Trip to Peoria for Newsies
Every summer, Sara and I make an attempt at a trip. This year, we wound up going to Peoria to see the production of Newsies at the Corn Stalk Theatre. It was our first time seeing a show there.
My former student and friend, Caleb Johnson, played the role of Jack Kelly. I was thrilled to get to see him in a lead role. He has talked about wanting this part for months. He knew he was going to get into the show, the question was would he walk away with the part of Jack. But he knew the director, and she had shown interest for him.
We got to Peoria by about 5:30 in the evening. This gave us ample time to get dinner at Avanti's, and even a little time to check into the hotel. Ahead of the play, I told Sara that Caleb Johnson reminded me of myself, only about ten times more interesting.
I got the small plate of spaghetti. With a salad that had thousand island dressing. And bread. I was eating light. I probably could have gone for a snack at the theatre, but I had to run and grab Caleb's cookies from the car during intermission.
The Corn Stalk theatre was a tent. But the weather wasn't terribly hot. Anyhow, there was some kind of a ventilator that was spraying cool vapors onto the audience. The set? A little more elaborate than the touring production that Sara and I would have seen at the Ford Oriental Theatre. They used lots of levels. There was sort of this terrace built in the background, doubling as the fire escapes and the offices of Joseph Pulitzer.
I caught Caleb at the beginning, marching around with the other members of the cast. Had to avert eyes not to make eye contact.
We weren't thinking about the heat when the show started. The audience was transported back to 1899 the second the first three Newsie boys took the stage. It was a real treat to see the show this inexpensive, this close to the Quad Cities, and to personally know one of the actors this well. Caleb's voice even sounded like it was an old recording from the turn of the century. That's not an insult. Maybe it was the park setting, with the big top tent, but Caleb's voice actually echoed like he was a person born in another time, who had come through a temporal-spatial anomaly to 2018 to present this play. And his acting was on point too!
Of course every Jack Kelly needs a Girl Friday, Katherine Plummer. Thankfully, Nicole Barth was more than up to the task. She was on the level of what we had seen at Lincolnshire and in Chicago. And Caleb's pipes put himself in that company as well. It was really great to hear him hit the high notes, commandingly, better than I can ever remember him singing before. No offense to his work in All Shook Up and Grease. But clearly he worked towards this improvement that he has made.
Yes, it was gripping to watch Snyder beat the snot out of Crutchie (Alex Hunt) with his own crutches. The actor who played Crutchie had great chemistry with Caleb. And we so badly wanted to see Jack come to the guy's rescue.
Based on the 1992 movie directed by Kenny Ortega, with music by Alan Menkin, Newsies shows Jack Kelly and his newsboys go toe to toe with Joseph Pulitzer and his newspaper, The World. Pulitzer wants to raise the price of papers, wholesale, from 50 cents per 100 to 60 cents per hundred. A tenth of a cent per pape.
Remember, they still did have fifty cent pieces in 1899. And if you do the math, these kids, selling newspapers for one cent (yes, that roughly a 19,000 percent increase to 2018 ;) ), stand to lose up to ten cents a day, or more, depending on if they aren't able to sell all of their newspapers. In other words, the newspaper owners are sitting like fat cats in their upstairs offices, chomping on their cigars and counting their dollar bills, while the poor kids sleep in tennants, scrounge for meals and try to put clothes on my back.
By and large, the Newsies are orphans. Closest thing they have to parental supervision are the late-teenagers, like Jack. And the nuns, who give them food and drink every morning.
Other than losing money to Pulitzer, these Newsies do not pity themselves. They in fact do love their jobs, want to share the day's news with the world, and know their way around hyperbole to get a good share of papers sold. At one point, the new hire, Davey, (Aaron Elwell), is concerned that Jack is borderline lying to sell papes. Jack pitches a non-front page news story about a small garbage fire behind the back of the building as flames tearing through Brooklyn sending people running for cover.
Davey and his younger brother, Les (Edward Couri) do have a roof over their heads, and do go home to a family. Their father got laid off from his job, and their mother is having them take a break from school to sell papers to provide for the family until the dad gets his job back.
In the movie, Jack gets invited home with Davey and Les for supper. That's a watershed moment where Jack gets to see what a domestic life would be like. Also, he falls in love with Sara in the movie. Sara is dispensed with, and Denton, the Bill Pullman reporter, is replaced with female reporter Katherine Plummer in the stage musical version.
There's also Race, (Thomas Deter), who knows that he's playing the smart-ass, and keeps faithful to the character originated by Max Casella (Vinnie from Doogie Howser, MD). He grabs his cigar (and Deter looks older than Casella did, so it's less disturbing to see him suck on a cigar, lol) and talk about girls.
Race, Davey, Les, Crutchie, and yes Katherine are completely on board with Jack when he decides to negotiate directly with Joseph Pulitzer.
Knowing that people are counting on him for leadership, in this moment where they stand to lose their very livelihood, Jack organizes a union. He gets Davey to be his major domo. And he makes speeches both spoken and in the form of song ("The World Will Know" is one that I am humming) to rally and unite the Newsies in a strike. Organized labor. Collective bargainning. They form a union.
Of course, Jack is risking his anonymity by headlining the strike. In as much as they want to make the front pages of the New York papers with their newsboy strike, Jack is a fugitive on the run. He escaped from the boarding house for troubled boys, and the proprietor, Snyder (Zach Robertson) will stop at nothing to sniff him out. Allegedly Jack slipped out riding on the back of then-Governor Theodore Roosevelt's carriage, when he had come to tour the facility.
Even if it means picking off his weaker friends.
They get their headline for the paper. It goes in the World's rival, the Sun.
Snyder (Zach Robertson) also gets Crutchie. There's a brawl between the Newsies and the Scabs (these would be the suit-wearing newsboys who stay loyal to the World, and probably have a job offer higher on the ladder dangled in front of them). Crutchie winds up getting beaten. In a harrowing scene, we watch this already wounded boy get the snot kicked out of him by Snyder with his own crutch.
It was very believable that Caleb Johnson could make his character weep onstage, while singing of throwing the towel in, quitting the strike and hopping the next train to Santa Fe.
Jack loves the thought of being the young man who ultimately goes west. And I imagine Disney wrestling with the idea of having him achieve his dream of working on a ranch in New Mexico, fresh air, a decent job; or staying true to the fellow Newsies he calls family.
Jack of course has the prospect of getting an all-expenses paid ticket to Santa Fe leveraged by none other than Joseph Pulitzer himself (Ed Peck).
What's a boy to do? Look out for himself? Or look out for everyone who's helped keep him safe from Snyder?
This particular production of Newsies was noteworthy most for its dance. Directed by Pam Orear, with choreography by Tamra Challacombe, the dancing really stole every scene in which it was used. Particularly King of New York. The professional productions, which Sara and I saw in Chicago and at the Marriott Lincolnshire, had highly polished-within-an-inch-of-its-life dancing. It felt known to them. As it should be.
It was sort of exciting to know that these dancers largely were regular kids who went to school or college, had spent a ten hour dance rehearsal honing it the week before, and were working at an ability level higher than they had ever worked. That's a compliment. It felt real, it felt present, it felt in my face. Knowing that they could fall of the table, but didn't; knowing they had only worked on the set for three or four days before opening, but could dance in the space; it made it feel alive.
And no, I didn't notice any mistakes. The tap number felt like a hailstorm. Also a compliment, though it doesn't sound like it. It sounded like a driving, blinding rain storm, but the fact that this sound was produced by feet all moving in the same tempo made it that much more of a miracle.
And yes, Caleb and Nicole had amazing, crackling chemistry. Not just paid actors who are used to doing this, they were here because it is their privilege to put this show on for us. And what Jack and Katherine felt for each other was amazing love. It was palpable, and I believed it that Jack could love her even though she may have thrown him under the bus a time or too, and she unconditionally loves Jack enough to want no part in her dad's business empire and work under a pen-name. It wasn't just a staged hug. They held each other.
I loved Newsies. It was one of the best shows I saw this summer. It was cool getting to talk to Caleb after the show. It was cool to see the actors milling about. Sara and I had a nice conversation with the actor playing Snyder. Zach Robertson as it happens is actually a very cool guy.
Came off of it with a high. I wound up finishing writing my own play at the motel the next morning, after a breakfast of a bagel, an orange, and yogurt.
My former student and friend, Caleb Johnson, played the role of Jack Kelly. I was thrilled to get to see him in a lead role. He has talked about wanting this part for months. He knew he was going to get into the show, the question was would he walk away with the part of Jack. But he knew the director, and she had shown interest for him.
We got to Peoria by about 5:30 in the evening. This gave us ample time to get dinner at Avanti's, and even a little time to check into the hotel. Ahead of the play, I told Sara that Caleb Johnson reminded me of myself, only about ten times more interesting.
I got the small plate of spaghetti. With a salad that had thousand island dressing. And bread. I was eating light. I probably could have gone for a snack at the theatre, but I had to run and grab Caleb's cookies from the car during intermission.
The Corn Stalk theatre was a tent. But the weather wasn't terribly hot. Anyhow, there was some kind of a ventilator that was spraying cool vapors onto the audience. The set? A little more elaborate than the touring production that Sara and I would have seen at the Ford Oriental Theatre. They used lots of levels. There was sort of this terrace built in the background, doubling as the fire escapes and the offices of Joseph Pulitzer.
I caught Caleb at the beginning, marching around with the other members of the cast. Had to avert eyes not to make eye contact.
We weren't thinking about the heat when the show started. The audience was transported back to 1899 the second the first three Newsie boys took the stage. It was a real treat to see the show this inexpensive, this close to the Quad Cities, and to personally know one of the actors this well. Caleb's voice even sounded like it was an old recording from the turn of the century. That's not an insult. Maybe it was the park setting, with the big top tent, but Caleb's voice actually echoed like he was a person born in another time, who had come through a temporal-spatial anomaly to 2018 to present this play. And his acting was on point too!
Of course every Jack Kelly needs a Girl Friday, Katherine Plummer. Thankfully, Nicole Barth was more than up to the task. She was on the level of what we had seen at Lincolnshire and in Chicago. And Caleb's pipes put himself in that company as well. It was really great to hear him hit the high notes, commandingly, better than I can ever remember him singing before. No offense to his work in All Shook Up and Grease. But clearly he worked towards this improvement that he has made.
Yes, it was gripping to watch Snyder beat the snot out of Crutchie (Alex Hunt) with his own crutches. The actor who played Crutchie had great chemistry with Caleb. And we so badly wanted to see Jack come to the guy's rescue.
Based on the 1992 movie directed by Kenny Ortega, with music by Alan Menkin, Newsies shows Jack Kelly and his newsboys go toe to toe with Joseph Pulitzer and his newspaper, The World. Pulitzer wants to raise the price of papers, wholesale, from 50 cents per 100 to 60 cents per hundred. A tenth of a cent per pape.
Remember, they still did have fifty cent pieces in 1899. And if you do the math, these kids, selling newspapers for one cent (yes, that roughly a 19,000 percent increase to 2018 ;) ), stand to lose up to ten cents a day, or more, depending on if they aren't able to sell all of their newspapers. In other words, the newspaper owners are sitting like fat cats in their upstairs offices, chomping on their cigars and counting their dollar bills, while the poor kids sleep in tennants, scrounge for meals and try to put clothes on my back.
By and large, the Newsies are orphans. Closest thing they have to parental supervision are the late-teenagers, like Jack. And the nuns, who give them food and drink every morning.
Other than losing money to Pulitzer, these Newsies do not pity themselves. They in fact do love their jobs, want to share the day's news with the world, and know their way around hyperbole to get a good share of papers sold. At one point, the new hire, Davey, (Aaron Elwell), is concerned that Jack is borderline lying to sell papes. Jack pitches a non-front page news story about a small garbage fire behind the back of the building as flames tearing through Brooklyn sending people running for cover.
Davey and his younger brother, Les (Edward Couri) do have a roof over their heads, and do go home to a family. Their father got laid off from his job, and their mother is having them take a break from school to sell papers to provide for the family until the dad gets his job back.
In the movie, Jack gets invited home with Davey and Les for supper. That's a watershed moment where Jack gets to see what a domestic life would be like. Also, he falls in love with Sara in the movie. Sara is dispensed with, and Denton, the Bill Pullman reporter, is replaced with female reporter Katherine Plummer in the stage musical version.
There's also Race, (Thomas Deter), who knows that he's playing the smart-ass, and keeps faithful to the character originated by Max Casella (Vinnie from Doogie Howser, MD). He grabs his cigar (and Deter looks older than Casella did, so it's less disturbing to see him suck on a cigar, lol) and talk about girls.
Race, Davey, Les, Crutchie, and yes Katherine are completely on board with Jack when he decides to negotiate directly with Joseph Pulitzer.
Knowing that people are counting on him for leadership, in this moment where they stand to lose their very livelihood, Jack organizes a union. He gets Davey to be his major domo. And he makes speeches both spoken and in the form of song ("The World Will Know" is one that I am humming) to rally and unite the Newsies in a strike. Organized labor. Collective bargainning. They form a union.
Of course, Jack is risking his anonymity by headlining the strike. In as much as they want to make the front pages of the New York papers with their newsboy strike, Jack is a fugitive on the run. He escaped from the boarding house for troubled boys, and the proprietor, Snyder (Zach Robertson) will stop at nothing to sniff him out. Allegedly Jack slipped out riding on the back of then-Governor Theodore Roosevelt's carriage, when he had come to tour the facility.
Even if it means picking off his weaker friends.
They get their headline for the paper. It goes in the World's rival, the Sun.
Snyder (Zach Robertson) also gets Crutchie. There's a brawl between the Newsies and the Scabs (these would be the suit-wearing newsboys who stay loyal to the World, and probably have a job offer higher on the ladder dangled in front of them). Crutchie winds up getting beaten. In a harrowing scene, we watch this already wounded boy get the snot kicked out of him by Snyder with his own crutch.
It was very believable that Caleb Johnson could make his character weep onstage, while singing of throwing the towel in, quitting the strike and hopping the next train to Santa Fe.
Jack loves the thought of being the young man who ultimately goes west. And I imagine Disney wrestling with the idea of having him achieve his dream of working on a ranch in New Mexico, fresh air, a decent job; or staying true to the fellow Newsies he calls family.
Jack of course has the prospect of getting an all-expenses paid ticket to Santa Fe leveraged by none other than Joseph Pulitzer himself (Ed Peck).
What's a boy to do? Look out for himself? Or look out for everyone who's helped keep him safe from Snyder?
This particular production of Newsies was noteworthy most for its dance. Directed by Pam Orear, with choreography by Tamra Challacombe, the dancing really stole every scene in which it was used. Particularly King of New York. The professional productions, which Sara and I saw in Chicago and at the Marriott Lincolnshire, had highly polished-within-an-inch-of-its-life dancing. It felt known to them. As it should be.
It was sort of exciting to know that these dancers largely were regular kids who went to school or college, had spent a ten hour dance rehearsal honing it the week before, and were working at an ability level higher than they had ever worked. That's a compliment. It felt real, it felt present, it felt in my face. Knowing that they could fall of the table, but didn't; knowing they had only worked on the set for three or four days before opening, but could dance in the space; it made it feel alive.
And no, I didn't notice any mistakes. The tap number felt like a hailstorm. Also a compliment, though it doesn't sound like it. It sounded like a driving, blinding rain storm, but the fact that this sound was produced by feet all moving in the same tempo made it that much more of a miracle.
And yes, Caleb and Nicole had amazing, crackling chemistry. Not just paid actors who are used to doing this, they were here because it is their privilege to put this show on for us. And what Jack and Katherine felt for each other was amazing love. It was palpable, and I believed it that Jack could love her even though she may have thrown him under the bus a time or too, and she unconditionally loves Jack enough to want no part in her dad's business empire and work under a pen-name. It wasn't just a staged hug. They held each other.
I loved Newsies. It was one of the best shows I saw this summer. It was cool getting to talk to Caleb after the show. It was cool to see the actors milling about. Sara and I had a nice conversation with the actor playing Snyder. Zach Robertson as it happens is actually a very cool guy.
Came off of it with a high. I wound up finishing writing my own play at the motel the next morning, after a breakfast of a bagel, an orange, and yogurt.