Newsie Of A New Disney Musical. *A Disney Thread*

Disney studios have registered the domain names: newsiesbroadway.com, newsiesmusical.com, newsiesontour.com, newsiesthemusical.com and newsiestickets.com, which is creating speculation that Disney Theatrical Productions are to adapt the 1992 American Disney musical 'Newsies' for the stage.

The domain name registrations comes on top of an earlier report by Wayman Wong of the NY Daily News that composer Alan Menken and lyricist Jack Feldman were working on bringing the musical to the stage, featuring a new book by Harvey Fierstein.

The 1992 film 'Newsies', screenplay by Bob Tzudiker and Noni White, with score by Alan Menken ad lyrics by Jack Feldman, tells the true story of the the 1899 Newsboys Strike in New York City.
The strike was caused when the papers' 'New York World' and the 'New York Morning Journal' (owned byJ oseph Pulitzer's and William Randolph Hearst respectively) refused to lower the price of a bundle of newspapers, which the newsboys (Newsies) purchased to hawk on the streets. The strike ended when the two papers agreed to buy back from the Newsies all unsold copies.

The film is a fictionalised account of this strike has told through Jack "Cowboy" Kelly, a newsboy who befriends 'David Jacobs,' a boy who, along with his younger brother, has temporarily left school to sell papers until their father, who has a broken arm, is able to return to work. When the price of the papers are raised, Jack and his new friends find themselves at the centre of a city-wide strike by the Newsies as they fight for justice.

The film, though technically not released as a musical contains a score of 12 songs including "Carrying the Banner," "Santa Fe," "Seize the Day," "The World Will Know" and "King of New York," and features dance sequences chireographed by Andrew Laszlo.

The movie, directed by Kenny Ortega, starred Christian Bale as 'Jack "Cowboy" Kelly' and David Moscow as 'David Jacobs.

The movie was not a commercial success for Disney and was badly received by critics. Since that time the film has steadily gained a cult following and fans petitioned Disney to release to musical on DVD, which it did in 2002.

There has been an on going petition by fans for Disney to adapt the film into a musical.

Updated On: 4/7/10 at 05:43 AM

It bombed n my living room on DVD too - a real snore fest from Disneys dark days.

Alan's told me they've had a reading of Act One, and it's steadily getting done. This movie does belong on stage - with a completely reworked book and stronger character development. It has its legions of fans and should do rather well on Broadway if they get a director to take a naturalistic style to it.

Alan's also told me that Aladdin is being developed for the stage, with as much of the original Howard Ashman material (such as Call Me A Princess, Proud of Your Boy etc).

Very exciting times!

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I think it is really exciting that Fierstein is writing the book. His book for La Cage is genuinely witty and moving. And his libretto for A Catered Affair is a seriously beautiful piece of writing.

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Updated On: 3/10/10 at 05:35 PM

They've been talking about doing it for years.
Finally it's about time we had a replacement for Oliver and Annie - should work a treat if they get it right.
The melodies from the original film were some of Menken's best, especially "Seize the Day" and "Carrying the Banner".
Look forward to it.

Green Panda Theatre - New Musicals, Audtion/Performance Songs and music for Pantomime

Updated On: 3/31/10 at 07:40 PM

OMG Paul, I remember seeing that when, when, well never mind.
Isn't it funny that Disney made so many movies for TV and cinema in their heyday that a lot of them really are forgotten about and will most certainly never see the light of day.

I liked that one with the invisible pirate! |Wasn@t Dean Jones in it?

I love 'The Happiest Millionaire'. Look at that cast!

*James Robertson Justice was a staple in the Disney fold in the 60s thru 70s.

A guilty pleasure.
The divine Helen Reddy.

I loved Pete's Dragon as a kid - Pushing Daisies did a 'tribute episode' to it last year 'The Legends of Merle McQuoddy'). Great fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTabxXnhfXo

Another of my favourites way back when:

[IMG]

Long before I even knew who Bette Davis was!

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Updated On: 4/7/10 at 12:39 PM

OH god Matt! -again, another film I loved as a kid.

What Disney movie was Shelly Winters in- I think it was the sequel to 'The Apple Dumpling Gang' ????

She did 'Pete's Dragon' and I'm sure one or two others?

Updated On: 4/7/10 at 12:55 PM

The only Disney film I remember Shelly Winters doing was Pete's Dragon. But Ruth Buzzi was in Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again. I LOVED the first Apple Dumpling film (as well as Pete's Dragon, but I don't see that one working on stage very well). Like the majority of Disney films of the era, it's more slapstick than anything else, but the cast is what made it so charming. With a beefed up book and a catchy score, it has a LOT of potential as an endearing family musical.

For the record, I love Newsies. I saw it a couple of times in the theatre when it opened and I think the score is a knockout. I'd definitely pay to see it on stage. Santa Fe is one of my favorite Menken ballads.

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The Jungle Book was the first film i ever saw at the cinema(not it's original release i must add)and every school holiday i'd see the Disney reissue of that season. Dumbo was and still is one of my favourite Disney films of all time. They dont make em like that anymore.