Berkshire on Stage

Every millennial theatre kid seems to have a Disney movie that became part of their personality. For me, it was Newsies. Long before Broadway transformed it into a Tony Award-winning musical, there was the 1992 film; a movie that, despite its infamous box-office flop, clawed its way into cult classic status through years of cable reruns and VHS wear. (Not to mention starred a singing, tap-dancing Christian Bale, which still feels like a fact from an alternate universe.) It introduced an entire generation to Alan Menken’s soaring score, impossibly athletic choreography, and the idea that ordinary young people could accomplish extraordinary things simply by standing together. It wasn’t just entertainment; it was an invitation to believe that your voice mattered, even if that voice belonged to a barefoot kid hawking papers on a street corner.

More than thirty years later, that invitation still feels remarkably relevant. The Mac-Haydn Theatre‘s production of Newsies captures the heart and optimism that have made the musical endure, while reminding audiences that stories about hope, solidarity, and speaking truth to power never really go out of style. If anything, watching this story unfold in such close quarters, with dancers close enough to feel the breeze of their leaps, only sharpens how immediate and physical this piece of theatre really is.

Based on the true Newsboys’ Strike of 1899, Newsies follows Jack Kelly (Jared Goodwin), a charismatic newsboy who dreams of escaping the poverty of New York City for a better life out West, sketching cowboys and desert landscapes in the margins of his life like a man drawing his own escape route. When publishing magnate Joseph Pulitzer (Steve Hassmer) raises the price newsboys must pay for their papers, Jack reluctantly becomes the reluctant face of a movement that grows from a scrappy corner protest into a citywide strike capable of shutting down the presses of New York’s most powerful men.

Along the way, Jack finds unlikely allies: a wisecracking, ambitious young reporter with her own agenda, a crutch-bound kid with more courage than his frame would suggest, and a found family of boys who have nothing to their names but each other. He discovers the value of community over individual ambition, and learns that changing the world often begins not with grand speeches but with the simple, terrifying courage to stand still when everyone expects you to run.

Director/Choreographer Kaitlyn Frank keeps the story moving at an energetic, almost breathless pace, allowing the production’s infectious enthusiasm to propel the audience through the evening rather than letting the show’s more melodramatic bones show through. Scene transitions blur into dance breaks and back again with a fluidity that keeps the show feeling less like a series of numbers and more like a single, sustained burst of momentum.

One of the more welcome departures from the original film is the expanded relationship between Jack and Katherine (Tzintli Cerda). On screen, Katherine barely registers as more than a plot device; here, she’s given room to be sharp, funny, and genuinely torn between ambition and conscience. Rather than feeling like an unnecessary romantic addition bolted onto a labor story, their partnership develops naturally. One built on banter, mutual respect, and the slow recognition that they’re each hiding something from the other. Cerda plays Katherine with a brisk, no-nonsense energy that never tips into caricature, and her chemistry with Goodwin’s Jack gives the show an emotional throughline that grounds the larger, noisier story of collective action without ever overshadowing it.

Alan Menken’s score continues to be one of Disney’s finest theatrical achievements, and this cast clearly knows it. Numbers like “Carrying the Banner,” “King of New York,” and the exhilarating “Seize the Day” still have the remarkable ability to leave audiences grinning long after the curtain falls. There’s a particular electricity that runs through the ensemble during “Seize the Day,” when the full company crowds the stage and the harmonies stack on top of each other like they’re building something structural rather than just musical. Even decades after first hearing them, these songs retain an infectious energy that makes it nearly impossible not to tap your foot (or quietly, involuntarily, mouth along to lyrics you didn’t realize you still had memorized).

Of course, Newsies lives or dies by its choreography, and for the most part, this production rises to the occasion. The athleticism of the ensemble is genuinely impressive. With flips, aerial spins, and tap breaks executed on a stage with none of the forgiving depth of a proscenium house, which makes the precision on display even more remarkable. The dance sequences are executed with commitment and seemingly boundless energy, and there’s a real sense of joy radiating off the performers that becomes contagious by the second act.

At times, however, the choreography feels more like a spectacular showcase than an organic extension of the storytelling. A handful of transitions into dance feel more obligatory than inevitable, as though the show is pausing to remind the audience it can dance rather than letting the movement grow naturally out of a character’s emotional state. It’s a minor criticism in an otherwise exhilarating evening, but one worth noting in a musical where movement is meant to function as its own form of dialogue.

The company itself is uniformly strong, but a few performers linger in the memory well after the final bow. As Crutchie, Jacob Atkins delivers one of the evening’s most heartfelt performances. Rather than reducing the character to comic relief or easy sentimentality, Atkins finds the quiet humanity that makes Crutchie the emotional center of the story. His sincerity lends additional weight to the stakes of the strike, and his performance serves as a gentle reminder that courage often belongs to those who appear least equipped to fight, physically or otherwise. Ashley D. Kelley is equally memorable as Medda Larkin. Bringing warmth, confidence, and undeniable stage presence to every appearance, Kelley creates a Medda who is both larger than life and deeply compassionate. She embodies the character’s role as a champion of dreamers while delivering exactly the sort of magnetic charisma the role demands, turning what could be a brief specialty number into one of the night’s genuine highlights. Among the supporting company, Kevin Egan proves to be an unexpected scene-stealer. Appearing in multiple ensemble roles (including Wiesel, Seitz, and Bill), Egan demonstrates remarkable versatility, creating distinct, fully realized characters out of what often amounts to only a few moments of stage time each. It’s the kind of performance theatre lovers particularly appreciate: one actor quietly elevating every scene he’s dropped into, never asking for the spotlight but earning it anyway.

If there is one area where the production occasionally works against itself, it lies in its technical presentation. The sound mix (Sean McGinley), particularly during larger ensemble numbers, often overwhelms the performers, with the orchestra occasionally swallowing lyrics whole during the show’s biggest anthems. Rather than allowing the audience to appreciate the nuances of individual voices and quieter emotional moments, the overall volume can become distracting, flattening dynamic range in numbers that would benefit from more breathing room. Similarly, the lighting design (Andrew Gmoser) frequently favors a consistently intense visual palette. While effective in establishing atmosphere and urgency, it rarely varies enough to give quieter scenes the contrast they deserve, so that a hushed, one-on-one conversation between two characters can end up lit with nearly the same intensity as a full-company dance number.

These observations never overshadow what the Mac-Haydn accomplishes so well. It understands that Newsies is ultimately less about newspapers than it is about hope. It is about ordinary people discovering that their voices matter when they choose to raise them together, and about the particular alchemy that happens when a room full of strangers watches that discovery happen in real time.

For many millennials, Newsies was never simply another Disney movie. It was the musical that convinced us to memorize choreography in our living rooms, to belt “Santa Fe” far too dramatically into hairbrush microphones, and to believe that standing up for what is right was worth the effort, even when success seemed impossible. It quietly encouraged a generation to seize the day, and it’s still doing that work three decades later.

If this production inspires even one young theatre lover to dream a little bigger, sing a little louder, or discover the magic of live performance for the first time, then these newsies have already accomplished exactly what they set out to do.

Mac-Hayden Theatre presents Newsies: The Broadway Musical. Music by Alan Menken, Lyrics by Jack Feldman and Book by Harvey Fierstein. Directed and Choreographed by Kaitlyn Frank, Associate Director/Choreographer John T. Wolfe, Music Director Evelyn Tomaro, Costume Design by Sam Landy, Scenic Design by Alivia Cross, Lighting Design by Andrew Gmoser, Sound Design by Sean McGinley, Technical Direction by Cody Kane, Props Design by Chloe Wiederhorn and Hair and Make-up Design by Summer McCormack.

Starring Jared Goodwin as Jack Kelly, Jacob Adkins as Crutchie, Law Peachy-Williams as Race, Ricky Dobbs as Albert, Aubrey Dunbar as Specs, Grace Maudlin as Henry, Jack Gemmell as Finch, Todd Turner as Elmer, Anthony Michael Valez as Romeo, Jessica Cerreta as Mush, Wild Handel, Noah Hassmer, Emma Leyhane, Emmett Mazurowski, Riley O’Kane, Remy Orth, Arlo Pagnani, and Abby Scharoun as Newsies/Scabs, Tzintli Cerda as Katherine, Hudson Brown as Darcy/Bunsen/Snyder, Will Forrest as Morris Delancey, Bryce Williamson as Oscar Delancey, Kevin Egan as Wiesel/Seitz/Bill, Logan Pavia as Davey, Dev O’Leary as Les, Steve Hassmer as Joseph Pulitzer, Nina Laing as Hannah, Ashley D. Kelley as Medda Larkin, Michael Daly as Mr. Jacobi/Mayor/Governor Roosevelt. 

Performances are Thursday, July 23 – Sunday, August 9. Tickets are available online or in-person at the box office. https://www.machaydntheatre.org/2026-season. Run-time approximately 2 hours with one intermission.