Newsies Trivia
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98 free Newsies trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
59 free Newsies trivia questions with answers. Newsies flopped in cinemas in 1992, found its audience on VHS, and came back as a Tony-winning Broadway hit two decades later. This quiz covers all of it: the Disney film with Christian Bale as Jack Kelly, Robert Duvall as Pulitzer and Kenny Ortega directing, the stage musical that opened at the Nederlander with Jeremy Jordan and added Katherine Plumber, the 2016 filmed production, the 2022 London staging, and the real newsboys' strike of 1899 with Kid Blink, the price of a hundred papers and the buyback compromise that ended it. Easy questions ask who plays Jack and where he dreams of going; the hard ones want the satirical horror short the cast made on set, the prize Kid Blink won for his rally speech and how many performances the Broadway run played. We ask about the songs (who sings them, what they do in the story) rather than the words, so you will not find any lyrics here. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the film, the musical and the strike, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 98 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who plays Jack 'Cowboy' Kelly in the 1992 Disney film?
Christian Bale
Christian Bale led the film as strike leader Jack Kelly; it flopped with critics and at the box office, then won a devoted audience on home video, which led Disney to adapt it for the stage.
Q 02Which choreographer made his feature directing debut with Newsies in 1992?
Kenny Ortega
Kenny Ortega, who choreographed Dirty Dancing, made his directing debut with Newsies; it flopped, yet he went on to direct Hocus Pocus and the High School Musical films.
Q 03Who composed the songs for the 1992 film Newsies?
Alan Menken
Alan Menken wrote the music; the film flopped, but two decades later his reworked stage score won the Tony Award, shared with his lyricist.
Q 04Who wrote the lyrics for the songs in the 1992 film Newsies?
Jack Feldman
Jack Feldman wrote the film's lyrics, then returned two decades later to rework them for Broadway, where he shared the 2012 Tony Award for the score with the composer.
Q 05Which Oscar-winning actor plays publisher Joseph Pulitzer in the 1992 film Newsies?
Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall, a Best Actor winner for Tender Mercies, played Pulitzer as the film's villain; the role brought him a Golden Raspberry nomination for Worst Supporting Actor.
Q 06Which screen legend plays the Bowery performer Medda Larkson?
Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret played Medda Larkson, the Bowery star who lends her theatre for the newsies' rally; her two film songs were both dropped when the story moved to the stage.
Q 07Which actor plays Bryan Denton, the newspaper reporter who champions the strike?
Bill Pullman
Bill Pullman played Bryan Denton, whose front-page story makes the strikers famous; when he is reassigned as a war correspondent, the boys lose their voice in the press.
Q 08When the warden testifies against Jack in court, what is revealed to be Jack's real name?
Francis Sullivan
Francis Sullivan is the name the warden's testimony pins on 'Jack Kelly', along with a dead mother and a father in prison, puncturing the cowboy persona Jack had built.
Q 09Jack dreams of leaving New York for which Western city?
Santa Fe
Santa Fe is Jack's dream of a fresh start out West; at the film's end he sets off for the train yards to go there, then turns back to stay with the newsies.
Q 10Which song do the newsies sing as they form a union and declare their strike?
The World Will Know
'The World Will Know' follows the news of the price rise: the boys form a union, call a strike and send word to newsies in the other boroughs.
Q 11What is the surname of the corrupt warden who runs the juvenile detention center?
Snyder
Snyder, played by Kevin Tighe, pockets the money the city pays for the children's care; he ends the story in handcuffs after the newsies' exposé reaches the governor.
Q 12Who leads the Brooklyn newsies, and initially refuses to back the Manhattan strike?
Spot Conlon
Spot Conlon, played by Gabriel Damon, rules the Brooklyn newsies and sits out the first fight; when Brooklyn finally marches in, it turns the tide against the strikebreakers.
Q 13Which real-life Governor of New York arrives at the end to shut down the warden and thank Jack?
Theodore Roosevelt
Q 21Which actor plays the newcomer who becomes the brains of Jack's strike in the 1992 film Newsies?
David Moscow
David Moscow, the boy who turns into Tom Hanks in Big, played Davey; it is Davey who rallies the dejected newsies before they storm the distribution center.
Q 22Who plays the newsie 'Racetrack' Higgins in the 1992 film Newsies?
Max Casella
Max Casella, a regular on TV's Doogie Howser, M.D., played Racetrack and speaks the film's prologue; the real 'Racetrack' Higgins was a union leader in the 1899 strike, not a sidekick.
Q 23Before Broadway, the stage musical Newsies premiered in 2011 at which regional theatre?
Paper Mill Playhouse
Governor Theodore Roosevelt arrives to thank Jack, and the carriage ride he offers talks Jack out of leaving for the West; Roosevelt became President two years after the 1899 strike.
Q 14Critic Leonard Maltin mocked the film with which nickname?
Howard the Paperboy
Maltin dubbed it 'Howard the Paperboy', likening it to the notorious flop Howard the Duck, and faulted its songs and cramped production numbers.
Q 15Which song from the 1992 film Newsies 'won' the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song?
High Times, Hard Times
'High Times, Hard Times' is the number Medda sings to cheer the newsies' rally just before police raid it; it took the Razzie for Worst Original Song, the film's only win from five nominations.
Q 16The New York street scenes in Newsies were shot on the backlot of which studio?
Universal Studios
Universal Studios' New York Street set had burned down in 1990; Disney's Newsies was the first film shot on the rebuilt backlot, which doubled for 1899 Manhattan.
Q 17During production, cast members made a satirical horror short film. What was it called?
Blood Drips Heavily on Newsie Square
Its plot has a disgraced Don Knotts murdering the cast after being rejected for a comeback role.
Q 18The newsie Kid Blink is played by an actor sharing his name with which TV creator?
Trey Parker
Trey Parker, not the South Park co-creator of the same name, plays Kid Blink; the real Kid Blink led the 1899 strike, but the film hands that job to the fictional Jack Kelly.
Q 19Jack Kelly was inspired by Kid Blink and which other real newsie from the 1899 strike?
Morris Cohen
A memo from Pulitzer's business manager named him as the boy who actually started the strike in New York City.
Q 20In the 1992 film, what do the newsies call the paper they print on Pulitzer's old press?
The Newsie Banner
The Newsie Banner, printed on an old press of Pulitzer's, carries the strike to the city's child laborers; a copy reaches the governor and exposes the warden's abuses.
The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, staged the 2011 tryout; audiences and critics liked it so much that Disney moved the show to Broadway the following spring.
Q 24Which Broadway theatre was home to Newsies from 2012 to 2014?
Nederlander
The Nederlander Theatre on West 41st Street housed Newsies from March 2012; booked as a limited engagement, the show went open-ended by popular demand and stayed until August 2014.
Q 25Who wrote the book (script) for the stage musical Newsies?
Harvey Fierstein
Harvey Fierstein, of Torch Song Trilogy fame, rewrote the story for the stage, folding the film's reporter and love interest into one new character, Katherine; it earned him a Tony nomination.
Q 26Who originated the role of Jack Kelly on Broadway?
Jeremy Jordan
Jeremy Jordan created Jack on Broadway and earned a Tony nomination for it; four years after leaving, he came back to play the part again for the filmed stage production.
Q 27Which newcomer took over as Jack Kelly on Broadway in September 2012?
Corey Cott
Corey Cott had graduated from Carnegie Mellon only weeks before joining the show as the Jack alternate; he took the role full time on September 5, 2012.
Q 28How many Tony Award nominations did the Broadway production receive?
Eight
Newsies earned eight Tony nominations in 2012 and won two, for Best Original Score and Best Choreography, losing Best Musical to Once.
Q 29Who won the 2012 Tony Award for Best Choreography for Newsies?
Christopher Gattelli
Christopher Gattelli won the 2012 Tony for Best Choreography with dances that turn a strike into athletics: his newsboys make their case in backflips, airborne spins and a clattering tap number.
Q 30In the musical, who is reporter Katherine Plumber revealed to be?
Pulitzer's daughter
Pulitzer's daughter has been writing as 'Plumber', a pen name; Pulitzer springs the secret on Jack in his office while pressing him to call off the strike.