,” said 19 year-old Jess Le Protto, who plays Buttons, one of the tumbling, jumping, spinning newsboys that makes the show a delight to watch.
The show has a complicated history. It is adapted from the 1992 Disney film of the same name, that was something of a box office flop. The movie starred a pre-Batman Christian Bale, who seems more comfortable fighting crime in tights than singing and dancing.
“I don’t ever want to do a musical… ever again,” he told ABC News a few years ago.
But the show did resonate with the VHS crowd and kids watching the Disney Channel on cable. (The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of ABC News.)
“If I could tell one thing to Christian Bale,” said Jeremy Jordan, who reprises Bale’s Jack Kelly in the Broadway show, “I would say, try to not to be ashamed of your musical past.”
Disney said there was nothing short of a public outcry for a stage version.
“This is the only example, certainly at Disney theatrical and one of the few I can think of anywhere, where the audience decided they wanted this musical,” said Thomas Schumacher, president of the Disney Theatrical Group.
Watch ABC’s John Berman’s interview with the cast of “Newsies” on “Nightline,” Wednesday at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT
Hugh Dancy, Paulo Szot, Jeremy Jordan, Andrew Samonsky and the cast of Broadway's Godspell were among those on hand for Manhattan Theatre Club's annual spring gala, held April 30 at Cipriani.
Jeremy Jordan (Newsies, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical)
"I've never had my name called as a Tony nominee before. I was watching on a computer, and it was pretty incredible. I'm so thrilled that as far as Newsies, we got so much of what we hoped for, and that there were also a couple for Bonnie & Clyde. I'm so happy for Laura Osnes and Frank Wildhorn. It's really been a great morning."
