Boys in flat caps and knickerbockers fill the stage at Clowes Memorial Hall this week in the Broadway Across America musical Newsies. The show is inspired by the real story of the newsboy strike of 1899. Young boys in New York City fought back when Joseph Pulitzer raised the price of newspapers, cutting into their meager profits. The high-energy show features incredible dance numbers. The set makes use of every inch of the stage with a rotating three-story piece of scaffolding that mimics the look of industrial fire escapes. It uses multimedia screens to show the daily newspaper headlines and to let the audience see portrait sketches drawn by one of the characters. Joey Barreiro steers the cast as the charismatic newsie Jack Kelly. He fills the role that was played by Christian Bale in the original 1992 film version. For those of us who grew up loving the film, the stage version is a treat. Many of the songs remain the same, while a few plot points, like the ro...
Midwest theater reviews, everything from Broadway musicals to Shakespeare.