Take A Look at Disney

8/28/14

Music Fridays #136: A Tribute To Newsies: The Musical (Saying Goodbye To The Broadway Show)






Hello  & welcome  back to A Look at Disney.   One  of my all time favorite musicals, ever is Newsies  and you  probably  know that if you've followed this blog for any length of time as I've done numerous articles about the movie and the stage musical.  Reflecting upon it, more while I love the movie,  I must  admit that I am a bigger  fan of the stage  musical  and that is in part because  Newsies: The Musical  introduced me to this story and led me to find the movie. Even, if I did  see the movie first.   Alas,  all good  things  must  come to an end and after 2 very successful years on Broadway and a few Tony  wins  and  culminating in bringing  together  even more Fansies,  Newsies on Broadway  played it's last show, this past  Sunday.  And I have to admit that when  I first  heard the news  of this show closing,  I was sad.  This  is  one of my  favorite musicals  and  out of all the Disney stage musicals,  I've seen,  it's my favorite.  I'm  happy that  I had the chance to see it and  I will forever  carry the banner to  make that world will know  that this is a gem  of a musical.   I knew  I wanted to pay my respects to this show and  the  best way,  I know how. I'm counting down my Top 6 favorite songs from Newsies: The Musical.  Now, this is a mix  of songs that were written for the play and some that were carried over from  the movie and made all the better.   So for  one last time,  let's  grab some papes  and try to sell the headlines.


6.   The Bottom  Line  &  Reprise




Originally,  I didn't  care  much for this  but it has  grown  on me over  time  and really works  in setting up  how  Pultizier plans  on screwing over the Newsies by raising the price of the papers to a price,  he knows that they can't afford. Just to make more money.  It's  quite dastardly  and does a good  job  of setting up the conflict.  And does  a good   job  of setting  him up as our villain.  Though,  I must  that I think the reprise is a little  better as he gets to be a bit more confrontational with our lead character and one of the best Disney characters, Jack Kelly.   You  can  just  hear  him  kicking Jack,  while  he's down and that is just brutal.



5.  Brooklyn's  Here


This was a last minute replacement  but I'm  glad that I went with it instead as it's  a great rally  song that makes you want to pump your fists  and get behind the Newsies and rally with them.  It's  just a great rally song that makes  you want  to people together to rally against an injustice.


4.  Watch  What Happens


One  of the biggest  improvements  the musical  made from the movie was getting rid of the character of Sarah, who contributed nothing to the story.  In the process,  they  also  got rid of Denton,  one of my favorite characters and merged the two into  Katherine Plumber,  a younger tough and smart   female  news reporter that goes against her father's wishes  and gives the Newsies a voice and she isn't afraid to speak her mind as we see with this song. You  can truly  feel  how  she wants to do  right  but at the same time, she's  scared  and that's  understandable taking in the time period  because women didn't  have very many  rights during  the era,  this wonderful  musical  is set in but  Katherine  will  do whatever it takes to  get the job done.





3.  The World Will Know  & Seize The Day


In  many respects,  these are the signature songs  of Newsies and  they  just  go together.   In my mind, you can't  have The World Will Know  without Seize The Day as both of these songs convey the   frustrations of the Newsies  and  the anger  that  they are feeling.   And  honestly,   when  I think  Newsies,  these are the first two  songs that go together and that's  why  I had to put them together. 


2.   Something  To Believe  In  


If you  recall,  my  Valentines  Day  countdown  of  favorite  Love  Songs,  this made  it pretty  high on the list and I still maintain  that this  is one  of the best love songs from Disney as you can really  feel  the love between   Jack  and Katherine.  It's sweet, sorrowful and  uplifting at the same time.  It's a bit simple in  it's delivery but that's okay, that's okay because  you  can  truly the love between one of Disney's greatest couples that just  make  you feel  like there is love out there for everyone and  it shows that love isn't easy  and their may be obstacles that you'll have to face, if you want the relationship to work but they are worth overcoming for true love.


1.  Santa Fe


Folks, we finally got our headline.
"Newsies Crushed as Bulls Attack"
Crutchie's calling me,
Dumb crip's just too damn slow.
Guys are fightin', bleedin' fallin'
thanks to good ole' Captain Jack.
Captain Jack just wants to close his eyes and go.
Let me go.
Far away.


I  opened  this  number  with the  opening  lyrics  of this song because  this  has to be the rawest,  Jack  ever  gets in the musical.  It's  just heartbreaking as you can  hear  Jack's  world  has  crushed  down  on him  and the only thing he has is Santa Fe,  which to him  is an escape from the nightmare that he is constantly living.  Honestly,  compared to the movie version,  this version does it better.  It doesn't hurt  that the show  had a better actor in  both  Jeremy  Jordan (heard here)  and Cory  Cott,  then the  movie's  Jack played  by  a good  Christian Bale  but  Jordan and Cott are a little better  and  as  you  can hear,  Jordan  really  gets the emotion of this song  down to a t and  just  makes  it tragic  and  my heart just  breaks for the guy.



I  hope that you've enjoyed this list.  I  know it may seem  that I put the movie down a little bit  but  don't misunderstand me,  I love both the movie and the play and if it weren't  for the movie,  I wouldn't be the fan I am today  but the play  holds a truly  special place in my heart as does Newsies in general.   Let's take a look here,  I own the Original Broadway Cast Recording,  a Newsies Cap,  which I used for my Halloween costume last year.  A Christmas ornament from the show and whenever I listen to these songs,  I'm usually wearing my Newsies  Cap and singing along imaging myself  as one of my heroes,  Jack Kelly.  Yes,  I said that.   Jack Kelly  is a character that I respect so much  because of what he went through and how he brought the Newsies together and proved that even if your voice is small,  if you yell loud enough,  you will eventually be heard.   It's  that never give up attitude of his that I truly admire  and  I am beyond thrilled that I had the opportunity to see this wonderful  musical  before it closed  and  I think  I'll leave you with this, Disney On Broadway posted the final  curtain call for  this fantastic musical  and it's worth watching as you can feel the love that these actors  have for this show.   I've followed this musical for ages on their Facebook page and various other videos and losing this musical feels  like I'm losing something special.   Now, they aren't  closing up for good as they will be touring.  So,  if they  come to a city near you,  please  take the time to see this show as it will be worth your time and maybe  you too will Seize The Day.  



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