I love it when New Jersey theater productions go on to Broadway! The Paper Mill Playhouse is a wonderful incubator for the theatrical arts. We are so lucky to have this organization here in NJ:
NEWSIES
WHEN: Performances Begin March 15th prior to March 29th Opening Night; a Strictly Limited 101 Performance Engagement through June 10th.
WHERE: Broadway's Nederlander Theater, 208 W 41st St., New York
TICKETS: Tickets will go on sale January 30, 2012.
Newsies, the breakout new American musical, will move to Broadway's Nederlander Theatre for a strictly limited 101 performance run following its critically-hailed run at Paper Mill Playhouse earlier this fall.
The musical, featuring a score by eight-time Academy Award® winner Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Sister Act) and Jack Feldman and a book by four-time Tony® Award winner Harvey Fierstein (La Cage aux Folles, Torch Song Trilogy) and produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, is directed by Tony nominee Jeff Calhoun (Big River revival) and choreographed by Tony nominee Christopher Gattelli (South Pacific revival).
For information or to register for advance ticket access notifications, visit NewsiesTheMusical.com, Facebook.com/Newsies and Twitter.com/Newsies.
Though intended only as a pilot production before the title was licensed for regional, professional and amateur productions, Newsies' Paper Mill run engendered extraordinary interest from the media and public alike. The show's cast was invited to perform on ABC's 'The View,' the first time in that show's 15-year history that a regional production had ever done so. Fans who had waited nearly 20 years to see Newsies live onstage, alongside audiences discovering the work for the first time, caused a sensation heard all the way to Times Square, prompting Newsweek.com to call the show, “one of the biggest surprises of the season.the talk of the town.”
And, when it opened at Paper Mill on September 25th, Newsies was hailed as a fresh, disarming surprise. The New York Times, among others, praised the "terrific, rousing songs and a sweet, funny, emotionally satisfying book," calling it, "a stirring crowd-pleaser" and "a musical worth singing about."
"In this company's 17-year history, we have never seen a show so immediately and fervently embraced this early in its life," said Thomas Schumacher, Producer and President, Disney Theatrical Productions. "It's clear that the themes of Newsies - of the younger generation taking their place, of the underclass righting injustice - are extraordinarily timely. We could never have imagined our show would be called to Broadway in the way it has but we could not be prouder that it's resonating so deeply."
Casting will be announced at a later date.
Set in New York City at the turn of the century, Newsies is the rousing tale of Jack Kelly, a charismatic newsboy and leader of a ragged band of teenaged 'newsies,' who dreams only of a better life far from the hardship of the streets. But when publishing titans Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst raise distribution prices at the newsboys' expense, Jack finds a cause to fight for and rallies newsies from across the city to strike for what's right.
Newsies is inspired by the real-life 'Newsboy Strike of 1899,' when newsboy Kid Blink led a band of orphan and runaway newsies on a two-week-long action against Pulitzer, Hearst and other powerful newspaper publishers.
