Newsies to be licensed by MTI

[Schmack]

Posted: 10/2/03 at 9:50pm

in the news flash! article on www.mtishows.com, it says they will be licensing the rights to BEAUTY & THE BEAST and AIDA, along with several 30-minute, 60-minute and full length adaptations. CINDERELLA and THE JUNGLE BOOK will be licensed in half-hour adaptations with the Broadway Junior program for elementary schools, ALADDIN for junior/high schools and then full-length adaptations of MULAN and NEWSIES!!! are in the works. Is anyone excited about any of these, specifically NEWSIES? I know it's been rumored for a while and it's nice to finally see something might happen with this. I was skeptical at first but the story is pretty cute and those production numbers would be amazing onstage! This topic is now open for discussion...
MTI Disney Collection

Posted: 10/2/03 at 10:45pm

NEWSIES! I love that movie. It is one of my all time favorites. Sieze the Day! I love that song.

[Menken Fan]

Posted: 10/2/03 at 10:53pm

About 7 or 8 years ago, a local high school arts group got special permission from Disney to adapt a stage version. I just had to go see it, and found that it makes a great stage musical.

I don't know why I remember this, but they cleaned it up a bit (unnecessarily). In the song "High Times, Hard Times", where Ann Margaret sang "I put on my vest and I stick out my chest", it was changed to "I put on my vest, that's when I look my best." I thought that was ridiculous.

[PennyLou]

Posted: 10/2/03 at 10:54pm

I have actually performed as a lead in a not so legal version of newsies before lol. But I have always been a fan of the movie and the music is great. I'm excited now I need to find a place to do the legal version of it so I can do it again!!

[cabarethed]

Posted: 10/3/03 at 12:57am

Oh man...that's just too good to be true. I know that movie inside out. I loved it waaaay before all those Newsies cultists out there now, and I was also into "slash" back in middle school b/c of that movie. I was just considered a freak then, but now it's all mainstream...oh well. Yay for bad movie musicals!

[Starlight]

Posted: 10/3/03 at 10:09am

There are Newsies cultists out there? Interesting...

I love that movie. I've always thought it would make a great show...and who wouldn't go see a cast full of young cute men? Glad to see they're making it available!

[lass]

Posted: 10/3/03 at 10:20am

The movie was okay. Some of the numbers really dragged.

I was hoping "Billy Elliot" would be made into a musical.

[Princess MimiChica]

Posted: 10/3/03 at 1:39pm

oh wow, that is too exciting!!! Watching Newsies as a little kid was one of the movies that made me fall in love with musicals and NYC...the movie is fantastic and has a huge devoted cult following, so it'll definetely be a success! I can't believe it hasnt been made sooner, actually. Now, if only Christian Bale would reprise his role as Jack Kelly, all will be right with the world!!

[Menken Fan]

Posted: 10/3/03 at 3:37pm

I know that both Newsies and Christian have developed cult followings. I enjoy them both (Menken...hello?, Christian...yowza), but don't consider myself cultist. I don't think we'll be seeing Christian in a Newsies production, or any other musical. Here's what he had to say in a recent interview:

Newsies. Was that fun, or do you look back and cringe?

I'm just getting over cringing about it. I've only seen it once, and I was watching it through my hands. But I watched it again about two weeks ago and loved it. I had a great time making it. I've always hated musicals--can't stand the bloody things. But they kept asking me to do it. I kept saying, "I'm not going to sing or dance." And they said, "Ummm...okay."

But you did dive in eventually.

When we started, I said, "Okay, when we do this scene, I'll say my lines, and when they start dancing, I'll wander off." But then you're right in the center of making a musical. You can't help it. And at some point, the Julie Andrews in you comes out. I had a thoroughly good time. And I'll never do a musical again.

[kirakeeney]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 10:29pm

OK, it's been two and a half years... What's the latest on Newsies for stage? Does anyone care anymore? And is it going straight to the public, or do we have to wait out an off-broadway run? Any information, supposition, or pontification would be greatly appreciated!

[BSoBW3]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 10:30pm

I directed a stage adaptation of NEWSIES.

It was pretty good...I wasn't all that thrilled about having to work on it.

And we skipped a scene mid-show.

Updated On: 2/11/06 at 10:30 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 10:33pm

What community theatre/high school in the world has enough interested boys to stage NEWSIES?

[kirakeeney]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 11:12pm

In the middle of the Puget Sound, a short ferry ride from the Seattle area, there is a magical place called Whidbey Island. We have a small population, but an incredibly active theater community. The local community theater produces five full-length shows a year, and the largest of our children's theaters averages six musicals a year. Whidbey Dance Theater is nationally renowned and instructs dozens of young men. Last year, I directed Les Miserables School Edition with a cast of 52 children aged 10-18. 22 of them were high-school boys. Now, I must admit, it is easier to coax teenage boys away from football practice and video games when you offer them rifles and pyrotechnics, but Newsies, like Les Mis, offers many substantial supporting roles so the students feel more like a character and less like a chorus member. I also experimented with cross-gender casting (female actors played Joly and Gavroche--quite convincingly, I might add) and I'm convinced that would play well in minor roles in Newsies. Also, it's more historically accurate to incorporate a few girls into the newsies, although they wouldn't stay in the boarding house, they would just supplement the larger company numbers. My best and brightest will soon graduate and move off the rock, but there's always a new younger crop rising up. I'm eager to offer this opportunity to my current students and, frankly, am getting impatient. Any inside scoops would be music to my ears...

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 11:17pm

Thats a great story Kira, but good luck getting ANYBODY as interested in NEWSIES as LES MIZ.

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 11:23pm

yea they've had that annoucement for quite some time it just takes FOREVER for the rights to become valid and avaliable

[rKrispyt]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 3:07am

I'd just like to put in a request that David Moscow reprise his role.

Just so I can look at him and admire from afar. He's pretty.

otherwise, much as I wanted this years ago, now it's a big yawn - every freakin' youth and community theatre around me has already illegally done this off of th emovie. If it's going to be the movie on stage...sadly I've already seen it.

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 3:08am

holy cow! thats exciting! i would kill to be a Newsie....but alas....i can't.

[iliketheater]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 3:12am

that is so good

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 3:15am

Since nobody else has perked up yet, Billy Elliot is a musical on the west end thanks to Sir Elton John. Who knows when it'll come here. It's supposed to be amazing.