Newsies on the hunt

[AnythingGoes23]

Newsies is on the hunt in London!

Disney are looking to transfer the show for the end of 2013 or Spring 2014.

Nederlander Group, hosting the show on Broadway, have the show in the wings at The Adelphi if Bodyguard fails to take off or proves a one year wonder and at The Aldwych if Top Hat starts to decline in 2013.

Disney love the Drury Lane/Covent Garden area, the main reason Aida never transferred was due to fall-outs with RUG not being able to secure The Drury Lane or New London for the show.

Disney are also looking at bringing Peter and The Starcatcher over but are worried about Finding Neverland opening beforehand which could cause that show to be delayed.

[Jonwo]

I've seen Newsies and it's not a big show so it'll fit in either the Adelphi or the Aldwych but I'd imagine the Adelphi is more desirable. If either theatres in unavailable by the end of 2013, I think the Phoenix, Savoy or Victoria Palace would be good choice.

It's interesting that Disney are considering transferring Newsies as it has no built in audience over here unlike in America.

[wetheatreboy]

I'd agree that Newsies doesn't necessarily have an audience in London. That said, other American specific shows have translated very well.

I don't think anyone can predict how well the Bodyguard will do... Movies to musicals have been a bit hit and miss these last few years in the West End!

[Jonwo]

Disney will need to market it heavily in order for it to succeed in the West End and to buid the same following it has on Broadway, they've had success in the West End, The Lion King is still running, Beauty and the Beast did 2 and a half years at the Dominion and Mary Poppins did 3 years at the Prince Edward and those were known titles.

[lotiloti]

Are you really suggesting that the audience is so shallow. That the title has to be 'known'
'Annie' was completely unknown in the UK. That ran for years. If the show is that good, it'll run. Also, their are few better companies than Disney at marketing their products.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Annie was not a stage adaptation of a flop movie. Completely different circumstances.

[abitoftap]

Annie was based on a long running US cartoon strip, which was as well known there as a movie. I think the analogy still works.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Disagreed, but fair enough.

[bob8rich]

Really hope they find a theatre for this over here. But I'm playing safe - already booked my ticket to see it in New York in November!

Loved the movie - loved all the songs in the movie - love the new songs written for the show! Very excited about seeing this. And I can't see why it should not do well in the West End. It's no more instrisically American than most other American shows that have been massive hits in the West End over the years. Like any show it needs to be marketted well - but Disney should certainly have the means to do that. Then it just boils down to whether it's a great show or not. If it is - then a great show is a great show anywhere!

[mallardo]

Annie was an iconic cartoon strip in the US but she was well past her prime (the strip started during the Depression!) when the musical was created - it was still quite a gamble. It succeeded because the show was so good and because the first Annie, Andrea McArdle, was so amazing.

Newsies was as much a flop in the US as it was everywhere else when it first came out. It became a cult thing there which, perhaps, isn't true here - I don't know. But still, its success on Broadway is due to the fact that it's good, not that it's a known quantity.

Why shouldn't it do well in the West End?

[DeNada]

I don't think you can even buy Newsies on VHS over here - and it wasn't even called Newsies, but News Boys of all things. It's certainly not a cult thing for Brits of a certain age.

I think Newsies has a fair few things against it. It's a non-romantic musical about a period of foreign history (so unlike the Saigons and Les Mises of this world), skews very young (not something which works well in London - I fear for the survival of Loserville), has no brand recognition beyond Disney (who are far from the juggernaut they are perceived to be on Broadway over here), and I suspect may suffer artistically from the fact that we don't "do" full-throttle cheese in the same way Broadway does.

Having seen the big choreographic numbers on all the parade footage on this site etc. and listened to the album a few times it seems a perfectly harmless show. But I don't think it would be an easy sell over here.

Speaking of Annie, I had no idea that Sheila Hancock was the original Miss Hannigan in London!

[Jonwo]

I think if Disney are serious about transferring Newsies to the West End, the best thing would be to release the film on DVD and Blu-Ray in order to get people familar with it.