Welcome back to my 'And the Tony Almost Went to...' series, where I take a deep dive into a show that was the (likely) runner-up in the Best Musical race of any previous Tony Awards year. This year, Christopher Gattelli has received two nominations for My Fair Lady and SpongeBob SquarePants in the category of Best Choreography. Today, we'll be looking back at the show that made Gattelli a household name in the theatre world as well as its success at the Tonys (and like one of this year's Best Musical nominees, Frozen, it came from Disney).
Based on Disney's 1992 live action movie musical of the same name, which in turn was inspired by the real-life newsboys strike of 1899 in New York City, Newsies tells the captivating story of a band of underdogs who become unlikely heroes when they stand up to the most powerful men in New York. When titans of publishing raise distribution prices at the newsboys’ expense, their leader, Jack Kelly, rallies newsies from across the city to strike against the unfair conditions and fight for what's right.
The original movie opened in theaters on April 10th, 1992 where it was an initial box office flop earning 5 Razzie Award nominations (including Worst Picture of the Year), but had since then developed a cult following after being released on home video. Much to the demand of 'Fansies', a stage adaptation premiered at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey on September 25th, 2011. Originally, Newsies was developed as something that could be legally licensed to schools and community theatres, but it was such a huge success at Paper Mill, that Disney decided to bring the show to Broadway, but only for a limited run. Newsies then opened on March 29th, 2012 at the Nederlander Theatre. The original cast included Jeremy Jordan as Jack Kelly, Kara Lindsay as Katherine, Ben Fankhauser as Davey, Andrew Keenan-Bolger as Crutchie, John Dossett as Joseph Pulitzer, and Capathia Jenkins as Medda Larkin.
As the production was proving to be just as (if not, more) successful as its world premiere, Newsies then became an open-ended run. The show received 8 Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Lead Actor in a Musical (Jeremy Jordan), Best Direction of a Musical (Jeff Calhoun), Best Book of a Musical (Harvey Fierstein), Best Original Score (Alan Menken & Jack Feldman)*, Best Choreography (Christopher Gattelli)*, Best Orchestrations (Danny Troob), and Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Tobin Ost & Sven Ortel).
*denotes an award it won.
Going into the Tonys that year, it looked as if Newsies was going to win Best Musical. Especially if you look at previous years when the commercial hit would win over the more accomplished piece like The Phantom of the Opera winning over Into the Woods, Crazy for You winning over Falsettos, Thoroughly Modern Millie winning over Urinetown, Spamalot winning over The Light in the Piazza, and Memphis winning over Fela!. However, along came a small intimate show that's simply known as...
The original movie opened in theaters on April 10th, 1992 where it was an initial box office flop earning 5 Razzie Award nominations (including Worst Picture of the Year), but had since then developed a cult following after being released on home video. Much to the demand of 'Fansies', a stage adaptation premiered at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey on September 25th, 2011. Originally, Newsies was developed as something that could be legally licensed to schools and community theatres, but it was such a huge success at Paper Mill, that Disney decided to bring the show to Broadway, but only for a limited run. Newsies then opened on March 29th, 2012 at the Nederlander Theatre. The original cast included Jeremy Jordan as Jack Kelly, Kara Lindsay as Katherine, Ben Fankhauser as Davey, Andrew Keenan-Bolger as Crutchie, John Dossett as Joseph Pulitzer, and Capathia Jenkins as Medda Larkin.
As the production was proving to be just as (if not, more) successful as its world premiere, Newsies then became an open-ended run. The show received 8 Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Lead Actor in a Musical (Jeremy Jordan), Best Direction of a Musical (Jeff Calhoun), Best Book of a Musical (Harvey Fierstein), Best Original Score (Alan Menken & Jack Feldman)*, Best Choreography (Christopher Gattelli)*, Best Orchestrations (Danny Troob), and Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Tobin Ost & Sven Ortel).
*denotes an award it won.
Going into the Tonys that year, it looked as if Newsies was going to win Best Musical. Especially if you look at previous years when the commercial hit would win over the more accomplished piece like The Phantom of the Opera winning over Into the Woods, Crazy for You winning over Falsettos, Thoroughly Modern Millie winning over Urinetown, Spamalot winning over The Light in the Piazza, and Memphis winning over Fela!. However, along came a small intimate show that's simply known as...
Why Didn't Newsies Win?: According to the New York Times, for all the popularity that Newsies enjoyed with audiences, "a majority of Tony voters surveyed said that Once had more artistic innovation, with inventive staging by John Tiffany and melancholy mood from the writer Enda Walsh pushing the form of musical theater more than the traditionally structured Newsies does. Several tour presenters also said that Newsies didn’t need their Tony votes to guarantee ticket sales on the road because the show already had an appealing brand name — its producer, Disney — that would draw audiences."
For a while, it was believed that a majority of Tony voters were out-of-town producers who present national touring productions at their venues. Though a few years ago, it was revealed that the road vote only makes up about 10% of the voting bloc. So in recent years, we've been seeing the more accomplished piece winning over the commercial hit like A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder winning over Aladdin & Beautiful, and Fun Home winning over An American in Paris. It seems that since Newsies was already guaranteed to have a successful life beyond Broadway, voters probably felt that it didn't need the Tony while Once needed the recognition more. The latter show ended up leading the nominations with 11. Once won 8 awards for Best Musical, Best Lead Actor in a Musical (Steve Kazee), Best Direction of a Musical (John Tiffany), Best Book of a Musical (Enda Walsh), Best Orchestrations (Martin Lowe), Best Sound Design of a Musical (Clive Goodwin), Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Natasha Katz), and Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Bob Crowley).
Since then, Newsies went on to have continuous success with a two-year run on Broadway, a national tour, a proshot that was a hit with Fathom Events, and is currently a popular choice for high schools, community, and regional theatres to produce. Meanwhile, Once, despite being adapted from an Irish independent movie that was mostly obscure to mainstream audiences, became much more commercially successful than initially anticipated. It ran for nearly three years on Broadway, has been out on tour, and is currently a popular choice for regional theatres to produce. In hindsight, it's clear that Newsies didn't really need the Tony at all. Had Once lost, it probably wouldn't have had the extended life that it went on to receive.
For a while, it was believed that a majority of Tony voters were out-of-town producers who present national touring productions at their venues. Though a few years ago, it was revealed that the road vote only makes up about 10% of the voting bloc. So in recent years, we've been seeing the more accomplished piece winning over the commercial hit like A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder winning over Aladdin & Beautiful, and Fun Home winning over An American in Paris. It seems that since Newsies was already guaranteed to have a successful life beyond Broadway, voters probably felt that it didn't need the Tony while Once needed the recognition more. The latter show ended up leading the nominations with 11. Once won 8 awards for Best Musical, Best Lead Actor in a Musical (Steve Kazee), Best Direction of a Musical (John Tiffany), Best Book of a Musical (Enda Walsh), Best Orchestrations (Martin Lowe), Best Sound Design of a Musical (Clive Goodwin), Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Natasha Katz), and Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Bob Crowley).
Since then, Newsies went on to have continuous success with a two-year run on Broadway, a national tour, a proshot that was a hit with Fathom Events, and is currently a popular choice for high schools, community, and regional theatres to produce. Meanwhile, Once, despite being adapted from an Irish independent movie that was mostly obscure to mainstream audiences, became much more commercially successful than initially anticipated. It ran for nearly three years on Broadway, has been out on tour, and is currently a popular choice for regional theatres to produce. In hindsight, it's clear that Newsies didn't really need the Tony at all. Had Once lost, it probably wouldn't have had the extended life that it went on to receive.