'Newsies' in Aurora ripped from these pages; blockbuster to play Paramount Theatre
Paramount props designer helps shape Disney musical
![[Alex Prakken plays Jack Kelly in Paramount Theatre's production of "Newsies: The Musical," opening with previews Sept. 4.]
Instead of merely reporting the news about the latest musical about to open at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora, the Kane County Chronicle and its sister Suburban Life publications are part of the production – Disney's "Newsies."
Properties designer Jesse Gaffney of Bolingbrook shares her techniques in outfitting a show that relies on thousands of newspapers.
The musical's plot was inspired by the real-life newsboys' strike of 1899 in New York City against Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst's newspapers. The show won Tony Awards for Best Choreography and Best Score, with music by Alan Menken, the composer behind Disney films including "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin" and "Pocahontas." Lyrics are by Jack Feldman and book by Harvey Fierstein, based on the film's screenplay.
The family musical is about scrappy newsboys who hawk Pulitzer’s paper and barely make enough to survive. When Pulitzer raises the price of the paper to them, delivery boy Jack Kelly organizes a strike to show the tycoon and his cronies they’re not going to be pushed into the gutter.
Jim Corti, the award-winning artistic director at Paramount, helms the show. He directed last season’s hit "The Producers," along with previously staging three consecutive Jeff Award winners for Best Production-Musical-Large ("Les Misérables," "West Side Story" and "Sweeney Todd").
“What I’m really attracted to is the hard knock story of it," Corti said of the plot in announcing the show. "Why these boys had to strike. What caused the strike. I don’t think people leave 'Newsies' thinking about that. We’re going to find a way to make these kids more credible. To make them real street kids. Making that conflict more palpable is what I hope to do with our production, and I think audiences are going to be cheering all the more for these guys when we can capture what they are going through.”](0d9635df-55ba-4cbf-9c2b-bc0ad3a619bf/image-pv_web.jpg)
[Alex Prakken plays Jack Kelly in Paramount Theatre's production of "Newsies: The Musical," opening with previews Sept. 4.]
Instead of merely reporting the news about the latest musical about to open at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora, the Kane County Chronicle and its sister Suburban Life publications are part of the production – Disney's "Newsies."
Properties designer Jesse Gaffney of Bolingbrook shares her techniques in outfitting a show that relies on thousands of newspapers.
The musical's plot was inspired by the real-life newsboys' strike of 1899 in New York City against Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst's newspapers. The show won Tony Awards for Best Choreography and Best Score, with music by Alan Menken, the composer behind Disney films including "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin" and "Pocahontas." Lyrics are by Jack Feldman and book by Harvey Fierstein, based on the film's screenplay.
The family musical is about scrappy newsboys who hawk Pulitzer’s paper and barely make enough to survive. When Pulitzer raises the price of the paper to them, delivery boy Jack Kelly organizes a strike to show the tycoon and his cronies they’re not going to be pushed into the gutter.
Jim Corti, the award-winning artistic director at Paramount, helms the show. He directed last season’s hit "The Producers," along with previously staging three consecutive Jeff Award winners for Best Production-Musical-Large ("Les Misérables," "West Side Story" and "Sweeney Todd").
“What I’m really attracted to is the hard knock story of it," Corti said of the plot in announcing the show. "Why these boys had to strike. What caused the strike. I don’t think people leave 'Newsies' thinking about that. We’re going to find a way to make these kids more credible. To make them real street kids. Making that conflict more palpable is what I hope to do with our production, and I think audiences are going to be cheering all the more for these guys when we can capture what they are going through.”
![[Copies of the Kane County Chronicle and its sister Suburban Life publications are among the props in "Newsies: The Musical" at Paramount Theatre in Aurora.]
Gaffney, the Paramount's full-time properties manager, is adding her visual flourishes to the vision, starting with her exacting research into the time period from multiple sources.
What's her secret weapon? Her vintage copies of the Sears catalog.
"They have a ton of photos [and] show me the little things," Gaffney said. "What a pencil would look like. There are not many antique pencils on eBay. … What did a light bulb look like?"
The show is set in 1898, and Gaffney referred to her catalogs from 1896 and 1904 to get close to the period.
No easy-to-follow directions exist for staging, and Gaffney's creativity and ingenuity play into the process. Her high school mechanical and physics classes also come in handy, including designing the 1860s-era-style, crank-operated printing press called for in the story. She originally majored in technical theater and focused on set construction, but later discovered her true affinity.
"I fell into props," Gaffney said of freelancing at theaters in Chicago and most recently spending almost three years as assistant props supervisor at the Goodman Theatre. "I discovered it was the perfect job for an arts and craft kid. It's a giant arts and craft project, plus a scavenger hunt."](827d60c5-b6c6-4cca-9a41-1b94d6ae3bab/image-pv_web.jpg)
[Copies of the Kane County Chronicle and its sister Suburban Life publications are among the props in "Newsies: The Musical" at Paramount Theatre in Aurora.]
Gaffney, the Paramount's full-time properties manager, is adding her visual flourishes to the vision, starting with her exacting research into the time period from multiple sources.
What's her secret weapon? Her vintage copies of the Sears catalog.
"They have a ton of photos [and] show me the little things," Gaffney said. "What a pencil would look like. There are not many antique pencils on eBay. … What did a light bulb look like?"
The show is set in 1898, and Gaffney referred to her catalogs from 1896 and 1904 to get close to the period.
No easy-to-follow directions exist for staging, and Gaffney's creativity and ingenuity play into the process. Her high school mechanical and physics classes also come in handy, including designing the 1860s-era-style, crank-operated printing press called for in the story. She originally majored in technical theater and focused on set construction, but later discovered her true affinity.
"I fell into props," Gaffney said of freelancing at theaters in Chicago and most recently spending almost three years as assistant props supervisor at the Goodman Theatre. "I discovered it was the perfect job for an arts and craft kid. It's a giant arts and craft project, plus a scavenger hunt."
![[Previews start Sept. 4 for the Paramount Theatre's production of Disney's "Newsies: The Musical."]
With "Newsies," that hunt led to our papers, which were destined for recycling, but instead find new life as part of the stage action.
"There are giant stacks of bundled papers that are used in the newspaper wagon and at the distribution desk," Gaffney said. "For those, we used pink insulation foam, painted gray on the edges. In between the foam, we sandwiched copies of the Kane County Chronicle [and Suburban Life] which they donated to us."
The foam makes the twine-tied stacks light and easy to manipulate. A piece of matte-finish contact paper over the top allows them to last the three months of rehearsal and performances.
"We’ve printed a few papers on Tyvek, the same material used for house wrap," Gaffney said. "Those papers will be thin, but super durable and particularly slippery for a few select dance needs – so [performers] can slide across the stage on those without them tearing under their feet which would be dangerous."
The cover pages of all of the old-fashioned newspapers come from proppapers.com, founded by Julia Eberhardt, former props master at Loyola University. And to make those stacks look big enough, they sandwich pieces of gray car-headliner foam in-between.
Other individual papers need to be crumpled, thrown, torn or otherwise destroyed, and Gaffney ordered 2,000 copies for the run of the show.](b0b64c76-0d46-4f5e-99c9-68277dbae14c/image-pv_web.jpg)
[Previews start Sept. 4 for the Paramount Theatre's production of Disney's "Newsies: The Musical."]
With "Newsies," that hunt led to our papers, which were destined for recycling, but instead find new life as part of the stage action.
"There are giant stacks of bundled papers that are used in the newspaper wagon and at the distribution desk," Gaffney said. "For those, we used pink insulation foam, painted gray on the edges. In between the foam, we sandwiched copies of the Kane County Chronicle [and Suburban Life] which they donated to us."
The foam makes the twine-tied stacks light and easy to manipulate. A piece of matte-finish contact paper over the top allows them to last the three months of rehearsal and performances.
"We’ve printed a few papers on Tyvek, the same material used for house wrap," Gaffney said. "Those papers will be thin, but super durable and particularly slippery for a few select dance needs – so [performers] can slide across the stage on those without them tearing under their feet which would be dangerous."
The cover pages of all of the old-fashioned newspapers come from proppapers.com, founded by Julia Eberhardt, former props master at Loyola University. And to make those stacks look big enough, they sandwich pieces of gray car-headliner foam in-between.
Other individual papers need to be crumpled, thrown, torn or otherwise destroyed, and Gaffney ordered 2,000 copies for the run of the show.
![[Prop newspaper bundles are readied for their role in Disney's "Newsies: The Musical," playing at Paramount Theatre.]
Now, she's starting to devise another machine – this time for the Paramount's upcoming holiday production of "Beauty and the Beast."
"It's a wood chopping machine," Gaffney said, noting there are challenges specific to every production. "It's tricky on that show. What is a prop and what is a costume? When is a spoon a person?"
"Newsies" is suggested for ages 8 and older because of some adult language and mild violence. Paramount now offers live, real-time ASL interpretation for patrons who are deaf or have impaired hearing at one performance of each Broadway Series production – for "Newsies," it will begin at 8 p.m. Oct. 18.
The next musicals in the series are "Beauty and the Beast" from Nov. 13 to Jan. 19; "The Secret of My Success," a world premiere musical based on the 1987 film starring Michael J. Fox, from Feb. 12 to March 29; and the Midwest regional premiere of "Kinky Boots," from April 29 to June 14.
At 41,000 Broadway Series subscribers, the Paramount now is the most heavily subscribed theater in all of Chicago and second largest in the nation. It was voted best live theatre in our Best of the Fox readership poll.
If you go
WHAT: Disney's "Newsies: The Musical"
WHERE: Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., downtown Aurora
WHEN: Wednesday through Sunday through Oct. 20; previews start Sept. 4
COST: Single tickets run $36 to $74, with four-show packages starting at $72
INFO: ParamountAurora.com, 630-896-6666; visit website to see theater's full lineup of acts](c8a9cbfb-cb92-44bc-b41f-8e9b7502d0cc/image-pv_web.jpg)
[Prop newspaper bundles are readied for their role in Disney's "Newsies: The Musical," playing at Paramount Theatre.]
Now, she's starting to devise another machine – this time for the Paramount's upcoming holiday production of "Beauty and the Beast."
"It's a wood chopping machine," Gaffney said, noting there are challenges specific to every production. "It's tricky on that show. What is a prop and what is a costume? When is a spoon a person?"
"Newsies" is suggested for ages 8 and older because of some adult language and mild violence. Paramount now offers live, real-time ASL interpretation for patrons who are deaf or have impaired hearing at one performance of each Broadway Series production – for "Newsies," it will begin at 8 p.m. Oct. 18.
The next musicals in the series are "Beauty and the Beast" from Nov. 13 to Jan. 19; "The Secret of My Success," a world premiere musical based on the 1987 film starring Michael J. Fox, from Feb. 12 to March 29; and the Midwest regional premiere of "Kinky Boots," from April 29 to June 14.
At 41,000 Broadway Series subscribers, the Paramount now is the most heavily subscribed theater in all of Chicago and second largest in the nation. It was voted best live theatre in our Best of the Fox readership poll.
If you go
WHAT: Disney's "Newsies: The Musical"
WHERE: Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., downtown Aurora
WHEN: Wednesday through Sunday through Oct. 20; previews start Sept. 4
COST: Single tickets run $36 to $74, with four-show packages starting at $72
INFO: ParamountAurora.com, 630-896-6666; visit website to see theater's full lineup of acts