Seizing the Day (and My Heart) - Newsies, a review

To a casual observer, a show centered around a strike for unfair pay and general working conditions is a bit too on the nose when you consider what is happening all around the world right now.

But I say, this is exactly what we need right now. 

If you're not paying attention, here in the UK we have had junior doctors strike, train drivers strike, teachers strike; you name the profession, there's undoubtedly been talk of a strike at some stage in the past few years, if not an actual strike. In America, actors and writers and anybody behind the scenes of our favourite television shows and films are banding together to demand fair payment for the undeniable contributions they have made. 

We are living in a time where people are finally realising their worth, finally seeing that the hand they have got is not the one they need to settle for, and finally waking up to the fact that the work they do is not appreciated like it should be.  It's like a game of Monopoly, where the richest hold all the cards, and the rest of us are just traipsing around the board, trying not to get screwed but finding ourselves screwed on every square all the same. 

There's one line in Newsies which I feels echoes this very sentiment, and summarises perfectly this new dawn of people rising up and claiming their rights to a fair and square deal, no matter what profession they work in. 

"The world will feel the fire and finally know." 

What this show does an absolutely brilliant job of showing is that even the smallest person can change the course of history, and when you have a worthy cause, it's all the more reason to fight and not sit back and let your rights get taken away, or walked all over.

Newsies is a show I fell in love with back in February. I was determined to see it again so I took a trip to see it on it's penultimate show day. When the music started, and the first of the cast made their way to the stage, I was reminded instantly why it's such an amazing show.

The whole show is very immersive, with the seating at the Wembley Park Theatre all around the stage. The cast make the most of making sure the audience are part of the action, and you are instantly drawn in. There's no ifs, ands or buts. Newsies steals the show from the very first scene.

Of course, I could write paragraphs and paragraphs about the choreography alone. It is meticulously planned so that you could watch the show a thousand times, and still have someone or something different to focus on in every scene. Each cast member delivers a powerful performance, from the excitement at starting work for the day in the song Carrying the Banner, to the thrill of getting a moment of fame in King of New York, to the anger at being walked all over in The World Will Know. 

I think the main take away from Newsies is it's a plucky little musical but with big heart and big songs, with dance numbers that had the audience cheering after every single song. There are probably only a handful of musicals that have been able to achieve this affect. 

What also works really well is how the stage is managed during scene changes. There's never a lull moment, even during the quieter, more solemn moments. I always do try and take in everything in a show anyway, because I think it's crucial to acknowledge all the behind-the-scenes cast as well as the ones you see and hear on the stage, but I do think Newsies is a musical that you can't help but marvel at everything, from the choreography, to the props and scenery itself; from the musical arrangement, to the lighting and everything else in between. No one player stands alone in making this a triumph.

Michael Ahomka-Lindsay and Lindsay Atherton were the key players in this show, playing Jack Kelly and Katherine Plumber respectively. Their chemistry was perfect, and both delivered powerful performances. I would also like to pay tribute to Ryan Kopel, who played Davey, because he demonstrated the transformation of Davey from just someone who was trying to make a living to support his parents, to a key figure in getting the Newsies union formed and up and running with Jack Kelly, and it was a sublime performance.

As I say, there was no weak performer amongst the cast. I could just rave for days and days about the cast who played the rest of the Newsies, because the sheer energy they had, and the enthusiasm they showed at every moment of the show, was infectious. I saw people bopping along to every tune, and grinning along with every interaction, however minor, they shared with the cast. 

It's a rare thing to find a new musical that sits and fits in your heart so well. Newsies delivers not only newspapers, but joy, hope, and the message that if your cause is worthy, and you can rally enough people to it, you can achieve anything, and this is why despite how doom-and-gloom the world seems at the moment, I still have hope for a better tomorrow. I can't not give this musical five stars for that alone. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐