Newsies Jr

Following their wonderful Heathers: The Musical, Pelican Productions presents the second musical in this season: Newsies Jr., and its equally terrific.

This high energy musical is based on the 1992 Disney film, Newsies, which in turn was based on a real historic event – the ‘News Boys Strike’ in New York in 1899. In 2011-12, Newsies was reworked for Broadway with book by Broadway legend – Harvey Fierstein – sharpening the rebellious youth element. It was a big hit and has remained popular and consistently performed in several countries, including Australia.

The story centres around Jack Kelly, a roguish and popular New York ‘News Boys’, who with his mates, Crutchie, Davy, and Les, leads a strike by their fellow ‘News Boys’ against corporate injustice; against the dubious might of their formidable ‘boss’, Joseph Pulitzer (yes – of the Pulitzer Prize, etc).

This ‘rebellious youth’ trope is one reason why Newsies and Newsies Jr. has remained popular with youth groups – a tale of courage, bravery, unity, and triumph over adversity. Also, like several American musicals, it is also about hope – hope for a better future. All this is wonderfully captured in Pelican Productions production of Newsies Jr.

Jack Kelly is a terrific role; in Australia theatre terms, he is a classic ‘larrikin’; which may partly explain his appeal to Australian audiences. In this performance, Jack Kelly was played by Reo Gerhardy. This character essentially drives the action of the entire musical; he is very rarely off-stage for very long. It demands considerable energy, skills, and professionalism – in all of which Mr Gerhardy excelled. He successfully drove this show with considerable commitment, skill, and generosity.

One reason why this production of Newsies Jr. is so successful is due to Pelicans’ creative team. Led by Jen Frith (Producer/Director) and Kylie Green (Producer/Director), with Ben Francis (Musical Director), Carla Papa (Choreography), Anthea Prime (Stage Manager), Ray Cullen (Visual Design), and many others in the creative team – they are all to be congratulated. I will add, Jen Frith was not only Producer and Director, but also Lighting Designer and Costume Designer. That Jen Frith excelled in all these highly challenging fields is absolutely wonderful and should be applauded to the highest. It is this terrific creative team that is responsible for eliciting such strong performances in the acting ensemble.

I saw the ‘Senior Cast,’ led by Reo Gerhardy (Jack Kelly), Noah Byrne (Davey), and Will Fleming (Crutchie); all terrific – true ‘triple threats’ – excellent in singing, dancing, and acting. There were also stand-out performances in the supporting roles. Having seen several Pelican Productions’ youth musicals, there are always stand-out performances in the supporting roles. Mia Kharil’s cheeky Les was a winner; her comic timing was superb. Every time she did the ‘oh poor me’ face, topped with a wicked smile, she nailed it - every time. Huge laughs from the audience. She was hilarious and very engaging. There was also Francis Osel-Tutu (Albert/Dance Troupe); he was mesmerizing, a stand-out company member, committed, focused, generous, excellent dancer, as well as singer and actor.

Casey Mifsud (Joseph Pulitzer) and Nicholas Karagianis (Teddy Roosevelt) were also standouts. These excellent performances in a way exemplifies one of Pelicans’ artistic signatures. In Pelican Productions, in the acting and performing of senior adult roles (such as Pulitzer and Roosevelt), there is (thank heaven) no potentially cringe-making ‘old people acting.’ These young actors played the truth of the scene without resorting to conventional theatrical artifice. This allowed them to play their characters with dignity and gravitas, free from playing an imitation of the real old person. I think this is terrific; it has its own artistic truth, adding a special truth, depth and nuance in Mr Mifud’s and Mr Karagianis’ acting and performance.

One last thing. In this season Pelican Productions successfully produced two musicals - Heathers: The Musical and Newsies Jr. However, it wasn’t just two musicals, it was more like four. Each musical had two casts: that’s four very different and very large casts. As any who know the considerable challenges involved in producing large scale American musicals in large scale productions with large casts of enthusiastic young musical theatre people – this is quite a triumph.

Tony Knight