After 20 years, the 1992 theatrical-flop-but-cult-classic-on-DVD movie Newsies has been adapted into a stage show. I saw it with equal parts trepidation (because I love love love the movie, and how could anything live up to that?) and excitement (because boys! singing and dancing! wearing suspenders! yay!), and am pleased to say I judge it: super enjoyable.
The biggest change to stage version (proper, full title: Disney's Newsies The Musical) is the new character, Katherine, who combines the roles of helpful reporter friend and love interest. She stretches believability a little much, but she's also enjoyably sassy and gets to lead a giant tap number, which I heartily approve of. The downside is that by beefing up the romantic role and making it the primary emotional relationship of the show, David's role gets downplayed and his character development is gone entirely. (Jack's emotional arch is actually somewhat scattered and all over the place.)
Overall, the show does a lot with a small cast and the set design is great. It's energetic and fun, and with the addition of new songs plus major changes to most of the original songs, it stays far enough from the movie that it doesn't suffer by comparison, but is close enough in content and tone that it it's still a strong adaptation that folks who love the original can get a kick out of seeing it on stage.
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