Hear Ye, Hear Ye!!! Broadway In Chicago Announces Disney’s NEWSIES The Musical To Arrive December 2014

Broadway company of NEWSIES. Photo by Deen Van Meer.

Broadway company of NEWSIES. Photo by Deen Van Meer.

Broadway In Chicago is thrilled to announce that NEWSIES, the Tony Award-winning “critics’ pick” Broadway musical smash, will play the Bank of America Theatre (18 W Monroe) Dec. 10, 2014 through Jan. 4, 2015.  NEWSIES will be part of the Broadway In Chicago 2014 Fall Season.  Group tickets for 10 or more are now on sale by calling Broadway In Chicago Group Sales at (312) 977-1710.  Individual tickets for NEWSIES will go on sale at a later date.   For more information, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com or NewsiesTheMusical.com/Tour.  For information or to register for advance ticket access notifications, visit NewsiesTheMusical.com/Tour, Facebook.com/Newsies and Twitter.com/Newsies.

 About NEWSIES

NEWSIES features a Tony Award-winning score with music by eight-time Academy Award® winner Alan Menken and lyrics by Jack Feldman, with a book by four-time Tony Award winner Harvey FiersteinProduced by Disney Theatrical ProductionsNEWSIES is directed by Tony nominee Jeff Calhoun and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli, who won a 2012 Tony Award for his work.

NEWSIES has consistently exceeded expectations since premiering on Broadway at The Nederlander Theatre in March 2012.  Originally transferred to Broadway as a limited engagement of a few dozen performances, the breakout hit is now approaching its 700th performance.

In a remarkable demonstration of the breadth of the title’s appeal, ticket orders had arrived from all 50 states within weeks of its first Broadway performance in 2012.  Since then, NEWSIES has set and broken seven Nederlander Theatre house records and become the biggest hit of the 2011-12 season

The show received 23 major theatrical nominations – including eight Tony Award nods – and won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Score and Best Choreography.  One of Broadway’s highest profile hits, it has been featured nationally on “Dancing with the Stars,” “The View,” “Good Morning America,” “Nightline,” “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” and “The CBS Thanksgiving Day Parade.”

Included in the best-of year lists for Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, and The Daily NewsNEWSIES can be counted one of the most critically-praised shows of recent seasons. Entertainment Weekly raves, “stop the presses! Newsies is an irresistible, high energy winner… a surprise sensation!” Time Out New Yorkcalls Newsies, “an invigorating extravaganza! A barnstorming, four-alarm delight,” and The New York Times hails it, “a musical worth singing about,” praising the “terrific songs – buoyant melodies by Alan Menken and rousing lyrics by Jack Feldman – and a sweet, funny, emotionally satisfying book by Harvey Fierstein.”

When NEWSIES premiered at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ it engendered extraordinary interest from the media and public alike, prompting Newsweek.com to call the show, “one of the biggest surprises of the season…the talk of the town.”                                                      

Set in New York City at the turn of the century, NEWSIES is the rousing tale of Jack Kelly, a charismatic newsboy and leader of a ragged band of teenaged ‘newsies,’ who dreams only of a better life far from the hardship of the streets. But when publishing titans Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst raise distribution prices at the newsboys’ expense, Jack finds a cause to fight for and rallies newsies from across the city to strike for what’s right.

NEWSIES is inspired by the real-life ‘Newsboy Strike of 1899,’ when newsboy Kid Blink led a band of orphan and runaway newsies on a two-week-long action against Pulitzer, Hearst and other powerful newspaper publishers.

The stage version introduces seven brand-new songs by the original team of Menken and Feldman while keeping many of the beloved songs from the film, including ‘Carrying the Banner’, ‘Seize the Day,’ ‘King of New York’ and ‘Santa Fe.’

Since the film’s 1992 theatrical release and subsequent DVD release, NEWSIES has grown into a cult phenomenon, and for years had been the single most requested title of all the Disney musical films not yet adapted for the stage.  (The film featured a screenplay by Bob Tzudiker & Noni White (Tarzan, 102 Dalmatians).)

TICKET INFORMATION

NEWSIES will be part of the Broadway In Chicago 2014 Fall Season.  Group tickets for 10 or more are now on sale by calling Broadway In Chicago Group Sales at (312) 977-1710.  Individual tickets for NEWSIES will go on sale at a later date.   For more information, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com orNewsiesTheMusical.com/Tour.