Top Five Songs: Newsies (Stage Version)

One more Newsies post.  The songs have been rattling around in my head since seeing the filmed recording of the stage show, so I thought I might as well figure out which ones I like best.

“Carrying the Banner” – To a point, I understand the reasoning behind opening the show on a prelude to “Santa Fe” from a storytelling perspective.  But for music, scope, and entertainment value, “Carrying the Banner” is a real opener.  Bursting with exuberance, Jack and the ensemble command our attention from start to finish, and the infectious melody is a formidable earworm.

Best lyric:  “It’s a crooked game we’re playin’, / One we’ll never lose, / Long as suckers don’t mind payin’ / Just to get bad news.”

“Watch What Happens” – I love this song written for the stage show.  The verses paint an amusing picture of Kate, who’s fierce, determined, and socially conscious but also overwhelmed and insecure.  Throughout the song, these two sides of her jockey for control, and she ends vowing to keep the former in the driver’s seat.  The melody on the chorus is soaring and beautiful, with uplifting lyrics that make this song yet another of the show’s many great anthems.

Best lyric:  “All I know is nothing happens if you just give in. / It can’t be any worse than how it’s been. / And it just so happens that we just might win, / So whatever happens, let’s begin!”

“Seize the Day” – I debated between this one and “The World Will Know.”  I loved both in the movie, and the added lyrics for the stage show have made them even better.  In the end, I went with this one.  While it’s led by Davey and, to a lesser extent, Jack, it’s also a really nice full number for the ensemble, an anthem of solidarity and action in the face of opportunistic injustice.  (And I’m not gonna lie, the dancing in the filmed recording doesn’t hurt one bit!)

Best lyric:  “Once we’ve begun, / If we stand as one, / Someday becomes somehow / And a prayer becomes a vow.”

“Santa Fe” – As I’ve said, the filmed recording brought me around to this version of the song, a desperate number where Jack is at the end of his rope and clinging to escape, but I do still the love the more standard “I want” song from the movie.  Either way, the melody is lovely and I like the wistful lyrics, that longing for someplace else because it isn’t where you are.

Best lyric:  “If the life don’t seem to suit you, how about a change of scene? / Far from the lousy headlines and the deadlines in between…”

“Brooklyn’s Here” – Such a fun number!  Brimming with energy and swagger, the Brooklyn newsies roll onto the scene with aplomb in this insanely-catchy song.  The ensemble harmonizes fantastically, and more than anything, the song creates the perfect mood – as soon as they start to sing, you get a burst of how the newsies feel, like things will finally start looking up.

Best lyric:  “That’s our cue, boys, it’s time to go slummin’. / Hey, Manhattan, the cavalry’s comin’!”

Disney Movie Musical vs. Stage Show Comparison: Newsies

These days, I do most of my music listening in the car, so it’s rare that I take the time to sit down with a cast recording’s CD booklet and read a show synopsis.  Obviously, the songs often give you a pretty decent overview of the story, and in the case of a screen-to-stage musical like Newsies, the cast recording offers some hints about what got changed in the transition.  But one of the benefits of seeing the show’s filmed stage version recently was the chance see how the entire story plays out and, for good or bad, what’s been cut, added, or tweaked (a few spoilers.)

Before we get to the story itself, I want to give a quick nod to the score.  For the most part, I love the added lyrics to the songs from the movies.  While it’s largely just a means of making the songs a bit longer, the show doesn’t waste the opportunity, adding some really well-written new verses to “The World Will Know” and “Seize the Day.”  While I’m less convinced about “Santa Fe,” because I liked it as a more straightforward “I want” song in the film, the reasons for making it more overtly emotional and plot-driven make sense within the context of the show, and it does allow for a more thorough explanation of Jack’s motivations for wanting to leave beyond the “go West, young man” thing.  As for the six new songs (and two reprises) written for the Broadway production, I could take or leave most of them.  Neither of Jack and Kate’s romantic numbers do much for me, Pulitzer’s song is fine but unextraordinary, and Medda’s new song isn’t really any better or worse than either of the ones from the film version that got cut here.  That said, “Brooklyn’s Here” is one of my absolute favorites on the album, and I love both “Watch What Happens” and its reprise.

Speaking of “Watch What Happens,” that brings us nicely to Kate.  I really like that the show combines love interest Sarah and journalist Denton into one new character.  Not only does Kate improve on the somewhat blank Sarah, but making the reporter a young woman working towards a career in a changing world is a smart move.  It gives one of the few women in the story an actual arc, and it strengthens the connection she feels to the newsies because, even though she’s older than them, she knows all too well what it’s like to feel insignificant in the eyes of the rich and powerful.  But while I like Kate from a journalist standpoint, pairing her romantically with Jack doesn’t work quite as well for me.  It’s true that she has more of a story and personality than Sarah, but she appears to be quite a bit older than him, and the reveal that she’s actually Pulitzer daughter makes seem more unlikely that she’d wind up with a homeless teenager with probably only minimal education (I know – minus the age difference, that’s basically Jasmine & Aladdin, Anna & Kristoff, and plenty of other Disney romances, but it feels weirder live-action than it does in a cartoon.)  I have my suspicions that the added sideplot about Jack being a naturally-gifted artist is to give him an avenue through which to elevate and be less her social inferior.  Also, her increased prominence in the story compared to Sarah in the film has the byproduct of sidelining Davey a bit, and we don’t get as much of his and Jack’s unlikely friendship.

The plotting gets a little sloppy for me in Act II.  While it’s not like the movie’s script is airtight or anything, it kind of bugs me that Jack wants to pull out of the strike after the big fight and Crutchie’s arrest at the end of Act I, gets encouraged into staying by Davey, Kate, and Les, wants to pull out again after confronting Pulitzer, and gets encouraged into staying by Kate.  I know Jack is dealing with some heavy, very big-deal stuff throughout the show, but it makes him seem a lot less committed to the cause when I don’t think that was the show’s intention.  Not to mention, it just feels repetitive for him to have two huge crises of faith and need two big pep talks in the same act.  If it were up to me, I would’ve put Crutchie’s arrest and the showdown with Pulitzer a lot closer together in the storyline, or else had Crutchie’s arrest make Jack more determined than ever to fight, only to be shaken by Pulitzer.  (Either way, I probably would’ve cut “Something to Believe In” and put “Watch What Happens (Reprise)” after the Pulitzer showdown; it’s a stronger number all around, it has a more triumphant air, and it focuses more on the strike instead of Jack and Kate’s romance.)

Finally, I appreciated the added scene of Jack’s negotiations with Pulitzer to end the strike.  Although it feels a bit noticeably inserted, it’s nice that they go a bit into the nuances of the strike’s resolution, which was a little more ambiguous than “we won!”  Sure, it’s not as clear-cut a victory, but it’s more accurate, and it shows Jack’s savviness in presenting his counteroffers and being willing to compromise to a certain extent.

Newsies (2017)

Although this is the same stage version of the live-action Disney movie turned Broadway musical that debuted in 2012, I’m labeling this review 2017 because it’s about the recently-filmed recording of the stage show that just aired in theaters for Fathom Events.  I really enjoyed getting a chance to see this musical in action.

As with the movie, Newsies is the story of the 1899 newsboys’ strike in New York City.  When Joseph Pulitzer looks to increase profits by charging the newsies more for the papers they buy to sell on his behalf, the scrappy boys team up to stand against him.  Led by the charismatic Jack and the reasonable Davey, and buoyed by the coverage of sympathetic reporter Kate, the “little guys” take on one of the most powerful men in America, vowing to fight until they get their due.

The show has closed on Broadway and its national tour has wrapped up, but this filmed performance includes cast members from both.  I’m familiar, of course, with the main leads representing the OBC – Jeremy Jordan (who now makes his home on Supergirl,) Kara Lindsay, Ben Fankhauser, and Andrew Keenan-Bolger – but the whole cast is excellent.  The staging is relatively light but effective, making use of a jungle gym of scaffolding to represent New York fire escapes and giving just enough impressions of the setting without getting in the way.

I really appreciate this recording for unlocking Jeremy Jordan’s Jack for me.  Even though he has a sublime voice that’s indisputably better than young Christian Bale’s in the movie (Jordan’s singing was the only thing that kept me from hating the fairly insufferable Jimmy on Smash,) his Jack never really worked for me on the cast recording.  Somewhere between the force of the singing, the thickness of the accent, and the strength of the emotion, it just felt like too much to me.  Listening to Jack’s songs, it always seemed like he was throwing his words at me, and I kept thinking, “Geez, guy, take it easy!”  Seeing the performance that goes with the vocals, however, I get it.  It all clicks.  Jordan is obviously considerably older than the seventeen Jack is supposed to be, but he plays seventeen quite well.  The Act I closer of “Santa Fe” was a particular revelation for me.  Whereas before I heard “overwrought,” I now see a frightened kid in over his head, taking on a giant and weighed down by the knowledge that he’s the one who’s led all his friends into this potentially very-damaging crusade; he wants to run away because he’s terrified and doesn’t know what to do.  I see that now.  Jordan made me feel that.

And the ensemble… Good gracious!  As talented as the leads are, this is a show where the ensemble, working as a unit, is the true star.  They create a powerful sound with their exuberant vocals on Alan Menken's superb numbers like “Carrying the Banner,” “Seize the Day,” and “Brooklyn’s Here,” and the dancing is seriously insane.  This is the sort of show where you quickly learn to get excited when all the main characters suddenly take a seat off to the side in the middle of a song, because that means the dancers are about to tear it up; what a treat to see them onscreen.

Warnings

A little swearing, some violence, and thematic elements.