A 60-minute synthesis of the cult musical, Newsies, which is based on a 1992 film and inspired by the real-life newsboy strike of 1899 in New York City, is about to take the stage in Canberra for the first time.  

Newsies Jr. is about the newsboys (and very occasionally girls) who spruiked and sold the papers then found themselves up against the assembled might of the Hearst and Pulitzer empires, who were attempting to cut costs by ripping off the boys’ meagre profits.

The book by Harvey Fierstein, backed up with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Jack Feldman, tells the story of newsboy Jack Kelly and all the other kids who rose up in protest against unfair treatment.

The musical’s 45 characters will be performed by 25 young people from dance schools around Canberra and is directed by voice teacher, Dianna Nixon, the managing director of Music Theatre Projects. 

Newsies Jr. will be the first production for PATH (Performing After Training Hard), a program aimed at exposing young artists-in-training from the region to professional main-stage modes of working.

Nixon even managed to get in one of Australia’s top casting directors, Lauren Wiley, to attend auditions and give advice.

The show’s elaborate choreography will be supervised by Helen Linkenbagh, of Ballet Canberra, and the design is by her partner, Martin Thomas, who previously worked for seven years at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, who has come up with a slot-together set that can be wheeled around, with a backdrop evoking the NYC streetscape.

“I couldn’t have done it if they hadn’t come back,” Nixon says, explaining that Linkenbagh is originally from Cooma and that they have returned for family reasons. 

When I visit Nixon’s office in Dickson, crammed with costumes and bundles of newspapers, she tells me they had an intensive session in July where scripts were handed out 

“We created a really fast process,” she adds, “so when they came back again in September they were almost all off-book.”

Newsies, Nixon says, is famous among young people for its individualised characters and almost acrobatic style of dance. 

The Jr. version, she believes, is “quite a good distillation of the original”.

There are lots of parts for the young newsies, including what Nixon calls her “fire brigade”, a group of year 9-12 students who didn’t get featured roles but who play multiple roles and add beef to the vocals from an off-stage booth.

“They’re really getting stretched,” she says.

The season will be an intensive one at the Street Theatre, two of whose venues Nixon has booked out for several weeks.

“A school production doesn’t give people any idea of what it’s like doing eight shows a week,” she says, “we’re only doing six shows but that will give them a bit of an idea.”

The material may look historical, set in 1899, but she believes it speaks eloquently to our time. 

In a coup for Nixon, Jack the hero, played by 18-year-old professional actor Jamie Rogers, who originally studied dance in Pialligo and who drew attention for playing Billy Elliot the Musical in the the Australian touring production. He’ll act as mentor to the younger cast members. 

The show is quite an undertaking, with a huge number of costumes overlooked by one parent supervisor, but helped by CIT work-placement students.

Luckily, Linkenbagh’s school has a big repository of costumes and, in any case, the newsies need to look scruffy, so that’s been a lot of fun. 

In particular they’ll be wearing work boots that need to be flexible so they’ve been trolling Vinnie’s and the Salvos for weathered lace-up boots.

Nixon reports the need for many quick changes, so the Fire Brigade have been decked out in neutral costumes that require minimal changes like moustaches or hats – very theatrical, she says. 

“Within our budget, I could never pretend to do a full period piece, but we’ll be making a strong visual statement,” she says.

There’s a special treat. 

Rogers, who is a mean tapper, has been boning up on old Donald O’Connior and Fred Astaire movies.

He’ll be treating audiences to a full-on tap routine – but that’ll just be the encore.

Newsies Jr., at The Street Theatre, October 16-19.