“Newsies,” a Disney musical, will be performed by the West Point High School drama and music departments at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, March 13–15, in the W.T. Robinson/Sture G. Olsson Auditorium, 1040 Thompson Avenue, West Point.
Based on Disney’s 1992 historical musical film of the same name, “Newsies” is a high-energy show that tells the story of the real-life newsboys strike of 1899. The New York newsies (boys and girls who sold newspapers on the street) went up against two newspaper giants, publishers Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World and William Randolph Hearst of the New York Journal.
The newspaper publishers had raised the cost per paper and refused to lower it so the newsies could earn a living wage, said a press release. The newsies decided to strike to get the newspaper tycoons to treat them as legitimate members of the business. The strike ended in a compromise, which was a significant moment in history. It was one of the first strikes carried out by kids and end...