Disney Insider - The Lifespan of Newsies
Not all Broadway shows last forever. Even our most beloved musicals may come to an end at one point or another. Sometimes, shows are brought to braodway with a lifespan already in place. A ticking time bomb that is counting down the days until the run ends and a new show replaces it. Disney Theatrics had this plan in mind when they created Newsies; a widely loved movie musical that found a new home on the Nederlander Theater in New York City. However, Newsies found a way to defy it's terminal fate and live to see a few more performances.
The hit Broadway musical ran 1004 times on the Great White Way. Want to hear a secret? The show was only supposed to be a special limited time engagement, running through June 10th 2012 and only playing 101 performances. The demand for tickets to this box office hit was overwhelming and Disney Theatrics continuously kept extending their run. The show finally closed on August 24th 2014, over two years after the original closing date. Newises opened March 29, 2012, after originating at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey.
Disney Theatrical Productions originally developed Newsies, based on the film of the same name and Paper Mill Playhouse hosted its four-week pilot production in summer 2011. Audience response to the new Broadway musical was overwhelmingly positive. That feedback prompted a transfer to Broadway for a limited run. The show was widely recived at that year's Tony Awards snagging the awards for Best Choreography and Best Original Score. Newsies was also nominated for numerous other Tony Awards including, Best Actor in a Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, and the biggest award of the night, Best New Musical.
Newsies provided Disney Theatrics with success after their two previous flops of Tarzan and The Little Mermaid. Towards the end of the run, ticket sales for the show had softened and Disney Theatrics decided to go out with a bang before everybody lost interest in Newsies. Since then, the lifespan of Newsies has not fully completed. There is a National Tour currently circulating the country in order to bring the brilliantness of this show to many other various cities across the nation. No matter what happens with the run, Newsies will always live on in the hearts of people who saw the show, listened to the music, or loved to watch the company of talented boys dance and sing.
