Newsies!

Newsies came out in the early nineties and was a box office flop a placed a moratorium on live-action Disney musicals for almost two decades.  Curiously enough, director Kenny Ortega was the one responsible for this movie and the seminal Disney Channel hit that made musicals "cool" (read: profitable) again.  Yes, I'm referring to the High School Musical trilogy, which bears the singular accomplishment of having its first two movies broadcast on television and then make the leap to the big screen with the release of the third and final film (High School Musical 3: Senior Year) in theaters.

I love Newsies.  I didn't see it as a kid but I've probably seen it enough times to make up for the time that I never saw the move, let alone know that it existed.  This movie is responsible for:
1) reigniting my love of theater
2) getting me to really love movies and movie trivia
3) my slight obsession with Christian Bale
(I'm not a fan of the trailer but it's the only one I could find)


Newsies was never converted into a live theater version in the way of Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King but that didn't stop hundreds of schools and musical camps from putting on shows of this story.  This week the official Alan Menken-approved musical production of Newsies will be presented to the world, and from the few clips I've found of it I am optimistic and excited to see how it goes and gets reviewed.  Understandably there are some changes to the plot, characters, songs, but the heart of the story seems intact.  Unlike the two aforementioned film-to-theater adaptations, this production isn't set to show on Broadway but in a theater in New Jersey.  Oh, if only I muster the time and money to go down and see this production...