Paramount Theatre Announces 2019-20 Opener NEWSIES

Want good news?

Then you want Newsies - refreshing, inspirational, a huge feel-good show for the whole family, and the perfect opener for the ninth Broadway Series at Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora.

Newsies starts previews on September 4. Press opening is Friday, September 13 at 8 p.m. Performances run through October 20: Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Thursday at 7 p.m.; Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at

3 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Single tickets are $36 to $74.

For tickets, visit ParamountAurora.com, call (630) 896-6666, or stop by the Paramount box office Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.Newsies is suggested for ages 8 and up due to some adult language and mild violence.

Note: Paramount now offers live, real-time ASL interpretation for patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing at one performance of each Broadway Series production.

Newsies will be presented with live ASL interpretation on Friday, October 18 at 8 p.m. Patrons can purchase $30 tickets with special seating for this performance with the code ASLPARAMOUNT. Or, ask the box office about a $90 subscription package to all four ASL interpreted Broadway Series performances during the 2019-20 season.

Newsies is the rousing, Disney family musical ripped straight from the headlines about newsboys who take on a greedy news tycoon. High in the skyscrapers of New York City, Joseph Pulitzer is plotting a way to increase the revenue of his declining newspaper. Meanwhile, down in the streets, scrappy newsboys hawking Pulitzer's paper are barely making enough to survive. When Pulitzer raises the price of the paper, charismatic delivery boy Jack Kelly organizes a strike to show the tycoon and his cronies they're not going to be pushed into the gutter.

Newsies - based on the popular 1992 Disney movie, which in turn was inspired by the real-life Newsboys Strike of 1899 in New York City - is packed with unforgettable songs, including "The World Will Know," "Seize the Day" and "King of New York." The stage version was first presented by Disney Theatrical Productions on Broadway in 2012, where it ran for more than 1,000 performances before touring.

It's no surprise Newsies was nominated for eight Tony Awards, winning Best Choreography and Best Score, given its music is by Alan Menken, the eight-time Oscar-winning musical genius behind some of the most popular Disney films of all time including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdinand Pocahontas. Lyrics are by Jack Feldman. Book is by Harvey Fierstein, based on the film's screenplay by Bob Tzudiker and Noni White.

i??Jim Corti, artistic director at Paramount, tops the masthead of Newsies. Corti directed last season's smash hit The Producers, along with staging three consecutive Jeff Award winners for Best Production-Musical-Large (Les Misérables, West Side Story and Sweeney Todd) and winning Best Director for two (Les Misérables and Sweeney Todd.)

"What I'm really attracted to is the hard knock story of it. Why these boys had to strike. What caused the strike. I don't think people leave Newsies thinking about that," said Corti. "We're going to find a way to make these kids more credible. To make them real street kids. Making that conflict more palpable is what I hope to do with our production, and I think audiences are going to be cheering all the more for these guys when we can capture what they are going through."

Paramount's principal cast for Newsies is Alex Prakken as Jack Kelly,Michael Kurowski as Crutchie, Koray Tarhan as Davey, Justine Cameronas Katherine, Bret Tuomi as Joseph Pulitzer and Jerica Exum as Medda (September 4-October 7).

i??The ensemble is Tom Bentsen, Katherine Lee Bourné (also playing Medda Larkin, October 9-20), Joe Capstick, Grant Carriker, Kevin Corbett, Ann Delaney, Jordan De Leon, Vasily Deris, Evan C. Dolan, Ryan Dooley,Michael Ehlers, Neil Lee Friedman, John Gurdian, Luke Halpern,Christopher John Kelley, Ivory Leonard IV, Jarais Musgrove, Nich O'Neil, Jessica Palkovic, Drew Porrett, Haley Jane Schafer (October 9-20), Ken Singleton, Jonny Stein and Travis Austin Wright. Young performers are Nate Buescher and Daniel Font-Wilets double cast as Les.

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