City Circle Theatre Company's “Newsies" at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts -- July 17 through 26.
Friday, July 17, through Sunday, July 26
Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, 1301 Fifth Street, Coralville IA
Described by Variety magazine as “Disney's happiest outing since The Lion King” and by USA Today as a production of “easy infectuousness” and “youthful exuberance,” the Tony Award-winning Newsies enjoys a July 17 through 26 run at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, its City Circle Theatre Company presentation treating family audiences to an energetic work the Hollywood Reporter said “adheres to a time-honored Disney tradition of inspirational storytelling in the best possible sense.”
Based on Disney's live-action musical from 1992 that starred a teenage Christian Bale, Newsies is set in the New York City of 1899, where young Jack Kelly and his ragtag team of newsboys make a meager living selling newspapers on the streets. But when the prices of “papes” are hiked and the newsies are hung out to dry, there's nothing left to do but, as the lyrics state, “open the gates and seize the day!” Led by the charismatic Jack Kelly and the independent newspaper reporter Katherine Plummer, the Newsies form a union and organize a strike against the greedy publisher of the New York World. But can a group of idealistic newsboys win against a foe as powerful as acclaimed publisher Joseph Pulitzer? Inspired by the true story of the 1899 Newsboys Strike, Newsies captures the strength that young people have when they join together and stand up against injustice, with its book by Harvey Fierstein and score by Alan Menken and Jack Feldman leading the Village Voice to announce, “Extra! Extra! Newsies is a hit!”
Directing the City Circle Theatre Company's latest production is Kent Reynolds, who previously helmed Catch Me If You Can and appeared in Irving Berlin's White Christmas for the company. Jaci Visser serves as Newsies' music director, with additional members of Reynolds' creative team including: choreographer Aaron Malec; stage manager Jared Kiebel; lighting designer Hans Hinrichsen; and costume designer Jacque Green.
Leads Jack Kelly and Katherine Plummer are respectively portrayed by Owen Abel and Nina Torkelson, with Royce Blackburn playing an antagonistic Joseph Pulitzer. Three dozen additional talents, meanwhile, complete the Newsies ensemble: Avery Booms; Stella Daly; Lily Doobay; Ahmed Elsheikh; Eman Elsheikh; Carter Houchins-Witt; Lyrah Huggins; Arlo Hughes; Zack Kenyon; Madisen Kleppe; Alex Kohler; Fritz Lansing-Stoeffler; Zane Lee; Matthias McFarlin; Maple Miller; Oliver Miller; Gretta Rippentrop; Jack Rippentrop; Pieter Rippentrop; Rana Saba; Daige Sabin; Nicholas Schieltz; Evan Schmidt; William Seberger; Riley Smith; Kami Thompson; Nicholas Thompson; Jameson Turner; Kaleb Upton; Clara Visser; Carter Wagner; Jeff Wagner; Paige Wehring; Evan Zukin; Renee Zukin; and Shelby Zukin.
City Circle Theatre Company's Newsies runs at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts July 17 through 26, with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Admission is $19-33, and more information and tickets are available by calling (319)248-9370 and visiting CoralvilleArts.org.
