Wednesday, September 28, 2011

For Laura and Eddie

Newsies opened in a very odd place.  The show opened Sunday in New Jersey at the Papermill Playhouse.  It is a venue way out of the way.  I haven't ever been, so I can't comment on the place.

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Much like the movie, Disney is kind of dumping it here - but it will take on it's own life.
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It is due to run for 4 weeks - and can't run much longer than that with this cast, since the lead spends his days working on Bonnie and Clyde on Broadway, where he is set to star right after this show.
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So Harvey Firestein (who adapted La Cage aux Folles for the stage) made some tweaks.  The love interest is now a NewsPaper woman (kind of melding the Bill Pullman / Poor sister characters into 1 - and beefing it up). And - surprise to no one, it got good reviews and got people off guard.
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Jeremy Jordan as Jack
The new Jack (Jeremy Jordan) is cute and can sing - but he is no Christine Bale with a horrible New Yawk accident.
Christian Bale as Jack