Dec. 11--To the delight of Midwestern fans of dancing newsboys, the one and only national tour of "Newsies" opens in Chicago on Friday night. Sales have been very brisk -- some performances this weekend already are close to sold-out. It's a peak time of year for theater, certainly, but Specs and his hugely popular, paper-toting pals also aren't in town for long. Just four weeks. Not exactly "Book of Mormon" territory.
But then the newsies always have had to fight for respect.
"Newsies," which is based on the flop (but cultish) Disney movie of the same name, was never really supposed to be a Broadway musical. But it became one, a hit one, thanks to some very shrewd producing decisions from Thomas Schumacher, head of the Disney Theatrical Group. With "Newsies," Schumacher demonstrated his formidable skill in one of the lesser sung but more crucial aspects of the producing game, even on a Disney level: the management of expectations.
The story begins with the renaissance of an initially disastrous movie (it cost some $15 million but made less than $3 million), buoyed in its DVD years by teenage girls compelled by the huge production numbers featuring young, dancing men.
"I knew there was demand for 'Newsies,'" Schumacher said in a recent interview. "I just didn't know there was demand for 'Newsies' in the commercial theater."
Schumacher was well-aware that high schools kept asking Disney to produce the musical that so many students were watching in their living rooms and bedrooms, the main problem being that there was not yet a stage musical. So he decided that it would be a smart idea to come up with a show that could be licensed -- licensing is a huge theatrical business for Disney with over 5,000 high school productions of Disney musicals every year.
He called Harvey Fierstein about writing a new book. (Fierstein had not yet penned "Kinky Boots.") There already was an Alan Menken score.
Since the Disney Theatricals office is in New York, Schumacher decided that the Paper Mill Playhouse -- not Broadway but also not far away -- would be the ideal locale for a low-key affair.
Schumacher organized some workshops with his various staff directors. He persuaded the chosen designer, Tobin Ost, to come up with a unit set that wasn't too old-timey, but had more of a scaffoldy, "Rent"-like feel that might be a better match for the tastes of "Newsies" fans.
It was decided to invest a bit more in that set than one might normally do at Paper Mill, because there seemed to be a good chance that some summer theater would want to rent the set.
Under the direction of Jeff Calhoun, "Newsies" got good reviews. Surprisingly so, given the history of the title. At the same time, the Nederlander Organization was dealing with a cancellation for its namesake Broadway theater. And Nick Scandalios, who brokers what shows go where, had seen "Newsies" at Paper Mill. He thought it was a good fit.
The Nederlander is not the most desirable of the Broadway houses. The longtime home of "Rent," it is smaller in capacity, grungier than most and located south of Times Square, where the premium ticket buyers do not as readily voyage.
On the other hand, it was a good fit for the kind of design that Schumacher had pushed for, and the edge of the garment district seemed like the right locale for the scrappy nature of a cheer-the-little-guys show.
Schumacher quietly beefed up the quality of the show, ordering up rewrites, adding a new character (the love interest in the movie being much reviled) and three new songs.
Fierstein had figured out that the period setting of the show allowed him to explore the dawn of the suffrage movement, adding women into the newsies' cause and boosting the show's appeal with young women. A lot of work was done. Fast.
Still, the show never was billed as coming to Broadway, period, but merely as coming to Broadway for a limited 10-week run.
It stayed just a bit longer than that -- about 21/2 years, actually. After a few months, Schumacher even had to pony up for a new floor (or deck, in theatrical parlance) as his newsboys literally had danced through the floor first used at Paper Mill.
The show recouped its costs and hit profitability. Many of the ensemble dancers -- anonymous figures in most Broadway musicals -- became stars with girls lining up to meet them at the stage door. Ryan Steele, who played Specs, was suddenly a known dancing dude.
Finally this fall, a tour went out.
"We waited," Schumacher said. "A lot of people think people know their show when people really don't know their show. But they know 'Newsies' by now. It's been in parades. It's been on 'The View,' and on the Tony Awards. Twice. The contents of the show are just so featurable."
Indeed they are.
"I wish I could say this was a grand producing scheme that worked," Schumacher said, after recounting what sure sounded like a grand producing scheme that worked to me.
"But it really was not that at all," he said. "Sure, 'Newsies' was never going to be 'Oklahoma!' But here is a musical, a rollicking tale, that features all these very young people. When was the last musical that you could say that about?"
"Newsies" plays through Jan. 4 at the Oriental Theatre; $25-$167 at broadwayinchicago.com
