The producers of Disney's Newsies are getting closer to carrying their banner to a prestige venue in London's West End. According to the U.K.'s Daily Mail, Disney is trying to secure either the Piccadilly or the Savoy theaters for the musical's planned spring 2014 transfer. A home could be announced next week.
Set in New York City at the turn of the century, Newsies is the rousing tale of Jack Kelly (Corey Cott), a charismatic newsboy and leader of a ragged band of teenaged 'newsies,' who dreams only of a better life far from the hardship of the streets. But when publishing titans Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst raise distribution prices at the newsboys' expense, Jack finds a cause to fight for and rallies Newsies from across the city to strike for what's right.
Featuring a Tony-winning score with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Jack Feldman, and a book by four-time Tony winner Harvey Fierstein, Newsies is inspired by the real-life "Newsboy Strike of 1899," when newsboy Kid Blink led a band of orphan and runaway Newsies on a two-week-long action against Pulitzer, Hearst and other powerful newspaper publishers.
Newsies, directed by Tony nominee Jeff Calhoun, opened on March 29, 2012 and received eight Tony nominations. The musical went on to become the fastest recouping Broadway show in Disney history. In addition to Cott, Newsies currently stars John Dossett as Joseph Pulitzer, Andy Richardson as Crutchie, Kara Lindsay as Katherine Plumber, Ben Fankhauser as Davey and LaVon Fisher-Wilson as Medda.