The inspirational, award-winning Broadway musical Newsies is coming to Victoria this April, bringing a blend of energetic, large-scale choreography, classic music, and deep themes of empowerment to the McPherson Playhouse. For director Kayvon Khoshkam, the opportunity to direct Newsies is a chance to combine dance, music, and timeless activism all at once.
Set during the 1889 New York newsboy strike, Newsies follows a band of young newspaper sellers led by the charismatic and rebellious Jack Kelly, an older paperboy. Kelly and his crew begin a movement to unite the newsboys of the city against unfair price hikes placed by powerful publisher Joseph Pulitzer.
Despite the New York paperboy strike being over a century ago, Khoshkam believes that the event and its theatrical rendition maintain relevance today.
“I grew up watching the original movie,” says Khoshkam. “A lot of people my age watched this film a lot growing up as a kid, and it was very empowering to see a story about a group of young people standing up to power, speaking truth to power, and win. That was something very exciting as a young person to watch a story about young people standing up to the to the powers that be and win the battle like that.”
Khoshkam also believes that reviving this tale to the stage is not only an opportunity to combine athletics, theatrical joy, and a powerful message but also a chance to educate Victoria residents on the 1889 strike.
“I don’t really know if the newsboys strike of 1899 in New York is broadly understood or known in the world today,” he says. “If you were to say, you know, the crash of Wall Street… They will go, yeah, I’ve heard of that. But if I said, well, what about the newsboy strike of 1899, I think I’d probably get a lot of blank stares. Historically, the story we’re telling might be an incredibly new one for audiences with some information that they weren’t aware of, and it might interest them to find out that we’re actually telling the events of a true story, something that really happened to some young people. In terms of the existing fan base, I hope that we do them justice and they love the show and it does all the things that Newsies is very well known for in terms of the electric energy, the dynamic movement, the beautiful songs, the feistiness of the strike.”
The production is also going to be unique as there will be a large number of actors on stage. This harkens back to the original Disney film adaptation, which prominently featured giant dance scenes, giving both old and new viewers a wow factor.
“If you’re going to a production of an arts club production, a Bard on the Beach production, whichever in North America, these companies can’t afford to put more than 10 to 14 people on stage at any given time,” says Khoshkam. “It’s just too expensive for them to have that many bodies hired. So, an opportunity for an audience to come to the theatre and see between 30 and 35 people on stage at one time, telling a story together, dancing and singing together at that level, is quite unique and it’s an opportunity not to be passed on.”
Newsies
Various times and days,
Friday, April 17 to
Saturday, April 25
Various prices,
McPherson Playhouse
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