Newsies

An Amazing Theatregoing Experience with spectacular choreography

★★★★★ 25 Jan ’23

As the action explodes into the space, spilling off the stage in this high-octane extravaganza, audiences are transported to the streets of New York City at the turn of the 20th century. Expect gravity-defying stunts performed by an astonishing ensemble, in this rousing true story of teenage newspaper sellers dreaming of a better life far from the hardship of the streets.

This show was quite far out of London in Wembley at the Troubadour Theatre. And whilst it isn’t in London’s West End it probably wouldn’t work in the traditional seating and stage of theatres. The Troubadour Theatre has been renovated to become a thrust stage, with audiences on 3 sides of the theatre, this is important because Newsies is a semi immersive show. This term is unfortunately thrown around more and more often now and sometimes has nothing to do with the show but this was different for Newsies it felt exciting and fresh, I saw it on ‘Disney+’ and the staging of the show is so much better.

The theatre is split into different sections named after different places in New York, Brooklyn, Manhatten, Woodside, Richmond, Flushing and the Bronx. We sat in the front row of Richmond which was a fantastic place to sit and I highly recommend it as lots of the cast danced and walked right past us in the aisles.

This show relies heavily on the Newsboys and the dance, and this ensemble could be the best ensemble in any show on the west end. The level of difficulty in the choreography is so immense, I do not envy the swings which have to learn all of it! There were so many dance numbers and really it was the standout performance of the show. When we went to see the show the child actor Ethan Sokontwe played the role of Les which was a really challenging role and looked like it was so much fun, I especially enjoyed the number ‘King of New York’ in which Les and other members of the cast were tap dancing! What an incredible cast!

The only issue I had with the show was at some points in the show the sound felt washed out, after hearing about it I know this problem has gotten much much better since the first preview. The problem wasn’t with the mixing of the show it was with the sound engineering. In Newsies there is lots of shouting over each other and going from quiet to loud it can sometimes be quite jarring. I think the sound was never perfect but was never so bad that you kept on thinking ‘gosh that’s awful.’

This was great show with high energy, great dancing and a great immersive storyline. WOW just WOW!