Christopher Gattelli - Newsies the Musical Choreographer - Paper Mill Playhouse

[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC--ALAN MENKEN, "CARRYING THE BANNER"]

The inspiration for the show is Michael Kidd.
And it was funny because that had always been--
it's that technical but athletic dancing that kind of
feels not with any period, because it's set in the late
1800s, the turn of the century.
But at the same time, the music is kind of contemporary,
but it, at the same time, feels timeless.
So I was trying to marry my movement with Alan's music and
the score and everything.
So the newspaper choreography in "Seize the Day," it was one
of those things where we were in pre-production and we were
like, we just feel like we need that one lift and the one
that lifted to get us-- ramp us into the end.
And we were thinking, OK, well, there's tons of
newspapers.
It's about newspapers.
But then, there's something symbolic about that to me,
like, the idea of them, like, stepping on it and like,
rubbing it into the ground, and showing their--

just their defiance by that and, like, taking a stand on
the paper and smashing it in.
And then, it just turned into this dance.
And then, in playing with the guys and-- oh, you can slide
through each other?
Yeah.
What was cool was the paper actually gave them more--
they could spin more.
They could slide more.
And so it just ended up becoming a whole other element
in the-- and we switch it off.
So it was a blast to create.
And I love watching them do it because it's
different every time.
But yet it still always lands.
So it's fun.
[MUSIC--ALAN MENKEN, "CARRYING THE BANNER"]

[MUSIC PLAYING]