Center Stage Productions Proudly Presents
Center Stage Productions is looking for
sponsors for our 2024 Season!
Wondering how to get involved in Newsies?
We have five levels of sponsorships available!
Click here for more info!
About Newsies
History and Development
In 1899, several thousand newsboys, who made about 30 cents a day, called a strike, refusing to handle the newspapers of William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. Competing papers lavished coverage on the strikers, who were depicted as colorful characters who spoke in an oddly rendered Irish-immigrant dialect and had names like Race Track Higgens and Kid Fish. The news accounts gave much attention to the exhortations of a pint-sized newsboy and strike leader named Kid Blink (because he was blind in one eye). The New York Tribune quoted Kid Blink's speech to 2,000 strikers:​
Friens and feller workers. Dis is a time which tries de hearts of men. Dis is de time when we'se got to stick together like glue.... We know wot we wants and we'll git it even if we is blind.
To pay tribute to the newsboys’ story, The Walt Disney Company premiered Newsies on April 10, 1992. The live-action musical feature was written by Bob Tzudiker and Noni White, and directed by Kenny Ortega, with songs by Alan Menken and Jack Feldman. After receiving generally poor reviews, the movie quickly disappeared from theatres.
​
On October 14, 1992, Disney released Newsies on VHS and Beta home video. The movie premiered on the Disney Channel as part of a “Free Spring Preview” on March 28, 1993. In the following years, home viewing and the advent of the Internet spawned a passionate fan base.
​
Due to overwhelming requests to license a live-stage version of Newsies, Disney Theatrical Productions put the title into development. Harvey Fierstein joined the project as bookwriter in 2009, and Menken and Feldman complemented their original film score with several new songs. Developmental readings took place in New York City in 2010.
​
On September 25, 2011, a test production of Newsies: The Musical opened at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey; it was directed by Jeff Calhoun and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli. Positive critical and “Fansie” responses opened unexpected doors.
​
Newsies began previews of a limited Broadway run at the Nederlander Theatre on March 15, 2012, and opened on March 29. After the show sold out its initial twelve weeks and a ten-week extension, Disney announced an open-ended run on May 16, 2012. The musical earned eight 2012 Tony Award nominations and won for Best Original Score and Best Choreography.
​
Newsies ran for 1,004 performances on Broadway, playing to over 1.2 million audience members before closing on August 24, 2014. Preparations began immediately for a North American tour, which opened in Schenectady, New York, on October 11, 2014. The tour played over 784 performances to over 1.5 million audience members before closing on October 2, 2016, in Austin, Texas.​
For more information on the show,
please view the official Newsies Performance Guide.
DISNEY'S NEWSIES
is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI).
All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI.
423 West 55th Street, New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212-541-4685 Fax: 212-397-4684