Newsies the Musical – Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre

Cameron Jones, Mark Samaras and Mukeni Nel in Disney’s Newsies at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre. London. Picture: Johan Persson

Newsies the Musical continues at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, London until 16 April 2023.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Disney’s long-awaited dynamic musical Newsies has managed to turn Wembley Park into a kind of new West End. The packed audience on press night was overjoyed by this new offering and there was a palpable connection between the performers and audience. The truly fabulous dance numbers seemed to take the crowd into a state of pure ecstasy, indicating the appeal this show could have in the West End – the time feels right for such a dance-oriented musical. Older audience members (although there was plenty of young theatre-goers present too) couldn’t help but be reminded of the muscular choreography of the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, yet with a more modern, balletic feeling to it this time.

The movie Newsies kind of bombed when it came out in 1992 and wasn’t even released in certain parts of the world. Despite its great score by Disney regular Alan Menken and lyricist Jack Feldman, the film failed to find an audience and was mostly remembered for the song and dance debut of a young Christian Bale.

However, it found a cult following on video cassette, leading to the development of a stage version with a book by Harvey Fierstein. The musical premiered at the Paper Mill Playhouse, New Jersey in 2011 before transferring to Broadway for what was supposed to be a limited run but ended up extending to over a year. The production received Tony nominations in most musical categories and deserved wins for Best Choreography by Christopher Gattelli and Best Score by Menken and Feldman. The show then toured extensively in America and was captured on film at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles. Surprisingly, though, Newsies never crossed the pond except for an excellent school production at ArtsEd four years ago.

Now Newsies has arrived in Europe at last. The show still has a flaw or two, a slightly laboured narrative with no mention of the love interest before the Act I curtain and other plot lines that don’t always ring true for that particular time of striking workers. However, along with Billy Elliot, it is in fact one of the few musicals to deal with labour issues, which makes it timely in the troubled world of today.

It’s good news that this UK production is by no means a carbon copy of the Broadway original. Director/choreographer Matt Cole, with the help of his associate choreographer Jane McMurtrie, updates the show-stopping dance numbers, even incorporating some hip-hop, acrobatics and trapeze art which enhances the opening tap number of Act II, ‘King of New York’.

The set design by Morgan Large is effective in the way that it creates an immersive experience, lighting design by Mark Henderson is also spectacular, and the costumes by Natalie Pryce add to the more up to date vision.

This really is an ensemble piece, and the cast is outstanding, most particularly the young male dancers, who inspire an instant admiration for their amazing energy and talent. Michael Ahomka-Lindsay brings a lot of subtle vulnerability to the leading role of Jack Kelly and Bronté Barbé is perfectly cast in the role of Katherine Plumber. The latter has the best song written for the stage version, ‘Watch What Happens’.

Moya Angela does a fine job in the part of Medda Larkin and Cameron Blakely is quite believable as Joseph Pulitzer, particularly at the end of Act II when the story really comes to life.

But the show really belongs to the spectacular dancers – now including female newsies – who are well served by the new orchestrations by Simon Hale. The freshness and fabulousness of the dance routines alone can guarantee a future for Newsies in London and hopefully a West End transfer after an already extended run at the Wembley Park Theatre to April.

Patrick Honoré