Centenary Stage Company presents “NEWSIES: The Musical”
This Holiday Season “seize the day” with Centenary Stage Company’s family holiday spectacular production of Disney’s Newsies The Musical November 24 through December 10 in the Lackland Performing Arts Center.
Disney’s Newsies, based on the 1992 motion picture, features 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). While on Broadway, Newsies received 23 major theatrical nominations – including eight Tony Award nods – and won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Score and Choreography.
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. Timely and fresh, the fictionalized adaptation of Newsies addresses age-old themes of social injustice, exploitative labor practices and David-versus-Goliath struggles as the young learn to harness their power against a corrupt establishment. High-energy with non-stop thrills and featuring eight brand-new songs by the original team of Menken and Feldman while keeping many of the beloved songs from the film, including “Carrying the Banner,” “Seize the Day,” “King of New York” and “Santa Fe.”
Featuring a cast of over 50 performers from across the tri – state area, Centenary Stage Company’s production of Disney’s Newsies the Musical features many CSC favorites. Returning to the Sitnik Theatre after her turn as everyone’s favorite nanny in last season’s Mary Poppins is McKenzie Custin (New York, NY) as the strong willed Katherine Plummer. Centenary Stage Company’s own Carl Wallnau (Hoboken) and Stephen Davis (Hackettstown) return as publishing goliath Joseph Pulitzer and the weasel-y Wiesel respectively. Young Performers Workshop alum Jake Jackson (Washington) plays the street wise charismatic leader of the newsies, Jack Kelly.
BUY TICKETS HERE: Centenary Stage Company Tickets
