Set in New York City in the summer of 1899, Newsies centers on newsboy Jack Kelly, the leader of a ragged band of teenaged newsboys who live mostly on the streets. From his make-shift rooftop home Jack dreams of a better life far away in Santa Fe. He paints pictures of what he thinks it would like for a backdrop of a nearby theatre, owned by kindly Medda Larken. His dreams are not only for himself, however, as it is clear from the beginning that he looks out for his fellow newsies, and that they are his family. When publishing titans Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst raise distribution prices at the newsboys’ expense, Jack rallies all the newsboys from across the city to strike for what’s right. Jack becomes enamored of a strong-willed female reporter named Katherine, who offers to help him further his cause. In the course of planning their protest, Jack and his friends are separated, bullied, and manipulated by Pulitzer who is not about to lose a fight to a bunch of newsboys. The newsies and their supporters band together to “Seize the Day” and claim what is theirs.

The musical loosely follows the story of the real-life Newsboy Strike of 1899, when a seventeen-year-old newsboy named Kid Blink led a band of orphan and runaway newspaper boys (“newsies”) on a two-week-long non-unionized strike against New York City’s most powerful newspaper publishers, including Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. Newsies is based on the 1992 film of the same name written by Bob Tzudiker and Noni White.

This touring production of Newsies will be at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts November 17 – 29, 2015.  The Broward Center for the Performing Arts is located in the Riverwalk Arts & Entertainment District at 201 SW Fifth Avenue in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The Broward Center for the Performing Arts houses the Au-Rene Theater, the Amaturo Theatre, and the Abdo New River Room, and has affiliated venues at the Parker Playhouse, the Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center, and the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center. Presentations at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts are sponsored in part by the State of Florida, the Department of State, the Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Support is also contributed by the Broward Performing Arts Foundation, Inc. The Riverwalk Arts & Entertainment Consortium is a cultural partnership between the Performing Arts Center Authority, the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale, Florida Grand Opera, Fort Lauderdale Historical Society and The Historic Stranahan House Museum. It is supported by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council and the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention Visitors Bureau. For tickets or other information, contact them by phone at 954-462-0222 or online at www.browardcenter.org