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Back in 1992, the Disney movie musical Newsies first came to theaters. Since I was a Disney fanatic, of course I went to see it. While the story felt a bit dry to me, the music stuck in my head and I couldn't let go of it. My cousin, who worked for Disney records at the time, gave us the soundtrack and we played it constantly. He also would tell us, every time we saw him, that the soundtrack had better sales than the movie. The movie never grew on me, even when I watched it with my husband for the first time, so he'd have something to talk about with his sister-in-law (his brother's wife), since it was her favorite movie. Oddly enough, I searched tons of video stores (yes, those still existed) in order to find a copy for rent or purchase. My husband didn't get into the movie much either, but he also loved the music. It became our soundtrack of choice anytime we went on road trips. We would even change around some of the words to our liking.

Here's a trailer of the movie, in case you don't know much about it:



When Newsies became a stage musical a few years ago, I was initially reluctant to see it. However, a few people who saw it told me that it was different from the movie and that they enjoyed it a lot. So when we found out it was coming to DC, we decided to splurge and make it a Father's Day/early birthday (for me) outing. And the verdict is....

We both loved it! The stage version is different from the movie in many ways.

*They changed the lyrics to the songs we knew and replaced other songs completely. (Both the songs Medda--Ann Margret's character--sings in the movie are eliminated and she's given a new song instead.) What's also interesting is that the verse that was eliminated from "Carrying the Banner" when the movie went to video was put back into the stage version. (Starts with "It takes a smile as sweet as butter...") It was still hard not to sing or hum along though and now the songs are in my head!

*New songs were added to enhance the story line instead of it only being a few songs with lots of dialogue. Pulitzer even got to sing.

*The characters were more sympathetic in the stage version. I felt more of an emotional connection to them than I ever felt from the movie. (Sorry, Christian Bale!)

*There was a lot of humor. Definitely necessary for a stage musical!

*They replaced Denton (Bill Pullman's character from the movie) with a woman named Katherine. I originally thought I was not going to like this change, but again, it enhanced the story. Katherine was far more interesting than Denton and even had her own motivations. She represented female empowerment, as well.

*Really, it was like they took the story line from the movie, stripped it to its bare bones, and re-imagined it for stage. Not only that, they made the whole newsboy strike seem interesting and relevant, as well as easy to follow. (Maybe it's just me, but it still feels confusing in the movie.)

What is really amazing about the stage musical version is the set. The pieces would move all over the place,  come apart, be used as film screens, etc. I loved how so much was visual. There was one part where Jack was drawing a picture and you could see it come to life on one of the screens as he was drawing it. They did some other neat things with the screens, as well. The only drawback is with so much visualization, it was distracting from watching the action on stage. My eyes can only be in so many places at once and it was just too much sometimes. It could have also been due to sitting so close and viewing everything from below. I had to crane my neck to see the action at the high part of the set.

The stage during intermission

As for the acting, I really liked the guy who played Jack. While I know Jeremy Jordan originally played the role on Broadway, I thought this guy did an amazing job stepping into his shoes, so to speak. He was interesting to watch and had a great voice. He's on Twitter, in case you want to see who I'm talking about. (In his main picture, he looks like a young James Frain, but maybe that's because I just watched Orphan Black and am somehow meshing his face with Ferdinand's?)

The guy who played Crutchy seemed more likable than the one in the movie, who reminded me of Screech at the time. This one just seemed more sweet and vulnerable, even though he had some comical moments too.

The kid who played Les was adorable. His bio said he was also Gavroche in Les Miz (for a regional cast) and I can totally picture that!

Medda was played by an understudy, but she did well enough that I thought she had frequent experience in the role.

All the guys did an amazing job with their dancing, singing, and acting, as well as providing a lot of comic relief. The guy who played Max Casella's part (Racetrack, called "Race" in this version) was a lot of fun to watch.

In lieu of keeping things positive and also because everyone has a different opinion when it comes to acting or singing, I've only chosen to talk about the people who really stood out to me as favorites. There were some people I wasn't as impressed with, but still did a nice job and played their roles professionally. The only thing that confused me was when the various newsboys seemed to play a bunch of different characters. Like they'd be a local newsboy from Manhattan one moment and then a newsboy from the Bronx the next. Either that, or everyone just looked alike.

Overall, I had a great time seeing Newsies and it really enhanced the story and music for me. I recommend it if you're looking for an entertaining day (or evening) of musical theater. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

View of the stage before the musical starts