Newsies (1992)
Directed by Kenny Ortega
A week in the life of the exploited, child newspaper sellers in turn-of-the-century New York. When their publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, tries to squeeze a little more profit out of their labours, they organize a strike, only to be confronted with the Pulitzer's hard-ball tactics.
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What critics compared Newsies to
Even Disney came a-cropper with “Newsies,” which succeeded in a later Broadway incarnation but flopped badly when it was released in 1992, and when Herbert Ross broke the mold in 1981 with a sort of anti-musical musical, “Pennies from Heaven,” the result was a masterful film that was a disaster with the public.
Baz Lurhman deserves all the credit he’s gotten for exploding the movie-musical genre with the messy but heartfelt “Moulin Rouge” ; I love Jacques Rivette’s 1995 “Haut/Bas/Fragile,” a movie too few people have had the chance to see; and I always stand up for Kenny Ortega’s much-maligned 1992 “Newsies,” a purely traditional musical with the right sense of energy and spirit.
Still, the direction by Ortega (who also helmed Newsies for Disney) and the choreography by Ortega, Charles Klapow and Bonnie Story are plucky and energetic, from the basketball-enhanced "Get'cha Head in the Game" to the Grease-esque cafeteria-set chorus number "Stick to the Status Quo."
The songs are a bit on the generic side of the teen pop idol equation, and yet they sizzle, these catchy tunes that are tailor-made to get stuck in your head and keep you humming along; director/choreographer Kenny Ortega (who previously helmed "Newsies" and served as choreographer "Dirty Dancing") makes the music jump with big, bouncy dance numbers that are such a delight to watch; and the cast is filled with youngsters who can do the singing and the dancing, yes, but they're also charming as can be.
As it turns out, the 1992 offering was the first feature-length film directed by Kenny Ortega (“High School Musical” 1-3) and the first feature-length screenplay from Bob Tzudiker and Noni White (Disney’s “Tarzan”).