Singer-actor Tyson Insixiengmai as Crutchie in Artistry’s production of Disney’s Newsies: The Musical, currently playing at the Bloomington Center for the Arts. Photo by Dan Norman.

During its original Broadway run, the musical Newsies was only a modest success. What a difference a decade makes – in Artistry’s just-opened production, the show sizzles, with a heft and imminence largely unknown in the original.

At first glance, Newsies‘ original production seemed destined for greatness when it opened on the Great White Way in 2012. The show features music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman, and a book by Harvey Fierstein, and the marketing focused heavily on the generations who had grown up during the Disney Silver Renaissance of animated film musicals, most of which had scores by Menken.

Glory was not initially in the cards. The show’s 1,004 performances would have been highly respectable before the 2000s, but for the period it ran in, it was only ho-hum, and perenially overshadowed by blockbuster hits like Wicked. Even a Best Score Tony Award did little to propel the show’s box office. When it closed in 2014, most expected it to have only a brief life on the touring circuit.

What a difference a decade makes. In a world where the term “existential threat” is currently overplayed, the story of Newsies posits an actual existential threat to employment that feels even more real in the age of AI trainers and late-stage outsourcing. Context is key, and this show feels far more important than it ever did during the original run.

There is much besides context to recommend Artistry’s production, directed by Ben Bakken and featuring a talented cast of mostly newer faces. Disney’s Newsies, as the mouse house prefers it to be called, is a dramatization of the Newsboys’ Strike of 1899, which pitted underage newspaper sellers against newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer (an excellent, scene-chewing Charlie Clark). Front and center in the newsboy cast (more on that later) is the talented Will Dusek as Jack Kelly. Dusek played Frankie Valli in Chanhassen Dinner Theatres’ run of Jersey Boys last year, and brings a similarly electric zest to this role. Onstage, he is charismatic, a dream to listen to, and sympathetic.

There are other, more quintessential areas where Artistry’s production surpasses the original. Famously, the Newsboys’ Strike of 1899 – and the news coverage of that – prominently featured African American newsboys and newsgirls of assorted backgrounds alongside their White male counterparts. The original 1992 film and 2012 Broadway production pointedly ignored this historical diversity for some executively driven gender- and race-washing, which undercut a bit (well, a lot, actually) of the messaging. The updated script and casting in Artistry’s production showcase an ensemble that is more reflective of both the historical and present-day diversity, and certainly not worse for the change.

Another difference, particularly for those who know the original cast album, is the addition of the song “Letter from the Refuge” – a song added during Newsies‘ national tour. Sung soulfully in Artistry’s production by Tyson Insixiengmai, it gives important emotional weight – and some cheeky humor – to Act II, as well as better setting up an important decision.

Where Newsies shines the most is its big production numbers, including the raise-the-roof anthems “The World Will Know” and “Seize the Day”. Choreographer Renee Guittar’s spirited choreography is inventive, fun, and powerful. The pit ensemble, lead by music director Kate Mariana Brown, is slightly reduced but fully capable of sweeping you away in the big production numbers and the nuances of Dusek/Jack’s act-ending “Santa Fe”.

Assorted standouts in the cast: the scene-stealing Maddox Tabalba as Les; Pierce Brown’s excellent portrayal of Davey, who is reluctantly thrust into the spotlight; fight captain Rush Benson in several roles and as a featured dancer; and Audrey Parker as Katherine.

In one of the musical’s big production numbers, the cast sings, “The world will know / And the world will learn / And the world will wonder how we made the tables turn.” It’s definitely a show to bring a friend to – you’ll have lots to talk about during intermission.

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Newsies plays through August 11 at the Schneider Theatre at the Bloomington Center for the Arts (Bloomington, MN).

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Basil Considine

Basil Considine was the Editor of the Twin Cities Arts Reader from 2018-2022. He served as Performing Arts Editor and Senior Classical Music and Drama Critic for the Arts Reader's first five years, before succeeding Hanne Appelbaum. He was previously the Resident Classical Music and Drama Critic at the Twin Cities Daily Planet and remains an occasional contributing writer for The Boston Musical Intelligencer and The Chattanoogan. He holds a PhD in Music and Drama from Boston University, an MTS in Sacred Music from the BU School of Theology, and a BA in Music and Theatre from the University of San Diego.

Basil was named one of Musical America's 30 Professionals of the Year in 2017. He was previously the Regional Governor for the National Opera Association's North Central Region and the 2021-2022 U.S. Fulbright Faculty Scholar to Madagascar.

Latest posts by Basil Considine (see all)

• REVIEW: Moving, Funny, Striking English (Guthrie Theater) - July 22, 2024
• REVIEW: The Time for Newsies is Now (Artistry) - July 21, 2024
• PREVIEW: Behind the Story – Before Out of the Box Opera’s Suor Angelica - June 24, 2024