Newsies

1. Name of Show: Newsies

2. Produced by: Nederlander Theatre
3. Performance Date: February 18, 2017
4. Genre of Play: Musical
5. Setting of the play: NYC, 1899
6. Major Characters:
a. Jack Kelly: leader of the Newsies, late teens
b. Katherine Plumber: young, feisty reporter, late teens
c. Crutchie: disabled newsie, Jacks friend, teens
d. Joseph Pulitzer: owner of The World, businessman
7. Major Themes:
a. If you believe in something, you need to fight for it.
b. Unfair systems are meant to be overthrown.
c. Together, the underdogs can accomplish great things.
8. Plot Summary:
In Manhattan in 1899, there is a group of poor boys, made up of orphans,
runaways, and kids who need to support their families. They are called Newsboys, or
Newsies. They buy newspapers to resell them. The problem is, in 1899, headlines were
bad and papers were not selling. The owner of the paper, Joseph Pulitzer, decides to
raise the prices of the papers, so the Newsies have to work twice as hard to sell the
same amount of papers. They are all upset with the new price rules, so 17 year old
orphan Jack Kelly decides to take a stand and start a strike. He declares the Newsboys
a union, and gets help with his public speaking from his friend and fellow book-smart
Newsie, Davy. The Newsies stop selling papers. But "scabbers" still sell them. The
Strike gains fuel, and young newspaper reporter Katherine Plumber writes about the
Newsboys. The Newsies strike soon travels, and newsboys from all over New York are
joining in. Eventually, the strike evolves into a protest against all child labor - The
Children's Crusade. The Newsies print their own paper, child laborers read it, and soon
join the strike. Since NY thrives on child labor, the city basically shuts down. Pulitzer
prices the papers normally, and agrees to buy back the papers the Newsies don't sell.
Jack, who always dreamed about going to Santa Fe, decides to stay with his family of
Newsboys in NY, and he and Katherine fall in love.

9. Set Elements:
The set was mostly steel structures, which gave the environment a working-class
vibe from the start. Nothing in this area stood out particularly to me, but everything
looked great and didnt distract.

10. Lighting Elements:

I loved when the lights were warm, because it made the costumes pop, and
created a beautiful color palette. Mostly what was noticeable were the shifts from warm
to blue, both really cool shades, and fitting for the scenes.

11. Sound Elements:

I love the music in this show! The ensemble numbers especially cut through like
a, something that cuts through. Not a knife, though. It was all very powerful, and I think
its simplicity added to it. The I want songs didnt need any extra frill, they just played it
straight, and it worked well. Really catchy, too.

12. Costume/Makeup Elements:

The costumes were done really well. Like I mentioned before, it was the color
palette that stood out to me. The earth tones made their outfits a bit more believable.

13. Props/Scenic Elements:

Nothing super remarkable here. A lot of newspapers.

14. Performance:
Acting, singing, and dancing was all incredible. This isnt really surprising, since
its Broadway, but still. The actors did a great job with making their characters larger
than life without making them annoying caricatures. And I have no idea how they can
jump that high, but its really impressive.

15. What do you think is the intent of this play?

I think it set out to immortalize the real life struggles of the newsboys in 1899,
and I think it did a great job conveying that energy, that strong need they must have felt
back then to take back what was theirs. Its honestly pretty inspirational.

16. What was your overall emotional response to this play?

It was really nice to see a kind of MUSICAL musical again, you know, like the
kind where theyre just doing some really complicated jumps and jazz squares and
youre like, yeah. It just makes me feel some type of way. And sometimes its just nice to
see somebody want something so badly theyve gotta sing about it. And nobodys being
clever or funny about it, its just like, they really want it. Man. My grandma really liked it,
too, but she likes any show she sees, so Im not sure how much that means. Anyways, I
guess it just got me thinking about musicals. I love musicals. I love how we use the
same narratives over and over again and still feel something. Its so cool. Wow.