Since it opened on Broadway this past spring, Newsies has proved to be one of Broadway’s most popular shows. The musical’s popularity paid off this week, when it was announced that the show has completely recouped its investment.
Newsies opened this past March on Broadway, following a prior run at New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse. This means that the show was able to recoup its entire $5 million investment in just nine months, marking the fastest a Disney production has ever been able to turn a profit.
The show’s ability to recoup its investment so quickly is perhaps even more surprising considering Newsies‘ unexpected path to Broadway in the first place. Originally intended as a show solely for amateur and professional theatre companies following its trial Paper Mill run, the huge audience response to the Paper Mill production prompted Disney Theatrical Productions to move the show to Broadway for a limited run. However, the limited run quickly became open-ended due to the show’s huge popularity among audiences of all ages. In the 41 weeks that Newsies has been running on Broadway, nearly 400,000 people have gone to see the spectacular new show.
In a statement, Thomas Schumacher, producer and president of Disney Theatrical Productions, said:
“We are thrilled that Broadway audiences have embraced the show as they have. It’s a testament to the power of this story of young people uniting to fight for what’s right as captured in the words and music of Harvey, Alan and Jack and brought to glorious life in Jeff’s production and Chris’ choreography. We believed deeply in the show, but a year ago, we really didn’t see this coming so quickly.”
Newsies is currently playing at Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.NewsiestheMusical.com.
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