For the majority of live theater venues, the pandemic has been a rough period of uncertainty. Ever since their closure in 2020, the question of when they opened was no longer simply a when but also an if. With many having to face potential bankruptcy, the chances of beloved venues returning remained up in the air. Among them was Cerritos’ 3-D Theatricals, whose 2019-2020 season line-up was chugging along just fine until the news broke. In fact, they were under a month until the opening of the show that is currently gracing the stage at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts: Newsies.
What once marked the near end of the season now serves as the opening of a new era. After two years of uncertainty, executive producer and artistic director T.J. Dawson graced the stage on opening night (May 13, 2022) to announce the words the packed house had been dying to hear: “Theater is back!” Of course, no preview night wouldn’t be without some minor hiccups, including the confession that their programs were in transit, meaning that everyone had to scan QR codes around the theater to access information about the show. Still, with everyone primed to enjoy one of the finest examples of contemporary stage musical choreography and merriment, the show got off to a roaring start.
Based on the Disney film Newsies (1992), the story follows a 1899 newspaper strike led by a group of “newsies,” or young salesmen who took to the streets to sell “papes.” With plenty of fun New York accents, the world comes to life with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Jack Feldman. With the majority of sets residing around a three story scaffolding, the energetic casts make the most of things from the time that “Carrying the Banner” starts up through a finale that includes a curtain call full of rip-roaring solos. As lighthearted and straightforward as the story may seem, it has all of the stage musical magic that makes it a necessity onstage.
At the center is Dillon Klena as Jack Kelly, who dreams of moving to Santa Fe and escaping the grit of a lower class lifestyle with his friend Crutchie (Kyle Frattini), named such for his physical disability. He is a dreamer, the idealist who believes in fair wages for his friends, who plans to lead a strike against Joseph Pulitzer (Norman Large) as he takes advantage of people’s need to read the news. As stories become stale, he compensates for profits. As they scroll across a digital chalkboard, the newsies know it’s a sign of death. You can’t sell papes for old news. You can’t spell news without new for a very good reason.
It helps that the world of Newsies is populated with a lot of charismatic actors, all able to distinguish themselves even within the same smoot-covered garb, tied together by a vest and given class by a cap. For a show that could fall back so easily on camp or novelty, the actors fill each role with sincerity, finding the music’s occasional sugary motifs holding an earnestness. Feldman makes songs like “Watch What Happens” have a lyrical cleverness as bright-eyed journalist Katherine (Allison Sheppard) struggles to write a headline that will get the world to notice the conflict of the working class. It’s aspirational, even as Act II lays on its themes so thickly that it’s difficult not to read the whole thing as a call for its audience to stand up with their morals against any justice.
But of course, anyone who is coming to Newsies is also coming to the show for something even more impressive than a goofy activism story. They are coming for one of the finest examples of modern dancing in musicals, where the show is continually leading the audience with anticipation. Every song, including “Seize the Day,” is perfectly crafted to start as a quiet motif before building to a rallying cry, where every singer joins in. To be in the room experiencing this morale booster is ecstatic. The group assembled by 3-D Theatricals (some having been cast as far back as 2020) has an amazing, enviable gift for managing to sing while using the stage as an explosion of movement. In “Seize the Day,” the show earns its finest moment as the actors break apart newspaper bundles and dances over them. There’s spinning, jumping, tap dancing, and even several backflips. This is a show that knows how to use a stage and more impressively it does so with actors who never let down their guard. They know how to make this all look like the most effortless show imaginable, a celebration of the form. While many musicals have dancing that pops, few have as many memorable singular moments quite like this.
For those eager for a great night out of theater, Newsies is more than another Disney screen-to-stage work. It’s much more experimental, improving on its source material and fleshing out characters with depth set to bouncy melodies. Even if this is designed for general audiences, there’s a fun edginess to the characters, reflective of their rebellious intention as they navigate life on the street. For those lucky enough to see the 3-D Theatricals edition, there’s a good chance that the allure will be worth the price of admission. It’s a show that more than asks to be seen on a stage, to witness the careful craft of actors who can also dance and sing and climb a scaffolding to hit the high notes of every song’s finale. The experience of being there is powerful, and the fact that this version is being put on at all brings a certain sense of relief. It’s a show that feeds off of the energy in the room, and the preview night crowd only added to the thrills.
While news of 3-D Theatricals’ future productions isn’t public knowledge yet, it’s great to have them back and doing such great work. From the sets to the music and actors, everything about Newsies is a fine example of why theater is a timeless art form. While the show itself may have a cornball center, everything built around it serves as a triumph of the form. It has incorporated dance that flows from scene to scene, a unity among the actors that makes every number the latest earworm. For those wanting something to make your evening a lot more worthwhile, check out this production and prepare to have the world be your erster.
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