High above the city of New York, two boys stargaze. The streets below them are cruel and dangerous. Everyday they struggle to survive, living off the change they earn selling papers, begging for food, and sometimes even sleeping on the streets. Yet they find strength in their companionship with one another – and eventually kickstart the entire creation of child labor laws.

This is the story of Disney’s musical Newsies, which ran, jumped, and pirouetted at Minneapolis’ Orpheum Theater from February 9th – 14th. Starting with a nearly flawless opening night and continuing for 4 more successful shows, the cast of Newsies astounded audiences with skillful dancing and plenty of heartfelt songs.

Newsies follows the true story of the Newsboys Strike of 1899. If you wanted to read the news in New York at the time, there was only one medium: newspapers. You could choose from The New York Journal or The New York World, and all you needed to do to get your hands on a copy was find a newsie – the young boys on every street corner shaking papers and shouting headlines.

But things got harder for these young runaways and orphans when Joseph Pulitzer chose to raise the prices newsies paid to distribute the papers. This sparked one of the most unique strikes of all time:  a strike completely organized by children.

Our hero is a charismatic boy by the name of Jack Kelly, played by Joey Barreiro. Jack serves as the leader of the strike, inspiring newsies all across New York to rally behind him and stand up for their rights. Jack’s character is modeled after a real person named Kid Blink; like Jack, he was the face of the rebellion.

Barreiro perfectly tapped into the mind of the young leader, from his innate drive to help the downtrodden to his charming rascal style. Barreiro’s performance of “Santa Fe” is particularly memorable – you can hear the heartbreak and despair in his voice as Jack plans to run away from the failure that seems to box him in.

Morgan Keene takes the stage as the female lead, Katherine Plumber. Though her voice is a perfect match for Katherine’s initial prim and proper style, the gradual character arc to more social and friendly is a bit too slow. The retained frigidness causes a lack of believable chemistry between Katherine and Jack; for many the romantic subplot only became noticeable when the two kiss near the end of the show

“It was quite a phenomenal show actually. The performers were very energetic, and the dancing was amazing. It was really well done,” said AVHS senior Kate Nechanicky. “I thought that Katherine was okay. She probably could have been better – but that was the only complaint I really had.”

There were few technical difficulties during the show. Most were unnoticeable to the general populace, like a few shaky spotlights. But during a break in “Seize The Day” – the show’s largest and most famous number – a loud grinding sound echoed through the Orpheum. Though it was soon corrected, it drowned out a few critical lines of dialogue.

Jordan Samuels stood out as the supporting character Specs despite a lack of any major spoken lines; in a show that dazzles audiences with its Tony-winning choreography and acrobatics, Samuels managed to show off quite a bit of talent with unbelievable stunts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_Sz7_7T50Q

The original Broadway cast of Newsies preforming at the Tonys

Any minor mess-ups were overshadowed by a beautiful set and genius use of ten projection screens, which could be remotely tucked away at the push of the button. Their creative use worked perfectly to show details that a live performance is hard-pressed to communicate to the audience: Jack’s quick sketch of Katherine, words spelled on a typewriter, and pieces of a newspaper. The set also featured three large sets of fire escape stairs, each reaching three levels tall.

The show has won over old and new fans alike. Senior Stephanie Kahle said, “It was great! It was entertaining and high energy.”

Though its first pass through Minnesota has come to a close, a show as entrancing as Newsies is sure to return to Twin Cities stages – and when it does, be sure to get a front row seat to watch this hit musical.