Seize the Day – Newsies

However, that really didn’t detract too much from my enjoyment. The cast and the audience were both very enthusiastic, so there was an energy in the theatre that is always fun to be part of. The cast were also all very talented and the dance numbers especially were a joy to watch.

Of course I had to compare how the show differed from the film version, and there were several changes I enjoyed and some that made a bit less sense to me. I greatly appreciated the cutting of Medda’s two songs from the film, and the one she has here, “That’s Rich”, is fine – it’s not great, but it’s not awful either. I also was glad to see the character of Sarah was gone, though I did find Katherine a bit too modern for the story. Her big number, “Watch What Happens”, just had a very modern feel to it, the way she’s back and forth between confidence and self-doubt and the language she uses, it just didn’t ring true to the time. I understand that she’s meant to be a modern woman for the time, but she just felt too modern for a show that is set 120 years ago.

Jack’s character has also been altered quite a bit. They’ve removed most of the references to Davey’s family life, so there’s not really any mention of Jack yearning for that kind of life. Instead, he’s a natural artist who paints sets for Medda’s theatre. That came a little bit out of left field, I thought. The really big surprise though was the deal that Jack struck with Pulitzer at the end – it’s much more of a compromise than in the film, and I thought might be a bit complicated for some of the show’s younger viewers to follow.

The Pulitzer character has been give a song, and I found him a bit more sympathetic than in the film, where he just comes across as a bit crazy. The Denton character is gone, also replaced by Katherine, which does help to streamline things but I missed the rapport he had with the boys.

There are also several big changes in the songs. The big ones are all there – Santa Fe, Carrying the Banner, Seize the Day and King of New York – but they are all changed in some way, and some more than others. The lyrics to Santa Fe are almost completely new, again eliminating any mention of Jack wanting a family. The lyrics for Seize the Day have also changed, and not necessarily improved. I also felt the music for that song wasn’t quite as powerful as in the film. They’ve added a whole new section to Once and For All that doesn’t really improve it either. The duet for Jack and Katherine, Something to Believe In, is nice enough but nothing special – it was that point that my eyes started to droop a bit, but I’ll blame the jet lag rather than what was happening on stage. 🙂

Overall the show works hard to retain the charm that made the film such a fan favourite, and for the most part it succeeds. The dance numbers are really fun to watch, and the rest is quite enjoyable as well. I think I’ll still have a special place in my heart for the film, but the show has offered a slightly different take on it, and I’m glad to have seen it.