Review: Disney’s Newsies

(Front row, from left) Morgan Whitley as Davey, LJ Salinas as Jack Kelly, and Katie Stumpf as Les, with members of the ensemble of Newsies (Photo by Taylor Smith)

In the late 19th century, newspaper moguls Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst went to great lengths and new depths to outsell each other in a cutthroat media landscape. They perfected the craft of hyping headlines, spinning stories, and creating fake news for their New York City-based papers, figuring that it was more profitable to entertain and astound than inform.

Disney musicals tend to embrace the very same model for success.

Take Newsies, which premiered on Broadway in 2012 and is currently being staged by Zilker Theatre Productions. It tells the tale of charismatic Jack Kelly (LJ Salinas), the leader of a ragged band of teenage newsboys and – in this production – newsgirls, who dreams of a better life far from the hardship of the city streets. But when publishing titan Pulitzer (Scott Shipman) raises distribution prices at the newsies' expense, Jack finds a cause for which to fight. With the help of his self-actualizing sidekick Davey (Morgan Whitley) and the tenacious Katherine (Abigail Bensman), who is a first-act renegade reporter and second-act love interest, they rally newsies from the five boroughs to strike for what's right.

Based on the real-life newsboy strike of 1899, but unlike other ripped-from-the-headlines musicals like Come From Away, Newsies leaves the history lesson to others and replaces it with huge production numbers driven by dynamic anthems like "Seize the Day" and "The World Will Know." So much so that when Governor Teddy Roosevelt (Matt Connely) makes an eleventh-hour entrance, he says to Pulitzer, "Well Joe, don't just stand there letting these children sing – endlessly."

Once you get past the production numbers, with their captivating choreography and Alan Menken and Jack Feldman's dazzling Tony Award-winning score, what's left is Harvey Fierstein's predictable storyline, cliche-driven dialogue, and an abundance of Disneyesque theatricality that earned no awards. Every situation facing the newsies is dramatic and dire, every dire situation leads to a speech about brotherhood, and every inspiring speech builds to a rousing song and an extended dance break.

Fortunately, after 54 musicals across 63 seasons, song and dance are right in the wheelhouse of Zilker Theatre Productions' outdoor musical ventures. So, the litmus test for this one is whether the talent on stage – under Joey Banks' direction and with the accompaniment of a fantastic 10-piece orchestra with Beth Everett at the helm – can sell these goods with the same charm and moxie that their characters sell theirs.

Yes, they can. And, on opening night, they did so amidst a heat wave that broiled the stage and hillside seating. With temperatures still at 93 degrees at intermission, Teresa Carson's layered period costuming looked great but was likely no friend to the cast.

The casting of the newsies must have occurred at Costco, for there are more performers than you really need. Yet, every one of them offers a distinctive, thoroughly endearing character and radiates youthful energy and enthusiasm. The ensemble fills the double-wide stage with waves of pitch-perfect sound (nicely balanced by designer Rodd Simonsen) and Chris Shin's choreography, which pays significant homage to the iconic moves – the gazelle-like leaps, the blending of ballet and in-your-face athleticism, the defiant poses – found in the original work. When called upon, dance captains Evan Carlson and Ella Grace Harper perform the more technically complicated maneuvers with immense grace and precision, and they blend in during the wonderful moments of all-for-one/one-for-all synchronization. Set changes are perfectly orchestrated as well.

This show also boasts fine acting from the starring and supporting players already mentioned, but also from Veronica Merrick, as Pulitzer's opinionated secretary Hannah, and Danielle Kaigler, as the belting burlesque queen Medda Larkin. Katie Stumpf, as Davey's little brother, Les, nearly steals the show with her wise guy jr. precociousness and exceptional dance skills.

Designer Joshua Denning forgoes the scenic rear projections and metal scaffolding centerpiece employed in the Broadway and touring shows. Instead, three mobile flights of stairs against a backdrop of unimpressive faux-brick and steel inner-city building facades fill the stage, which are made more attractive once the sun sets and Rachel Atkinson's dramatic lighting design kicks in.

This terrific production is free to the public, but consider dropping some cash in the donation buckets on your way out. There's a ton of newsies in need of rehydration.

Disney's Newsies