This really happened. In 1899, newspaper magnates Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst raised the price-per-bundle on their newsie middleboys from 50 cents to 60 cents without raising the price of the newspaper itself. This constitutes a dick move even by the trickle-down economics standards. The middleboys, a group of over-aged, well-above-average-looking and absurdly gifted singing and dancing orphans, went on strike insisting that their leotard-and-toe-shoe work uniforms be subsidized by the media moguls themselves.
This phenomenon of such a random concentrated collection of talented locals among Manhattanites was rare, but has continued to show itself at odd intervals in modern history, like in the early 1960s when street gangs both terrorized and delighted unsuspecting witnesses on the island’s West Side.
For those who never go to the theater, Disney’s Newsies the Broadway Musical is a decent facsimile. You’ll likely be a tad disappointed that the stage is, clearly, a stage. “Christian Bale got to sing outside!” The skeletal fire exit-like structures double as both sleeping quarters and skyscraper foundations. The point isn’t to recreate realistic orphan-holes; it’s to get the boys singing, dancing, and groping one another as often as possible. This version also has a huge advantage over a live show: you can see Jack Kelly (Jeremy Jordan) do his thing without having to guess his expression from your balcony vantage-point.
Day 1 finds all well as Jack wakes up with his live-in companion Crutchie (Andrew Keenan-Bolger). Wait. You seriously named a character after the instrument of his impediment? “Oh, yeah, seez. Dis heres my crew: Crutchie, Eye-patch, and Colostomy Bag. Iron Lungy couldn’t make it; he don’t sell the papes so good no mo’.”
Ah, yes. One will notice almost instantly how aggressively New York Newsies felt it needed to be from the constant name-dropping, to calling every last female and/or flying animal a “boid.” Why Jack and the B-talk are so taken with Santa Fe is a bit of a mystery. Gotta sing about somethin’, I suppose. And while Day 1 establishes the life of the newsboy/orphan, Day 2 establishes the plot – Joe Puli Famous raised the price on the urchins and brought out the leg breakers. And speaking of boids, somewhere in-between war and peace, Katherine (Kara Lindsay) shows up. Best guess as to her presence is the choreographer got bored with an only male cast.
The Newsies score is good enough to ignore Jack’s fairly predatory behavior with regards to Katherine. Will Crutchie be jealous
when Jack discovers *gasp* a woman? I never saw the Bale version. Did it have a subtle homosexual vibe, too? Maybe “Crutchie” has nothin’ to do with his impediment. Just sayin’.
Having never seen this musical before, I’m actually a bit surprised to see such a socialist agenda. I don’t mind; it sounds like Pulitzer deserved some bad press, especially as he could and did suppress it himself. It’s just odd given standard musical themes. Musicals taught me you are worthy of love even if you’re an orphaned lion … and you are worthy of love even if you’re a green witch … and you are worthy of love even if you haunt an opera house. Newsies taught me you gotta fight for your right to pittance.
As with all musicals, it’s all good if it rocks. Disney’s Newsies the Broadway Musical … rocked, I think … or at least papered.
♪So that’s what they call a career
A successful Broadway run
Guess that everything I’ve heard it could be true
Sure, I’m not exactly teen-aged
Even though I’m playing one
I hear thirty-eight is the new twenty-two
When I dream I’m a star
I can score a Twilight romance
For a dreamer every script is one I’ll play
Then my agent brings the news and there are no leads today
I suppose I’ll bring the news until I’m gray♫
Rated PG, 149 Minutes
Director: Brett Sullivan
Writer: The street
Genre: Repressed early homosexuality
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Are you in love with Jack Dawson?
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Joseph Pulitzer
♪ Parody Inspired by “Santa Fe”
