Last night I took Emma up to Portland for a mother / daughter date to The Keller Auditorium to see Disney’s Newsies.
Honestly, I personally hadn’t heard of Disney’s Newsies before until I received an invitation to the opening night of the Broadway performance. I have fallen in love with Broadway shows over the past year and a half and have tried to see most of them that come to Portland. I had no idea that Newsies was somewhat of a cult phenomenon with people my age (since the film’s 1992 theatrical release and subsequent DVD release) but I soon found out what the attraction to it was.
Newsies is the winner of the 2012 Tony Awards® for Best Score and Best Choreography and I can see why. The entire performance is fun, energetic, and makes you want to sing along.
Emma hadn’t been to a Broadway performance with me in over a year, and I thought that this one looked like a fun one to take her to – and I was right. She sat in awe of the performance, watching the singing and dancing. I glanced over several times only to find a large grin on her face.
Newsies is about a tale of Jack Kelly, a charismatic newsboy and leader of a ragged band of teenaged ‘newsies,’ (newspaper boys) 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.
Some of the story line was probably a little above the comprehension for Emma, but she still enjoyed it and begged me for the Newsies CD – which of course I couldn’t say no to!
Disney’s Newsies is playing at The Keller Auditorium now through Sunday the 24th and there are some tickets still available. If you aren’t local be sure to check out their website to see if the show is coming to a city near you.
Remaining performances:
Wednesday, April 20th @ 7:30 pm
Thursday, April 21st @ 7:30 pm
Friday, April 22nd @ 7:30 pm
Saturday, April 23rd @ 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm
Sunday. April 24th @ 1:00 pm and 6:30 pm
Tickets can be purchase from Portland.Broadway.com
We had a wonderful night last night – a late night for an 8-year-old – but totally worth it. 🙂
For more information, visit NewsiesTheMusical.com, Facebook.com/Newsies and Twitter.com/Newsies.
~Melissa
