Review: NEWSIES at Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre

Dutch Apple Dinner Theater has scooped the competition, with their latest production, Disney’s Newsies.  Filled with excellent singing and dancing, Newsies is a sweet, summer treat on the Lancaster stage.

Matt Henningsen stars as Jack Kelly, an orphaned teen who makes a living delivering “the papes” in the early  years of 20th century, New York City.  Henningsen has a lot of spunk, and has a quirky way of delivering his lines that added a little extra to his character’s uniqueness and likability. He is also a vibrant dancer and excellent singer on numbers such as Santa Fe and Something to Believe In.

Jack has many pals including the sympathetic Crutchie (Gabriel Manuel) and optimistic, Davey (Kylan Ross).  My favorite newsie was the tagalong pipsqueak, Les (played alternatively by Brodie Kennedy and Adam Sweeney).  With a small stature, and a big attitude, it is easy to see that “Les is more”!

 Katherine Lindsley plays Katherine Plumber, an aspiring journalist who writes about the plight on the newsies and has a soft spot for Jack.  Lindsley is very good both as both an actress and vocalist.  Her character holds some of her cards to her chest, and we see more and more of her true self as the story unfolds.

Victor Legarreta is having a ball as the villain of the piece, the greedy Joseph Pulitzer.  He is the man we love to hate.  I recently reviewed Titanic at the Fulton, and the audience gave that show’s villain well-deserved boos at curtain call.  It would have been fun if the Dutch Apple audience had done something similar to appropriately recognize and reward Legarreta at the conclusion of the show.

Kudos to Ford Hauser, who served double duty as both director and choreographer.  The pace of the show was breezy, and kept the audience engaged.  Choreography was energetic, vibrant, and a lot of fun to watch. 

Lastly, my admiration and compliments to the two women who served as sign language interpreters for this particular performance.  Their enthusiastic gestures, body movements, and facial expressions were appreciated not only by patrons with hearing impairments, but others without, like myself, that found their efforts fascinating and entertaining, yet never distracting.

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