NEWSIES on BROADWAY (Dream Cast and Crew)

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 9:05am

Disney Theatricals
presents

NEWSIES

Book by DOUG WRIGHT
Music by ALAN MENKEN
Lyrics by JACK FELDMAN

Based on the 1992 Walt Disney Pictures film
Screenplay by Bob Tzudiker and Noni White
Directed by Kenny Ortega

Cast:
Jason Celaya as Jack Kelly
Jonathan Groff as David Jacobs
Adam Wylie as Racetrack Higgins
Tom Deckman as Spot Conlon
Eamon Foley as Crutchy
Robin DeJesus as Mush
Daniel Manche as Kid Blink
Jesse Zeidman (just a friend of mine, she's not a professional actress yet, if she were, she'd be making her Broadway debut here) as Sarah Jacobs
with
Daniel Jenkins as Bryan Denton
Rachelle Rak as Medda Larkson
Terrence Mann as Joseph Pulitzer
Rob Bartlett as Weasel
Michael X. Martin as Roosevelt and Monahan

Scenic Design by DAVID GALLO
Costume Design by MARTIN PAKLEDINAZ
Lighting Design by DONALD HOLDER

Musical Direction and Vocal and Incidental Arrangements by MICHAEL KOSARIN
Orchestrations by DOUG BESTERMAN and DANNY TROOB
Dance Arrangements by DAVID CHASE
Conducted by FRED LASSEN

Directed and Choreographed by KATHLEEN MARSHALL

Comments are welcome on this dream team. Could this work?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 11:10am

Unless it goes through extensive re-writes, NEWSIES should never be seen on Broadway. The film is dreadful, and it was a huge failure.

And some of your casting choices are just odd. The ones that I HAVE heard of, that is...

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 11:20am

(1) Way too much bold.

(2) Good score but bland screenplay. They need to do a lot of work to it, first of all.

(3) Like munk, I haven't heard of most of the people on that list. But I reckon they all look a lot older than their characters. That just wouldn't work for this. It is specifically about kids (and lots of kids) taking on the man.

(4) To answer your question: No.

Posted: 7/15/07 at 11:22am

Crap movie...

[[e-mail]]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 8:44pm

Odd choices. There is something wonderful in Newsies, a story that wants to be told, and a score that needs to be heard, but it's so covered up with lots of muck at the moment I'm not sure it will ever be revealed.

The story needs SUBSTANTIAL alteration, and the songs need to be re-examined, and who sings when and where needs to be re-assessed as well. I'd say bring in Steven Schwartz or Tim Rice, the two of them seem to work really well with Alan. Maybe you could bring someone incredibly qualified to work on re-writing the story as well.

But, my question is why bother working on Newsies when you could work on Der Glockner or King David if you were looking for an excuse to get a Disney/Menken colaboration on Broadway... I'm not even sure Broadway is the appropriate venue for KIng David (I would much rather see it shown in churches as a straight oratorio based on the score), but at least you're sitting on something that doesn't need constant reworking.

and let's face it, the fans of King David are probably just as few-and-far-between as fans of Newsies.

[Johnnytoc]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 8:47pm

Do you Really want Adam Wylie back on Broadway?
I love the movie a lot, but it really would need a ton of work to be even close to ready for a stage production.

[daspazoo]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 9:47pm

1) I second the Adam Wylie comment - No Thank You. Some days in the ITW revival, they just left out "Giants in the Sky." If NEWSIES is ever on stage, I'd like to hear the whole score.

2) I also think the NEWSIES fans are under-estimated. It's a big favorite among many of my high school and college friends--and not just the theatre kids at all. Two guys busted out "King of New York" for a variety show at school, and I can't count the number of high school groups I've seen perform "Seize the Day." I think this show has an pretty large following actually.

[My Strongest Suit]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 9:59pm

just for the record - i LOVE this movie. coincidentally my friend and i have talked extensively about how this would work on stage. we've thought about where songs need to be added and i've even designed some set pieces. i would love to see this on stage. add some scenes and more character development and i think it would be great on stage. can you imagine a stage full of people dancing and singing on a scale not seen often now-a-days. i would be totally for it.

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 10:03pm

Thanks to daspazoo for the info. Maybe I should replace him with someone else...

But anyway, you're right, I can't remember the last time I saw a high school theater group do SEIZE THE DAY. I say it could WORK.

Here's how I see it, the show would have three main curtains for when the show starts, breaks, then ends. The first one comes before the start of Act I: A big newspaper with the headline reading: "TROLLEY STRIKE DRAGS ON FOR THIRD WEEK". Then when Act I ends and breaks for intermission, another curtain comes down with a new headline reading "CHILDREN'S CRUSADE: NEWSIES STOP 'THE WORLD'". When the show ends, the curtain has a new newspaper headline stating in enormous black lettering: "NEWSIES," bordered with stars.

Seize the Day would make the perfect Act One finale with the trash can drum corps routine (the electronic drum pads in the orchestra pit could help hugely). And then the battle begins, and the kids do their thing, and once they take the picture for the SUN once they get the strike up and running, on that last flash bulb, the first act will end and the "Children's Crusade" curtain can come down. Of course, the way I see it, "King of New York" would be the perfect opener to Act Two.

Hold up, maybe I should be the director... hmmmmm...

[LoringsGuy]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 1:33am

OK, so I'm curious about Adam Wylie. Why did they cut "Giants in the Sky" on certain days? Was Wylie not up to it, vocally?

Love how they explained his absence from GILMORE GIRLS by explaining that his character played Jack in a revival of INTO THE WOODS...

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 11:44am

re: "Hold up, maybe I should be the director... hmmmmm... "

zzzzzzz...

[bonbon]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 2:19pm

I LOVE this movie, and I have talked with my friends about how awesome it would be if there was a stage production. The downside is that these are all supposed to be a bunch of young kids. You'd have to have a Spring Awakening-esque cast, all youngsters (except for the few adult roles). Casting things like that can be rough. Not to mention that a lot of changes would actually have to be made. I don't know anyone willing to put that much time, money, energy, etc. into putting something like that together. But if it does happen, I'm there!

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 2:26pm

I don't think it would take more time, energy, etc. than any other big musical. And I think there are tons of talented young guys who can pull it off.

There's a clip on youtube of a fraternity talent show thing where they do Newsies. They're actually REALLY good for amateurs, and one gets an inkling of how well these songs work on stage. (I can't get youtube here at work, so no link, sorry...it's in 2 parts, I think.)

[WOSQ]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 3:57pm

As they say in All The President's Men, "Follow the money!"

Any first class production of any show these days takes millions of dollars, and the audiences just are not there to support a big highly technical production like this show would be.

If you take every person who reads this message board with any regularity and multiply that number by ten, how many tickets is that? Enough to fill the orchestra and front mezz and a theatre for maybe three weeks? Not enough advance interest to justify the expenditure. Not by a country mile.

Never mind that Newsies was a critical and box office failure and that it sank quickly and quietly. Who outside a few nutcases like ourselves even remember that it happened at all?

And let us remember that this was also a case where the critics were pretty much right in their evaluation and that the material is sustained mediocrity.

Dull.

[ggersten]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 5:20pm

>>Never mind that Newsies was a critical and box office failure and that it sank quickly and quietly. Who outside a few nutcases like ourselves even remember that it happened at all?<<

And yet, Xanadu is now playing on Broadway.
The Producers, despite its Oscar and some positive press, was a flop at the box office.

I remember liking the musical numbers and the costumes, but the acting of the kids left a lot to be desired, and the screenplay was dull and predictable (ok, even if based on a real event, it still needed more suspense). I have the DVD, but haven't watched it to confirm or displace my memory.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 5:58pm

My dream cast:



None

This horrible movie should never make it to Broadway. There must be better properties to do.

[daspazoo]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 6:08pm

LoringsGuy - yes, Adam Wylie was not always up to it vocally.

I recall his voice cracking on one of the high notes when I saw it. He seemed to do his best ever on the cast recording, but even there it sounds a little strained.

A charming performance though, and a thoroughly friendly young man. Sondheim was just not his strongest suit.

[me2]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 8:41pm

Despite how poorly this movie did at the box office (I managed to see it twice before it left the theaters, though), it always seems like people love it. When I was teaching, I always had kids wanting to do this on stage.

I know it would never happen on Broadway (and preferably, I wouldn't want it to), but if they did, they'd have to have a really young cast. None of this giving 25 yr-olds the parts of 16 yr old kids.
Broadway Blog: 50 Amazing Broadway Performers in 50 Weekdays (Are your favs on the list?)

[daspazoo]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 8:44pm

Why not just adapt it for the stage to be liscensed? I KNOW this would be perenially popular with schools and community theatres across the country.

[me2]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 1:29pm

In an interview once, Disney Theatricals head Thomas Schumacher said that there was a tie up in the rights because of all the people involved in the movie. He did say it was in the works, though.
Broadway Blog: 50 Amazing Broadway Performers in 50 Weekdays (How many have you seen?)

Posted: 7/17/07 at 4:04pm

I have a lot of affection for this piece but have to agree with most here--I know there was some talk of bringing it to stage but there's just no way it would work IMHO--I think, unless completely rewritten, it would actually come off even worse live than as a movie.

But *who* ever decided Menken should work with Jack Feldman? HIDEOUS lyrics (though I have a soft spot for the song they did together for the planned live action musical of A Little Princess--I have no idea why Disney agreed to make this movie instead of that one, since they were up against each other, unless it was for the "teenaged girls like to watch lots of teenaged boys dancing" factor)

E

[[e-mail]]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 8:41pm

I've always wondered why Menken keeps switching collaborators, he really has never had an "exclusive lyricist". Even while working with Howard Ashman (who people immediately associate with him), he was also collaborating with Tom Eyen, David Spencer (another "Why") and others.

All I can say, is it's surprising Menken doesn't collaborate more with Schwartz & Rice or even Ahrens. He has had the fabulous opportunity to work with every outstanding lyricist of this generation (except Sondheim of course), and rarely returns to them.

I'm hoping Glenn Slater will be fabulous, we shall see...

[me2]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 8:49pm

Glenn Slater is very talented. Just listen to his lyrics for HOME ON THE RANGE. It was a pretty lame movie, but the music was wonderful (particularly the Bonnie Raitt ballad "Will the Sun Ever Shine Again").

I have a feeling Schwartz would rather work alone.
Broadway Blog: 50 Amazing Broadway Performers in 50 Weekdays

[jo]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 9:12pm

Christian Bale wasn't too old when he did the movie, maybe just a few years older than the 16-year old he portrayed. On an aside, would he ever consider doing a stage musical ( not this one)? I got the DVD because I was interested to find out how the young man who was excellent in EMPIRE OF THE SUN and who became quite a cult actor projects himself as a musical actor.

The choreography was very good, it will probably work even better on a live stage.

Kenny Ortega was the film's director/choreographer ( he also directed HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL ...and the surprisingly excellent arena version of THE BOY FROM OZ).

Posted: 7/17/07 at 10:00pm

Ortega undeniably has talent--some of his dancing in Xanadyu which he co choreographed is ahead of its time (pity the director didn't film it in an interestign way) and some numbers in Newsies come off well and the dancing is great although IMHO largely a bit too MTV 1990s for the subject matter... But like H School musical I think he shoudl remain a choreographer--for my tastes the guy does not know how to position a camera to show off the dances he worked hard to make

I think Menken kinda worked with whoever wanted to work with him--I have demos for some of his 80s shows like Duddy Kravitz and Dream on Royale Street and I'm not sure who did the lyrics(David Spencer I think did one of them) but he always was working with a variety of people even when Ashman was alive and obviously the best lyricist for him.
*edit* you just said that in yoru above post I realize *blush* *

(I love LOVE Weird Romance but it's particularly let down by its lyrics). But Jack Feldman I think is his worst partner (was he a pop lyricist? the only other thing I know his lyrics from is the songs for the animated film Thumbelina by Bary manilow lol)

I like Slater's lyrics for the new Mermaid songs--for the most part but admit I never listened or saw Home on the Range--doubel bad for me as an animation and Menken fan. I guess like most audiences it just held no appeal to me

Bale was the major crush of nearly every girl I knew (I think Iw as 12-13 when it came out) and of course some guys lol Aroudn the same time he did the in some ways similar film Swing Kids which had even mroe of a cult following among the girls I knew despite its flop status

E
Updated On: 7/17/07 at 10:00 PM