‘Disney’s Newsies’ Opens at The Playhouse (Wed., 2/22/23)

DISNEY’S NEWSIES (musical) by Alan Menken, Jack Feldman, and Harvey Fierstein, from the Disney film. February 22 – 26. Pittsburgh Playhouse Conservatory Theatre. 

Maggie Reed plays Katherine Plumber in the Playhouse’s production of Disney’s ‘Newsies.’

Is there a better place than Pittsburgh to see a musical about labor history? Disney’s Newsies (aka Newsies The Musical) is drawn from the 1992 movie, which in turn was based on the New York City newsboys’ strike of 1899. Afternoon dailies back then were sold mainly by young folks—including girls—who paid up front for a bundle of papers, then had to peddle them on the streets until they cleared a profit. When a couple of big publishers made this tough job tougher by raising the cost to the newsies, the newsies struck for better terms. And won. The Newsies musical, with a book by Harvey Fierstein, has fictional elements but is said to stay closer to how things happened than the film did. Characters include Joseph Pulitzer, Theodore Roosevelt, and of course the heroes, the teenaged strike leaders. Pittsburgh Playhouse Conservatory Theatre presents Disney’s Newsies at 350 Forbes Ave., Downtown. 7:30 p.m. (M.V)  

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