Last Edition: NEWSIES Stars Recall Favorite Memories- Garett Hawe

NEWSIES plays its final performance on Broadway this coming Sunday, August 24, but BroadwayWorld (and the rest of New York, we hope) isn't ready to let the musical leave just yet! Throughout the week, we continue the Newsies love by bringing you favorite memories from a slew of the current and past stars of the show!

GARETT HAWE (Albert, Bill, Ensemble - original cast)

Being a part of Newsies was such a life-changing experience filled with so many memorable moments. If I had to pick just one as my favorite, I would have to say performing on the Tony Awards. It had only been a few months earlier that we were out in New Jersey at Paper Mill Playhouse, wondering if the show would even come to Broadway or not. The entire Tony day was pretty surreal, from the dress rehearsal at 8am, to performing our matinee, and then busing over to the Beacon Theatre for the live event. I'll never forget all of us newsboys huddled around the TV screen in the holding area watching them announce the award for "Best Choreography." As they announced Chris Gattelli's name, we all started screaming and jumping up and down. Chris won the TONY!!!!! The energy, excitement, pride, and love we felt in that moment is something I will always remember. Seconds later, we went onstage to perform Tony Award-winning choreography!

On our opening night on Broadway, our incredible director Jeff Calhoun told us that "these are the good ol' days," and to really cherish them. He couldn't have been more right. I will never forget ALL of the amazing moments I got to share with my newsie brothers. NEWSIES FOREVER!!!

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NEWSIES features a Tony Award-winning score with music by eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken and lyrics by Jack Feldman, with a book by four-time Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein. Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, NEWSIES is directed by Tony nominee Jeff Calhoun and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli, who won a 2012 Tony Award for his work.

When it opened on March 29, 2012, Newsies was intended for a Broadway run of just 101 performances. The show's fiercely devoted fans had other ideas, however: they propelled the show to a run that will total 1005 performances, attendance of more than 1 million and a gross of over $100M. At the time of Newsies' closing, only the landmark musical Rent will have played the Nederlander Theatre longer in its 93 year history.

Set in New York City at the turn of the century, Newsies is the rousing tale of Jack Kelly, a charismatic newsboy and leader of a ragged band of teenaged 'newsies,' who dreams only of a better life far from the hardship of the streets. But when publishing titans Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst raise distribution prices at the newsboys' expense, Jack finds a cause to fight for and rallies newsies from across the city to strike for what's right.