Jack Feldman News

As we welcome in 2019 in Southwest Florida, we also welcome in a very full theatre season! From many classic, much-loved Broadway shows to some newer, unique breakout productions, this season has something for everyone. Though there are many, many productions happening this season, check out 9 of the shows (listed by date so you can easily fill your calendar) I know I'm looking forward to in 2019 below.

DISNEY'S NEWSIES opens at Artisan Center Theater on Friday, January 4, 2019 and runs through Saturday, February 9, 2019. The 196 seat theater-in-the-round is located at 444 East Pipeline Road in Hurst. Performances are at 7:30pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with 3:00pm matinees on Saturdays beginning January 12. Reserved seating tickets are $28.00 for adults, $26.00 for students and seniors, and $16.00 for children 12 and under.  Monday through Thursday tickets are $26.00 for adults and $14.00 for children 12 and under. Tickets can be purchased online at ArtisanCT.com, or by calling the box office at 817-284-1200.

The Newsboys are dancing their way to Anchorage January 25th 2019.

Need a last minute gift? Looking for something unique? Give the gift of live theatre with a gift certificate or subscription for Theatre By The Sea! Located on Rhode Island's south shore, Theatre By The Sea presents the best of Broadway all summer long! Gift Certificates and subscriptions are available for any of the following spectacular musicals scheduled for Theatre By The Sea's 2019 Summer Season*

The Alexander Children's Theatre School (ACTS) is proud to be among the first theatre companies in the region to produce MAMMA MIA!, the long-running Broadway musical featuring the hit songs of ABBA. Performances are January 11 at 7:30 pm, January 12 at 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm, and January 13 at 2:00 pm at Cary Hall (1605 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA).

92Y announces more cast names and new creative team members for Lyrics & Lyricists 2019. Under the helm of L&L producer Ted Chapin, the series brings artists from theater and beyond to present original revues featuring award-winning Broadway and cabaret performers illuminating the American Songbook.

92Y announces more cast names and new creative team members for Lyrics & Lyricists 2019. Under the helm of L&L producer Ted Chapin, the series brings artists from theater and beyond to present original revues featuring award-winning Broadway and cabaret performers illuminating the American Songbook.

Stop the press! Midland University Arts brought a newsworthy event to the Kimmel Theatre last night. NEWSIES, The Broadway Musical, opened to an enthusiastic packed house. 'Fake news' has it that the show running through November 11th is nearly sold out. But don't let that stop you. Check out ticket availability and book your seat to see this uplifting, toe tapping production.

While the 1992 movie Newsies received mixed reviews and did not perform well in movie theaters, it developed quite a following as a home movie. The inspirational movie, based loosely on the historical newsboys' strike of 1899, starred Christian Bale as Jack Kelly and David Moscow as David Jacobs. In 2011 Disney Theatrical Productions adapted Newsies for the stage, and it opened on Broadway in 2012, earning eight Tony Award nominations. Disney's Newsies: The Broadway Musical, with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman, and book by Harvey Fierstein, has found its way onto stages in many schools and community theatres, building up a new generation of Newsies fans. With its rousing musical numbers and high-energy dancing, Newsies is sure to bring audiences to their feet. Under the direction of Adam Gustafson and Kyle Weary, Theatre Harrisburg's Newsies opened at the Whitaker Center on November 2nd, when I had the opportunity to view this delightful show.

The Atlanta Lyric Theatre is presenting quite a treat for Atlanta audiences this month.

Music Theatre International Australasia, in partnership with AMICI Trust in New Zealand and producers Shane Bransdon and Daniel Stoddart, founders of OzTheatrics in Australia, and in collaboration with iTheatrics from the United States, will present the third annual Junior Theatre Celebration Australia in Newcastle, Australia on Friday 26th & Saturday 27th October and the second Junior Theatre Celebration New Zealand in Auckland, New Zealand on Friday 2nd & Saturday 3rd November 2018.

For plenty of fast-paced action, along with some stellar performances by a fresh-faced cast of eager young theatrical triple threats and a coterie of Nashville stage favorites, one need look no further than Disney's Newsies, the latest onstage offering from Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, the iconic Music City venue that's been entertaining audiences for more than half a century. In its way, The Barn (as it is affectionately known in these parts) and its laudable history ensure that its treatment of the popular musical theater title lend the show's historical basis more than a little gravitas in the making of a stage spectacle.

Today, The Thursday Five(+1) shines the spotlight on four members of the Chaffin's Barn cast of Newsies - David Ridley, Samantha Blake, Natalie Rankin and Kayla Petrille - who took time out from their rigorous regimen of rehearsals to tell our readers more about themselves and to offer their own suggestions for why you should come see their show, which runs through October 22.

Atlanta Lyric Theatre presents this sparkling, larger than life production October 19-November 4, 2018. After a fabulous run in Gwinnett county, the Lyric is pleased to bring this exciting collaboration with Aurora Theatre to its audiences. Based on the 1992 motion picture, NEWSIES features a score by eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Sister Act) and Jack Feldman and a book by four-time Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein (La Cage aux Folles, Torch Song Trilogy). NEWSIES, performs at the Jennie T. Anderson Theatre (548 South Marietta Pkwy., Marietta). For tickets, reservations and group pricing visit www.AtlantaLyric.com or call 404-377-9948.

Drayton Entertainment will present a knockout playbill in 2019 packed with Broadway blockbusters, hilarious comedies, stirring tributes, fun-filled family musicals and a few more dramas than in previous seasons. Artistic Director Alex Mustakas continues his bid to bring a wide variety of crowd-pleasing productions to the award-winning charitable not-for-profit theatre organization's seven stages throughout Ontario.

The stage is set for a David-versus-Goliath battle as the curtain goes up on a new season at Mercer County Community College's (MCCC's) Kelsey Theatre with "Disney's Newsies The Musical." The award-winning PinnWorth Productions presents this blockbuster musical Todays, Sept. 6 and 13 at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays, Sept. 7 and 14 at 8 p.m.; Saturdays, Sept. 8 and 15 at 8 p.m.; and Sundays, Sept. 9 and 16 at 2 p.m. Kelsey Theatre is located on the college's West Windsor Campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road. A reception with the cast and crew follows the Today and Friday night performances on Sept. 6 and 7.

Theatre By The Sea owner and producer Bill Hanney is proud to announce the 2019 Summer Schedule. In celebration of 86 Years of Theatre By The Sea, the season will include four exciting musicals*, including a pre-Broadway tryout!

Stop the presses! The Warner Stage Company will present Disney's NEWSIES on the Main Stage November 3-11, 2018, sponsored by Thomaston Savings Bank. Set in NYC at the turn of the century, this is the rousing tale of Jack Kelly, a charismatic newsboy and leader of a ragged band of teenaged 'newsies' who dream of only a better life far from the hardship of the streets. The story is inspired by the real-life 'Newsboy Strike of 1899,' when newsboy Kid Blink led a band of orphaned newsies on an action against powerful newspaper publishers. High energy and with non-stop thrills, the stage version introduces eight brand-new songs by the original team of Alan Menken and Jack Feldman while keeping many of the beloved songs from the film. The Warner Stage Company production of Disney's NEWSIES is directed by Richard McKenna with music director Jim Luurtsema, choreographer Sharon W. Houk and associate choreographer Caitlin Nolan Beaudry.

Initial casting has been announced for the Franklin Performing Arts Company's upcoming production of Disney's Newsies running at THE BLACK BOX in Franklin, MA October 13,14 and 19-21. Broadway's Christopher Rice (The Book of Mormon) will star as Jack Kelly, Ali Funkhouser (nat'l tours of Joseph...Dreamcoat and Evita, The LEX's Legally Blonde) will play Katherine Plumber, and Nick Paone (TheaterWorks USA, Cabaret) will appear as Joseph Pulitzer. The production will be choreographed by Broadway cast member Clay Thomson (Newsies, Matilda). Additional casting will be announced at a later date.

The musical Newsies has a score and book begging to be experienced as big, heartfelt, and lovable, with each anthem about the triumph over adversity more emphatic than the next.  This demands a kind of relentless energy from the cast that could easily be lacking in a local production, but Theatre Tulsa comes through with a high-caliber performance of this exhaustingly peppy and upbeat show.