(Kenny Ortega, US 1992, 121 min., DCP)
On the fifteenth anniversary of the premiere of the Newsies stage show, this is the film musical that started it all. Detailing the historic newsboys’ strike of 1899, newsies are required to buy the papers from the publisher before flooding the streets to sell them to the public. When publisher Joseph Pulitzer (Robert Duvall) raises those prices, newsies Jack, David, and Les (Christian Bale, David Moscow, and Luke Edwards) decide to hit back with a strike, galvanizing newsboys across the city. Threatened by strikebreakers and threats of orphanages, the boys’ only chance may be through the work of reporter Bryan Denton (Bill Pullman), who takes an interest in the boys’ struggle. With songs by Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin), this little musical-that-could will have you singing as you exit the theater.