“Disney’s Newsies,” currently running at Village Theatre (see below for show dates), is two very different shows in one.
The first act is a serious, even suffocating, exposition, explaining the origins and personalities of the great New York newsboys’ strike of 1899. There’s a ton of energtic singing and dancing along the way, so you’d expect things to be bright and fun — but no, act I of Newsies is as plodding and snore-inducing as is all of the celebrated Les Miserables, my least favorite show of all time. And Newsies doesn’t even supply the occasional baguette that Les Miz offered. No, I take that back … the wonderful production number, “Seize the Day,” coming at nearly the end of Act I, does manage to energize the audience and present a sort of sneak preview of what is to come after the break.
Because Act II is a whole different world.
Oh, the situation and characters remain the same: Jack Kelly (played vigorously by Joey Barreiro) and his gang of “Newsies” — newspaper boys, teenagers who sell the multiplicity of newspapers that New York produced around the turn of the 20th Century — versus Joseph Pulitzer (played by Greg Stone) and the New York press and political establishment. David versus Goliath is an appropriate comparison. Only now, instead of being serious, the show turns into a melodrama, full of laughs and double entendres and still enough singing and dancing to generate electricity. Oh, and ther ove interest that was hinted at in Act I spring to sudden fruition: Jack Kelly falls for Pulitzer’s daughter, Katherine (played with excellent texture by Taylor Niemeyer). She fully returns his affection, despite Act I’s attempt to portray her as a stuffy feminist merely trying to do the job of reporter.
Thing is, Act II is fun. It’s alive and engaging and fully worth the price of admission, if only you didn’t have to grit your teeth through Act I to get there.
None of this, I must add, as Village Theatre’s fault; the production hums, the musicians are spot on, instrument and voice, and the costumes are to die for (my wife, with ever an eye for design, pointedly drew my attention to just how deliciously well done were the period-specific costumes of the three women in the cast). How much of the design and staging was Village’s doing and how much was imposed by Disney’s heavy hand is unclear; though, for sure, the acting, singing, and dancing (including the energetic choreography by local superstar Katy Tabb) are all very much creditable to Village and the individual artists.
Maybe it’s best to think of Act II as being the show you came to see, while Act I is the long and stuffy prologue you have to wade through tounderstand the setup. Admittedly, the second act wouldn’t make sense without the first. Who are these wild people and why are they doing these foolish things? Really, a strike by teenage newspaper sellers? Ah, yes, but after seeing Act I it all does make sense and even seems rational. And it is based on history: there was a strike staged by New York newsies in 1899 against Pulitzer and his fellow newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst, an event that shut down much of the city for several days.
While I doubt that anyone was laughing in 1899, on the Village stage, it is the laughter that saves the production, though allowing Pulitzer to come across as a buffoon at several points may be overdoing things. Certainly, from an historic standpoint, the real Pulitzer was no buffoon (and yes, the Pulitzer Prize that we hear about to this day was endowed by this same Joseph Pulitzer as he sought immortality toward the end of his life).
So, should you venture to Village Theatre to see Newsies — and don’t let anything I’ve said dissuade you from that; the show is an evening well spent, from many angles) — prepare yourself for a double header, two shows in one. And maybe that’s a good thing. It’s certainly a different approach to theatricality, one that you’ll seldom find done intentionally.
Disney’s Newsies, at the Village Theatre: through December 31 at Issaquah’s Frances Gaudette Theatre; moving to the Everett Performing Arts Center January 5 through 28, 2018. Tickets: Issaquah, 425-392-2202; Everett, 425-257-8600.