Newsies: The Broadway Musical

In just one word fantastic. As a Broadway fan I was so happy that Disney put this on.

Beautifully performed LA version of the Broadway musical. The actors, singers, dancers all on the top of their form. And the translating of the show to TV was excellent - until it came to the dance numbers. In short, these were ruined in the editing room. Just because you can cut to another shot, doesn't mean that you should. Fred Astaire had control over how his dances were filmed and insisted in full head-to-toe shots, with little or no cutting to different angles. This might seem like an austere approach, but it worked brilliantly. Gene Kelly went a step further and also produced brilliant results. It is difficult as a director to reign in the impulse to be flashy and put your mark on what you are shooting, but with dance this has to be resisted. Rob Marshall almost ruined Bob Fosse's brilliant choreography in the movie version of "Chicago". Here we have some of the world's best stage dancers giving it their all, and the director and editor got in their way. What a shame.

I have been a Newsies fan since the beginning. I know the songs word for word. I also am a fan of the broadway musical, and I know they have to adapt it to the stage but there are to many deviations for me. Like the family story line and the change of Denton's character to Katherine's. Then still singing King of New York. Song in different spots in the plot, songs having a slower temple then the movie, and the end result of the strike all together. I am generally a person who says if it isn't broken don't fix it. But I am still impressed with the musical. I will still watch both and complain about the difference and annoy my husband the whole time. Lol.

Having seen Newsies on stage and in the movies, when I heard it would be shown at our local theater (at an exorbitant price), I couldn't wait. Often these things don't work out. This one did. First of all, the young men and women cast for this are at the top of their game. They have fresh faces and individual character. There are great songs, but they are overshadowed by some of the best dancing ever seen on a screen. The physicality and skill of these guys is beyond the pale. There is a well drawn plot that exceeds the depth of most musicals. We care about Jack and Crutchie and how the other guys respond to each other. Joe Pulitzer is well cast and has frightening power over them. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I would prefer this film over the live performances. The reason is the close-ups where we get to see their emotional responses to each other. Crutchie's character is so kind and so fragile, and the young actor who portrays him captures it beautifully.

10/6/17. A good production for the silver screen. As much as I would have loved to have seen this on Broadway, watching it this way actually was pretty good. You could never get the close-ups like you do with this film in the theater, not to mention the prohibitive pricing of Broadway shows.