Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre’s spectacular Newsies is not only an infectiously entertaining (and unashamedly pro-labor) treat, it showcases a sensational young ensemble singing and dancing up a standing ovation-worthy storm.

Based on the 1992 flick that helped propel Christian Bale to stardom, Disney’s Newsies combines excitement and romance and song and dance set to Alan Menken and Jack Feldman’s eminently hummable Tony-winning score.

Candlelight newcomer Jimmy Saiz is a compelling, charismatic Jack Kelly, the fictional leader of the real-life 1899 New York newsboys’ strike, David to the Goliath represented by newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer (John George Campbell), whose decision to raise the price his “newsies” must pay before selling their “papes” on the streets of NYC prompts Jack and his fellow paper boys to “Seize The Day” and launch a full-fledged strike against the publishing magnate’s New York World.

Along with Jack for the sure-to-be bumpy ride are newbie newsie Davey (James Everts) and his kid brother Les (Levi Gomes), working in tandem to support a disabled father; Crutchie (KC Archer) so named because of his ever-present walking aid; and a ragtag team of scrappy lads who aren’t about to say no to anyone, not even to the country’s most powerful newspaper kingpin.

Harvey Fierstein’s Tony-nominated book takes what worked best in Bob Tzudiker and Noni White’s original screenplay and tweaks it by making its leading lady Katherine Plumber (Elizabeth Curtin) not just Jack’s love interest but the reporter assigned to write about the strike, at the same time keeping the movie’s best songs intact, most notably “Carrying The Banner,” “Santa Fe,” “Seize The Day,” and “The King Of New York,” while factoring in enough new tunes to earn composer Menken his very first Tony statuette.

Candlelight favorite Janet Renslow tops herself not only in her accustomed role as choreographer, but also as the most accomplished of directors, eliciting powerful lead performances and distinctly delineated featured and cameo turns in addition to making RCC Fine & Performing Arts’ moveable scaffolding-based sets almost as much a part of the storytelling as her virtually nonstop dance moves.

Leading man Saiz reinvents Jack as a dynamic, boyish Pitbull of a rabble-rouser with a heart as huge as his biceps, a performance matched by Everts’ big-hearted charmer of a Davey, Gomes’s adorably spunky Les, and Archer’s achingly adorable Crutchie.

RaShonda Johnson is warm and winning as Medda Larkin, the Bowery saloon star who gives Jack safe haven, SoCal newcomer Curtin is as lovely as she is feisty, i.e. everything Katherine should be, and Campbell makes for the most velvet-voiced of villains as the real-life newspaper mogul now best known for his annual prizes.

Triple-threat Newsies Jeffrey Bonser (Finch), Fisher Kaake (Race), Trevor Helms (Elmer), Josh Kurator (Tommy Boy, Scab), Shelby Monson (Jojo, Nun, Bowery Beauty), Shelley O’rourke (Shoelace), Charlie Orozco (Romeo, Spot Conlon), Bailey Day Sonner (Buttons, Scab), Grayson J. Smith (Albert), Conner Stevens (Henry, Bill , Scab), Jenna Stocks (Hannah, Mud, Bowery Beauty, Nun), Anthony Vacio (Specs), Sebastian Twohey-Jacobs (Mush, Darcy), and Racheal Yeomans (Bowery Beauty, Trax, Nun) execute choreographer Renslow’s leaps and spins and somersaults and grand jetés that so expertly, effortlessly, and indefatigably, you’d think they were Broadway pros. (By having female cast members double as younger Newsies in addition to playing Nuns and Bowery Beauties, Renslow makes production numbers even more spectacular.)

Completing the multi-talented cast are Bobby Collins and Matthew Ollson as tough-guy Delancey Brothers Oscar and Morris along with Greg Nicholas (Governor Roosevelt, Nunzio), Harrison Schultz (Bunsen), Matt Shuster (Snyder, Seitz), and Jim Skousen (Wiesel, Mr. Jacobi, Stage Manager, Mayor), all of whom vocalize to perfection under Kevin Gasio’s expert musical direction. (As always, Candlelight Pavilion’s richly amplified prerecorded tracks prove the next best thing to a live orchestra.)

Aspen Rogers of 4Wall Entertainment lights Newsies with abundant pizzazz and flash, costumes (provided by The Theatre Company and coordinated by Mark Gamez) are as good as it gets as are Michon Gruber-Gonzales’ wigs, and when the boys get into tussling, credit John Paul Batista for some rip-roaring fight choreography.

Caleb Shiba is stage manager. O’Rourke and Stocks are dance captains. Vacio is fight captain.

 One of the best Newsies I’ve seen (and that includes its all-Equity National Tour), Candlelight Pavilion’s latest is an all-around triumph for its director-choreographer, cast, and creative crew alike.

Candlelight Pavilion, 455 W. Foothill Blvd., Claremont.
www.candlelightpavilion.com

–Steven Stanley
October 20, 2019
Photos: Demetrios Katsantonis

Tags: Alan Menken, Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre, Harvey Fierstein, Jack Feldman, Los Angeles Theater Review