All You Need to Know about Disney’s “Newsies”

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Abby Bindewald, Writer

“In 1899, a courageous group of New York City newsboys became unlikely heroes when they team up to fight an unscrupulous newspaper tycoon. Determined to make their dreams come true, they find the courage to challenge the powerful…” (Disney+). This is a description of Disney’s Newsies, a classic musical released in 1992 on film and toured on Broadway from 2012-2014.

Newsies is inspired by the Newsboys Strike of 1899 in New York City, a major strike for all of the Newsboys (or Newsies) of New York. In the film, the Newsies go on strike due to an increase in paper prices; however, this is not historically accurate. During the Spanish American War, the newspaper price was raised from 50 cents to 60 cents. This wouldn’t have been a big deal for the Newsboys, had the papers returned to their original price after the war. Due to the prices staying the same, the Newsboys were furious and decided to go on strike, thus starting the Newsboys Strike of ’99.

As stated earlier, Newsies was originally a motion picture, but it grew to become a well-known Broadway musical, with music that people still listen to today. Orion High School’s very own drama club has been working hard these past few weeks producing the show for our small town to see its very own Broadway show. Starring Nathan Tapscott as Jack Kelly, Catherine Johnson as Katherine Plummer, and many many more, Newsies will be hitting our stage April 22 and April 23.