Newsies: The Musical

The Theater Department Presents Newsies: The Musical

The Sierra Canyon Theater Department’s newest Musical: The Newsies

by Robin Park

There is no denying the fact that the pandemic has disrupted all our lives greatly over the past year. Many of us here at Sierra Canyon experienced firsthand how COVID-19 prevented us from doing various things, including going to school, meeting our friends, and taking AP tests in person. However, out of all of us, those who were part of the Theater program were arguably the most unfortunate— the pandemic hit mere days before their next scheduled theater performance and put a stop to all the hard work they had been putting into their production.

Thankfully, as Sierra Canyon and the rest of California take a giant step towards a post-pandemic world and embrace a “new normal,” Sierra Canyon’s prized Theater program is preparing to launch its most ambitious production to date-- Newsies the Musical. This year’s first production will take place in early November, and for the first time in Sierra Canyon history, will be performed at the Madrid Theater. The theater production will also feature a live musical ensemble led by Mr. Davis.

Newsies the Musical is based on the 1992 musical film Newsies and inspired by the 1899 New York City newsboys strike. The play is based off of the book written by Harvey Fierstein and contains music and lyrics produced by Alan Menken and Jake Feldman. The musical had its world premiere in 2011 at the Paper Mill Playhouse before moving to Broadway in 2012, where it played for over 1,000 performances before touring.

The main character, Jack Kelly, is a mash-up of several historical figures from the 1899 Newsboys’ Strike; most notably, Kid Blink (who appears in the film but not in the musical), a captivating speaker and leader of the younger boys. Other real strikers featured in the show include Racetrack Higgins, Mush Meyers, and Spot Conlon.

Katherine Plumber, despite being a fictional character, is named after Joseph Pulitzer’s daughter Katherine Ethel, who died of illness at the age of two in 1884. Many newsgirls joined the strike, which is frequently overlooked in both the film and the musical. In the script that is now available for licensing, new stage adaptations are said to have more female roles, as well as many characters who are gender-neutral.

In the musical’s plot, newspapers raised their prices in response to the pressure to sell more papers following the Spanish American War. However, in actuality, the price of publications was raised from 50 cents to 60 cents during the Spanish-American War, not afterward. The strike was triggered by the fact that the newspaper publishers refused to lower the exorbitant price after the conflict ended. The newsboys revolted because they believed it would be more difficult to sell newspapers without the exciting war news, as well as the additional pressures of price changes.

On July 24, 1899, at the height of the strike,

the Newsboys Union held a large rally at the New Irving Theatre, a vaudeville venue on the Bowery (reimagined in the musical as Medda Larkin’s theatre). The rally was extensively covered by the New York Sun (the fictional employer of Katherine Plumber) and included comments from union officials. During the strike, Kid Blink is said to have secretly begun working for Pulitzer and William Hearst, resulting in a violent clash of strikers versus scabbers, similar to Jack’s near-betrayal after Pulitzer gives him a full ride to Santa Fe. We invite you to join the Sierra Canyon theater program as they take us through the tumultuous streets of early 20th century Manhattan, Theodore Roosevelt’s Big Apple, and the Gilded Age drama of labor unions, strikes, child labor, yellow journalism, and greed. The Sierra Canyon Theater Department cordially The cast of Newsies performs for Lower Campus invites you to join them at the students on October 27th . Madrid Theater on November 5th, 6th, and 7th. Tickets are available now. Student tickets are $5.00 and GA tickets are $10.00. The theater requires proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test within 48-hours before attending the performance.