There is irony in a major media conglomerate such as Walt Disney producing a musical like Newsies, which celebrates the triumph of a bunch of ragamuffin newsboys over a publishing empire. The message, of course, is that the story line doesn’t matter as long as it brings in a few bucks.
Newsies, as you might recall, was a 1992 movie musical that flopped at the box office, but was successfully resurrected on stage. The justification for its second life was almost entirely the explosive choreography by Christopher Gattelli, a man who never met a cartwheel he didn’t like.
The plot of the show, expressed in capital letters by Harvey Fierstein, is a Disneyfied account of the 1899 wildcat strike by the teenage paper peddlers of Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World. Their ringleader is a charismatic young tough — and occasional scenery painter — Jack Kelly, who tries to organize his fellow street urchins into a union, even as he realizes that his management adversary has pockets deep enough to wait out their work stoppage.
Theatergoers are advised not to think too hard about events as depicted, just enjoy the angry anthem-heavy score by Alan Menken and Jack Feldman and those gymnastic dance steps.
Filling out the cast is a crippled orphan named Crutchie (no, really), a crusading reporter called Katherine who becomes Kelly’s love interest, a lively bunch of newsies who look like fugitives from a road company of Oliver!, and New York Gov. Teddy Roosevelt, who goes around saying, “Bully!”
As Kelly, University of Miami graduate Joey Barreiro has enough charm and mellow song stylings to carry the show, even if he tends to disappear offstage when the dance numbers take the spotlight. Morgan Keene’s Katherine has spunk to spare, Steve Blanchard stops just short of twirling his moustache as the hot-tempered Pulitzer, and expect to fall for the actively adorable, dimpled Ethan Steiner as pint-sized Les.
Director Jeff Calhoun moves the action along briskly, almost fast enough to prevent us from thinking too much about the evening’s improbabilities. Tobin Ost provides a dandy, mobile three-tower Erector Set set, augmented by Daniel Brodie’s stage-wide projections (adapted from Sven Ortel’s original Broadway designs).
Newsies will never be confused for the theatrical artistry of a Lion King, but it is a noticeable improvement on its movie source and packs enough kinetic excitement to entertain all ages.
NEWSIES, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Through Sunday, Nov. 29. Tickets: From $35 and up. Call: 954-462-0222.