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Article IndexBY STUART DUNCAN
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
THEATER REVIEW
It must have seemed like a great idea—the 1992 Disney movie “Newsies” had been a financial bomb (it cost $15 million to make and brought in just $3 million at the box office.) But it had acquired a strong cult following in the aftermath. So actor/playwright Harvey Fierstein wanted to try it again.
“Forget about it. It doesn’t work,” composer Alan Menken (“Beauty and "The Beast”, “The Little Mermaid”) told him. “I’ll fix it,” Fierstein replied.
Well, if extraordinary dancing, a startling set design and just plain energy heralded a stage hit, this world premiere “Newsies” at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn would be a natural. But it has no real purpose—and most importantly—no heart. And a Disney musical without heart is a disaster.
It centers around the 1899 newsboy strike against publishing tycoons Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. But you won’t care a fig about them or any of the 50 characters that appear on stage (played by more than thirty actors, changing period costumes quickly.) Moreover, the music is mostly forgettable and there is simply no big number such as “The Impossible Dream” or “Some Enchanted Evening” to rescue the evening. There are some lovely voices, however.
And probably the best of those voices belongs to Jeremy Jordan, the young 26-year-old from Texas who is already scheduled to play Clyde in “Bonnie and Clyde,” a new musical, already in rehearsal for Broadway. Here he plays a scruffy teenager who leads a band of ragged orphans and runaways in a two-week strike action (here pared to a few days.) The role is based on real-life newsboy Kid Blink. The script is faithful both to real life and the film. And therein, of course, lies the problem.
Others in the large company who impress: Kara Lindsay, as Pulitzer’s daughter who has a romance with Kelly and a few songs that might have helped if we cared more. John Dorsett as Pulitzer remains mostly stereotypical, but powerful. Kevin Carolan, a character actor who has played virtually every regional theater from coast to coast, has a wonderful time as Teddy Roosevelt (at this point in his career, he was Governor of New York.)
Two things almost save the evening: the dancing (credit choreographer Christopher Gattelli) and Tobin Ost’s extraordinary set which may remind you of a steel Lego set. They merge, separate and everyone tears up and down. Exhausting, but exhilarating at the same time.
