When Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst raise the distribution price of their newspapers 10 cents per hundred, the newsboys, poor enough already, are outraged. So Jack "Cowboy" Kelly organizes a newsboys' strike. With David Jacobs as the brains behind the new union, Jack as its voice, and help from a determined female reporter, the weak and oppressed find the strength to band together and challenge the powerful.
Directed and choreographed by Robin Dawn Ryan with assistance from Madison Alward, the production of “Newsies” at Fort Myers Theatre is distinguished by exceptional vocals, gymnastic dance numbers and a terrific, mostly male cast.
Four songs in Alan Menken and Jack Feldman’s score are particularly noteworthy, beginning with the Newsies’ haunting anthem, “The World Will Know.” It is full of youthful bravado, with the choreography supplying attitude with a capital “A.” The number is reprised several times during the two-hour show and will stay with audiences long after the final curtain.
“Seize the Day” captures the camaraderie of the strikers, who must find a way to unite all the newspaper delivery boys not just in Manhattan, but in the boroughs from Queens to Brooklyn.
Those who love tap will be mesmerized by the cast’s high-energy rendition of “King of New York.”
Gianna Randall turns in a heartfelt performance in the role of reporter Katherine Plummer. The vulnerability she conjures in “Watch What Happens” does more than express her character’s self-doubt and the pressure she feels to write a serious news story that portrays the gravity of the newsies’ strike. It endears her to the audience.
The show is not all gravitas. It does have some lighter moments, such as “That’s Rich,” a vaudeville-style number sung by Medda Larkin and her chorus girls. Emma Luke-Said is sensational as the Mae West-Aida Overton Walker amalgamation.
Cole Edwards, Amadeus Starbird, and Noah and Jack Brown lead a spirited cast as Jack Kelly, Crutchie, Davey and Les.
“Newsies” runs through March 8. Fort Myers Theatre is located on San Carlos Boulevard in Fort Myers.
MORE INFORMATION:
“Newsies” was inspired by the Newsboy Strike of 1899.
While Jack Kelly is fictional, many characters in the musical bear the names of the true working-class men and boys who stood up to William Randolph Hearst’s Evening Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World through their strike. For two hot and humid weeks in the summer of 1899, thousands of disgruntled newspaper hawkers, mostly boys between the ages of 8 and 18, protested the 10 cent price hike from 50 cents to 60 cents for a hundred papers.
The roughly 15,000 New York newsboys were joined in their strike by boys in Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Jersey.
This story was first dramatized in the 1992 Disney film starring a young Christian Bale. A box-office flop, the movie was panned by critics and also received a “Razzie” nomination, an award given to the worst films of the year.
That did not dissuade Alan Menken and Jack Feldman from taking “Newsies” to Broadway.
The musical premiered at the Paper Mill Playhouse in 2011 and made its Broadway debut in 2012. Its Broadway run extended to more than 1,000 performances and garnered Tony Awards for Best Choreography and Best Original Score.
The show has a local connection. Joe Pulitzer’s son, Peter, once owned the two buildings that comprise the Veranda Restaurant in downtown Fort Myers. The Victorian houses were built by Manuel S. Gonzalez in 1902. Gonzalez was once of the town’s original four settlers, arriving on the grounds of the Seminole and Civil war fort on Feb. 21, 1866. He built the house on the corner of present-day Broadway and Second streets for his family and the adjacent residence for his widowed mother, Evalina. Pulitzer acquired and conjoined the homes in the 1960s as a gift for his fishing buddy, Fingers O’Bannon. Paul Peden purchased the buildings in 1978 and transformed them into the Veranda.
The cast of “Newsies” includes:
Jack Kelly: Cole Edwards
Crutchie: Armadeus Starbird
Davey: Noah Brown
Les: Jack Brown
Katherine Plummer: Gianna Randall
Joseph Pulitzer: Chris Dube
Medda Larkin: Emma Luke-Said
Race: Nathaniel Mulvaney
Albert: Matthew Potter
Specs: Lily Hermic
Henry: Joshua Browney
Finch: Kieran McKinney
Romeo: Asher Edwards
Elmer: Daniel Bender
Mush: Joshua Potter
Buttons: Jolie Browney
Splasher: Sydney Butler
Tommy Boy: Syd
Jo Jo/Bill Hearst: Cotton Herman
Mike: Isa Furiate
Ike: Lauren Plank
Newsboys: Kavi Roff, Frankie Savage
Spot Conlon: JJ Frietas
Morris Delancey: Jackson Potter
Oscar Delancey: Mattias Wieland
Governor Roosevelt: Terry Lavy
Nunzio/Officer: Terry Lavy
Hannah: Ashley Gafgan
Bowery: Megan Iwanie, Isa, Syd, Lily
Wiesel/Jacob/Mangr: Jayson Levy
Snyder: Gavin Ott
Bunsen: Mike Towns
Nuns: Emma, Ashley, Megan
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
