Citation: "Newsies" Original Broadway Cast. (2012). Newsies the musical (Original Broadway cast recording) [Album]. Ghostlight Records.
Set in 1899, a group of newsies band together to form a union and fight back against the publishers whose working conditions have increasingly pushed them further and further into the margins. Newsies is a musical about history, about unionization, and about the little guy triumphing against the corporate giant.
Considering the anti-union atmosphere that currently exists in the world, and the fact that child-labor laws are being repealed in parts of the United States, youth 12 and up will easily be able to relate to characters, the songs, and the musical's overall theme. Newsies is not afraid to show the hardships of life in the late Victorian era for youth, and so for that reason a trigger warning must be included for scenes of violence and child abuse, should anyone want to watch the accompanying musical or film adaptations of the work.
Regardless of whether one's listening to the soundtrack or watching the film or musical versions, there's something about the Newsies musical that is just so charming. It's a musical that, at its core, is about hope.