Newsies: Disney Does It Again
Alan Menken + Jeremy Jordan = Swoon.
Alan Menken is personally responsible for the joys of my childhood. One of the first songs I learned all the words to was “Part of Your World,” and his tunes have been the backdrop of my musical life for as long as I can remember.
Yet with all of the incredible musicals Alan Menken has worked on, I have managed to avoid one piece of iconic theatre. I have heard the 32 bar cut of “Santa Fe” that lives in every tenor’s book, I have tried to mix-belt the end of “Watch What Happens” in my voice lessons, and I have been a part of one too many musical theatre jazz master classes where I do barrel turns and triple pirouettes to “Seize The Day,” but I have never sat down and listened to or seen Newsies.
This changed this week.
Newsies delivered an energetic score, a heartfelt narrative, and of course, some delicious Jeremy Jordan vocals, but I do have some thoughts. Let’s get into them.
(But first, a dramaturgical deep dive)
If you don’t know, now you know:
Newsies is based on a 1992 film of the same name, and both of these artworks depict the real-life strike of newsboys in 1899 in New York City. The show premiered at Paper Mill Playhouse in 2011 before transferring to Broadway in 2012. In 2012, I was in my musical theater nerd prime, so I’m not sure how I missed this one.
Newsies was a major hit. It recouped on Broadway in just 7 months, becoming the fastest Disney show to make back its money. I would venture to say that Newsies is still one of the most produced shows regionally — if you’re a dancer and haven’t done Newsies at a summer stock theater in the middle of nowhere…have you really lived?
I don’t have a ton of dramaturgical context this week other than to add that this was a show made by the juggernaut of Disney, composed by the juggernaut of Alan Menken, which (of course) succeeded on the juggernaut of Broadway. It is the definition of commercial theater while still having integrity and high-quality artistry.
Speaking of artistry, let’s chat about the score.
The breakdown:
We begin with what too many new musicals lack: an Overture. Thank you, Alan Menken, for giving my ears a musical appetizer, laden with motifs that will come back for me later in the show. I am able to drop into the sonic world of the show with a parachuted landing, as opposed to being thrown into the deep end of a pool without a life vest.
If you write musicals, write an overture! They’re so criminally underrated.
Our first proper song is “Santa Fe (Prologue),” which is sung by the one and only Jeremy Jordan as Jack Kelly. Jack is telling his best friend Crutchie about his dreams of a “big life in a small town.” When I listened to Rent earlier this year, I was like, what is with everyone dreaming of Santa Fe?
I’ve never been to Santa Fe, but surely it can’t actually be better than New York City.
I enjoy this song’s sweeping nature — it’s a classic “I Want” song. Part of my thought on Newsies in general is that it’s a really textbook good musical. The I Want is doing exactly what it should be. It establishes Jack as our protagonist, gives him a clear super-objective, and a best friend to tell it all to. It’s very by the book. It’s not my favorite I want, but it does the job.
After Jack Kelly tells us about his dreams, we then get our world-establishing tune, “Carrying the Banner.” This song is…long. But it’s where we get to meet the larger group of the newsies and (most importantly) see them dance. I liked the rhythmic drive of this song and was bee bopping my way through it.
We next meet the antagonist, Joseph Pulitzer (the publisher of the paper), who is clearly just out for profit and not in it for the newsboy’s benefit. “The Bottom Line” establishes the villain, but it’s still very bright. This is a classic Alan Menken and Disney move. It makes me think of a song like “Momma Knows Best” from Tangled or “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid. In an Alan Menken musical, even the villain gets an upbeat, cheery tune. This is no Sweeney Todd.
More B plot characters emerge as we meet Medda Larkin in a vaudeville house. She sings a cabaret number, “That’s Rich.” This number was a skip track for me. I’m sure it’s entertaining with the right choreography and presentation, but the song itself for me was a bit mid. My standards for a diegetic song performance are high, and though I know we are really only in the vaudeville house so that Jack can meet Katherine, this song didn’t land for me.
Speaking of Katherine, Jack and Katherine share a duet, “I Never Planned on You/Don’t Come A-Knocking.” This song is short and sweet but establishes these two as having the big love plot. I love that Jack also gets to lay on some charm here. It’s attractive!
Is this why so many women have been victimized by the one straight boy playing Jack Kelly in their high school production of Newsies?
Outside of Jack’s rizz, we dive back into the plot of the newsboys. We get “The World Will Know,” which I enjoyed more than “Carrying The Banner.” I really liked the orchestrations with the horns and the heavier drums here. It is grandiose and epic. If there is one thing Menken really pulls through this whole score, it is rhythmic drive and some incredible drum lines. I’m curious about who wrote those drum parts? Danny Troob is credited as the orchestrator, so I’ll throw him some props here.
Track 8 delivers “Watch What Happens,” Katherine’s big number. In a show with very little femme representation, this song is huge. I love how we get to see Katherine wrestle with her budding feelings for Jack and her ambition to write the story here. It gives the actor a lot to chew on. When I think of this song, I think of a friend, Julia Rippon, doing this song and absolutely killing it. I’ve seen it done well, and I love her performance, so I’ll give this song an overall positive rating.
The bangers keep going as we plunge into “Seize The Day.” I figured this song would be an end-of-act or in a really major placement, but there’s still story to go in act one. This makes me just think about the important real estate of songs close to the end of act one and how important they can be. I always talk about “Yorktown” and “Non-Stop” in Hamilton, and the way that the penultimate act one song is so important. “Seize The Day” totally delivers in this regard and in comparison to the driving newsboy numbers that came before, I really like the slow beginning of this song. The arc we get in how it speeds up is awesome, and we are really jamming by the end.
Of course, act one can’t finish without Jeremy Jordan singing “Santa Fe.” I can’t believe this is the first time I have listened to this entire song.
Here, Jack wrestles with the violence and disappointment of the strike as his friend Crutchie has just been beaten. This song has so much going for it, one of which is these stellar orchestrations. The strings, the drums, the horns!! This is a full orchestra, and the fullness of the music matches the fullness of Jack’s emotional life. It is extraordinary.
And as Alan Menken gives Jack Kelly a delicious song, Jeremy Jordan rises to the occasion. This is one of the most iconic musical theatre performances and it’s iconic for a reason.
Oh no, am I a “Santa Fe” stan now?
If you’ve been hurt by a man who played Jack Kelly, I get it. I think I’d fall for any guy who could sing that too.
Moving on from my admiration of Jeremy — act two begins with “King of New York,” where Katherine shows the newsboys that her article about them has made the front page. This is a tap number and just all-around a ton of fun. It’s always a bit boring listening to taps on a soundtrack, but I don’t need to see it to know this is a great act two opener.
One of my favorite songs in act two was “Watch What Happens (Reprise).” While this may seem like a strange pull, as a musical theater writer I am in admiration of the way that act two pulls together the Katherine, Davey, Crutchie, and Jack plot lines and gives these B plot characters a great reprise that has clear objectives and uses motifs from act one. From a construction standpoint, it’s perfect. And all in under two minutes!
Speaking of reprises, we then get “The Bottom Line (Reprise).” My mentor Eric Price has said that all great musicals consist of four songs that are reused, recycled, and reinvented throughout the score. “The Bottom Line” is one of these songs. This moment is short but leads to Jack’s arrest, and around this scene Jack also learns that Katherine is actually the antagonist’s daughter and that she has been writing under a pen name. He feels betrayed by her dishonesty and this revelation plunges us into the thick of the conflict in act two and makes me really feel like the stakes are rising.
Next comes “Brooklyn Is Here.” This is probably my least favorite of the newsie numbers. In the same way that Sweeney Todd had a million Ballads of Sweeney Todd, Newsies has a million protest songs. This one faded into the background.
Katherine and Jack make up on a rooftop and sing “Something To Believe In,” which sounds like a classic Disney love ballad. This song is about how they inspire each other, and yet again, the orchestrations deliver sweeping romanticism that helps me empathetically dive into the moment. This is very “As Long As You’re Mine,” with these two star-crossed lovers finding a moment of love amidst the chaos. Song-wise, I think it’s fine. Not a stand-out, but not a let-down.
Katherine, Jack, and the rest of the newsies print their own paper, The Newsies Banner, and distribute it in “Once and for All.” This is another newsie number where there is driving drums and a bunch of boys singing about revolting and seizing the day. Honestly, I am not super moved by these songs (especially since there’s six of them), but I think this song does do a great job of pulling back the “Seize The Day” motif and the “Carrying The Banner” motifs. It’s little nods in the lyrics, but it does feel like it is musically and lyrically a culmination of all of the newsie numbers that have come before it.
In the “Finale,” we get a Disney happy ending as the strike is won after the newsies have won the attention of Governor Theodore Roosevelt. Pulitzer is forced to concede and even offers Jack a job as a cartoonist. Jack intends on leaving for Santa Fe, but his friends and Katherine convince him to stay.
Weirdly, I found myself wishing that Jack had left!
I think it’s because I just hate seeing any major protagonist settle for a simple life. I had the same gripe with Pippin, which has a similar ending in the sense of Pippin deciding to stay with (also a woman named) Catherine.
Men, if you meet a woman named Katherine, watch out. She may make you decide that love is all you need to accomplish your big dreams!
All jokes aside, this is a good finale and is very heart-warming as Jack realizes what is most important to him and the newsies win their strike. It is a lovely conclusion to an uplifting musical and pulls the whole package together with a bow.
Some parting wisdom:
The bow that ties together Newsies is really what I took away most. This musical makes very few missteps - it is an airtight container that uses traditional musical theater structure to perfectly take the audience from point A to Z.
Menken’s score is beautifully orchestrated and beautifully sung and hits all the right marks — a sweeping “I Want” song, riotous dance numbers, epic act closers, and of course, a love story. It is a classic musical.
Yet within this picture-perfect musical, I felt as though there was an emptiness to my listening. There were no emotional pulls on my heartstrings and no moments where I felt that a risk had been taken and it was pulled off. It felt…safe. Newsies felt like it colored within the lines of the coloring book perfectly, and yet I wished that just in one place, it was daring enough to choose an unconventional color.
With that being said, my feelings about Newsies are entirely in relationship to my taste in musicals and not to its structure or technical execution. Alan Menken is one of the greats of musical theatre writing, and I hold him in such high regard. This show is wonderfully structured and beautifully written, and I am so glad I got to know it.
And now, back to listening to my weird, favorite little musicals.
Speaking of more Substack content:
Next week, we embrace the weird. It’s finally time I listen to Natasha, Pierre, and The Great Comet of 1812.
For all those who know me, you know this is long overdue.
More to come soon, and happy listening!