collaboration spotlight — Disney Playlist Sessions — Newsies
Continuing the celebration of Disney On Broadway's 20th anniversary, VoicePlay's talented arrangers put together a handful of songs for the North American touring cast of Newsies. These reimagined tunes span and mix genres in the guys' expect-the-unexpected fashion, and the talented cast members perform them beautifully.
These videos were filmed at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas during the week when the tour was performing there.
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This song was a huge hit in 2015, and its exhuberent melody is a fantastic match for a group of young musical theater professionals. This is the most straightforward arrangement of the batch, but that doesn't make it any less fun.
Details:
title: Shut Up and Dance
performers: Dan DeLuca & the touring cast of Newsies
original performers: Walk the Moon
written by: Ben Berger, Eli Maiman, Ryan McMahon, Nicholas Petricca, Kevin Ray, & Sean Waugaman
arranged by: Layne Stein & Geoff Castellucci
release date: 26 March 2015
My favorite bits:
the rhythm being provided entirely by spoon playing, tap dancing, and a guy with a wooden box
those simple, solid backing harmonies
a quintuple pirouette in tap shoes, very impressive
Dan's flip up into falsetto during his quiet solo after the dance break
Trivia:
VoicePlay also arranged a portion of this song for themselves as part of their "Aca Top 10 – Summer Hits 2015" countdown.
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Turning a classic wistful Disney ballad into a romantic duet could be a fairly simple task, so the VoicePlay boys decided to include a little twist. With the addition of a slightly faster, more jazzy rhythm, these actors made it endearingly flirty.
Details:
title: A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes
performers: Dan DeLuca & Stephanie Styles
original performer: Ilene Woods as Cinderella in Disney's Cinderella (1950)
written by: Mack David, Al Hoffman & Jerry Livingston
arranged by: Layne Stein & Geoff Castellucci
release date: 2 April 2015
My favorite bits:
the swingy beat and surfer movie instrumentation
the little harmonizing moments as they pass the melody back and forth
Stephanie's incredible vibrato
Trivia:
VoicePlay had previously recorded a portion of this song as the opening segment of the Pumpkins, Poppins, and Sorcerers medley on their 2012 album of Disney music, "Once Upon an Ever After".
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Within the show, this song is a rousing anthem for the newsies. This version adds a more feminine touch and a groovy beat that stands on its own.
Details:
title: Seize the Day
performers: Angela Grovey & the touring cast of Newsies
original performers: the cast of Newsies (2012)
written by: Alan Menken & Jack Feldman
arranged by: Layne Stein & Geoff Castellucci
release date: 9 April 2015
My favorite bits:
Angela building from soft and breathy to a big, bold belt
love a good bell chord, especially on a lyric like ♫ "one" ♫
the boys' synchronized scoops after the key change
and a bit of funky bass to round things out
Trivia:
VoicePlay included a brief excerpt of this song in their "aca-Disney" medley that they recorded as part of the kickoff to Disney On Broadway's 20th anniversary celebration.
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The best mashups have a unifying theme, and this one definitely follows that rule, interweaving two hopeful, defiant songs by downtrodden residents of the Big Apple.
Details:
title: King of New York mashup
performers: Jacob Kemp & the touring cast of Newsies
original songs / performers: "King of New York" by the Broadway cast of Newsies (2012); "Why Should I Worry" by Billy Joel as Dodger in Oliver & Company (1988)
written by: "King of New York" by Alan Menken & Jack Feldman; "Why Should I Worry" by Dan Hartman & Charlie Midnight
arranged by: Layne Stein & Geoff Castellucci
release date: 16 April 2015
My favorite bits:
Jacob staying in that distinctive theatrical accent while singing
DeMarius's gritty high notes
those crunchy harmonies on ♫ "Why should I worry?" ♫
Trivia:
Like regular VoicePlay collaborator Deejay Young, DeMarius Copes went on to be a longtime member of the touring cast for Hamilton, with the Philip tour ensemble.
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Extra:
As a bonus video for this series, castmember Zachary Sayle, who played Crutchie on the tour, recorded a performance of a song newly added to the show, "Letter from the Refuge".
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Soooo a bit of a roundabout HC page :D Basically on the Smurf discord, there was concept art for a character called Reckless who apparently never really made it into the movie- but because of the grovey colours and the hair and the masculine figure the discord jumped on him as an icon and well, Precocious could do with a (not-the-best) role model amirite?
Anyway, my second thing to fix was Stormy's arc cause like ,,, girl's had her family split apart and seen some of her best friends die D: it was a bit too sad for a character I do really like ,,, thought perhaps I could take her story in a new direction, may still be changed with NTOB coming out tho so
Reckless, Spitfire, SmurfStorm and Handy (c) The Smurf
Frostbite, Crash, Bolt and Precocious are mine
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