60 free Newsies trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 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 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who plays Jack 'Cowboy' Kelly in the 1992 Disney film?
Christian Bale
He was 17 during filming and later admitted he was not much of a singer; the film's failure stung him for years before its cult revival.
Q 02Which choreographer made his feature directing debut with the film?
Kenny Ortega
He followed it a year later with Hocus Pocus, another box-office disappointment that grew into a cult favorite, and later directed the High School Musical trilogy.
Q 03Who composed the film's twelve original songs?
Alan Menken
His usual lyricist Howard Ashman was too ill with AIDS to collaborate, so a new writing partner was brought in for the project.
Q 04Who wrote the lyrics for the film's songs?
Jack Feldman
He stayed with the property for two decades and shared the Tony Award for Best Original Score when the stage version reached Broadway.
Q 05Which Oscar-winning actor plays newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer in the film?
Robert Duvall
The role earned him a Golden Raspberry nomination for Worst Supporting Actor.
Q 06Which screen legend plays the Bowery performer Medda Larkson?
Ann-Margret
She sings two numbers in the film, and both were dropped when the story moved to the stage.
Q 07Which actor plays Bryan Denton, the newspaper reporter who champions the strike?
Bill Pullman
He even gets a musical number, leading the newsies through 'King of New York' after their story makes the front page.
Q 08When the warden testifies against Jack in court, what is revealed to be Jack's real name?
Francis Sullivan
The testimony also reveals that his mother is dead and his father is in prison.
Q 09Jack dreams of leaving New York for which Western city?
Santa Fe
The song about that dream is reprised late in the film after Jack is sentenced to the juvenile detention center.
Q 10What is the name of the orphanage and juvenile detention center that Jack once escaped from?
The Refuge
Its warden embezzles the money the city provides for the children's care, which is exactly what the newsies' own newspaper eventually exposes.
Q 11What is the surname of the corrupt warden who runs the juvenile detention center?
Snyder
Kevin Tighe plays him; the other three names belong to Pulitzer's distribution man, Pulitzer's business manager and the lodging-house keeper.
Q 12Who leads the Brooklyn newsies, and initially refuses to back the Manhattan strike?
Spot Conlon
Gabriel Damon plays him in the film; when Brooklyn finally shows up, it turns the tide of the fight 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
The governor's carriage ride is what talks Jack out of leaving for the West; he became President two years after the strike.
Q 21What do the newsies call the paper they print on Pulitzer's old press and hand out to child laborers?
The Newsie Banner
The issue reaches the governor and exposes the abuse at the juvenile detention center, which is what finally breaks the strike open.
Q 22Who plays Davey, the smart new newsie who becomes Jack's partner?
David Moscow
He was already known as the young Josh Baskin in the 1988 Tom Hanks film Big.
Q 23Who plays the cigar-chewing newsie 'Racetrack' Higgins?
Max Casella
He also voices the film's opening narration and was best known at the time as Vinnie on Doogie Howser, M.D.
Q 14The film failed to earn back a fifth of its budget. Roughly what was its domestic gross?
Under $3 million
Against a $15 million budget, it ranks among the lowest-grossing live-action films the studio has ever released and was pulled from many theaters after one weekend.
Q 15Critic Leonard Maltin mocked the film with which nickname?
Howard the Paperboy
He complained of a lackluster score and cramped production numbers that looked cheap despite the budget.
Q 16Which song from the film 'won' the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song?
High Times, Hard Times
The composer finally accepted the trophy in 2019, having become the first person to win a Razzie and an Oscar in the same year.
Q 17The film's New York street scenes were shot on the backlot of which studio?
Universal Studios
It was the first feature to shoot on the rebuilt New York Street set after a 1990 fire destroyed the original.
Q 18During 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 19The newsie Kid Blink is played by an actor who shares his name with which South Park co-creator?
Trey Parker
They are two different people; the confusion is common enough that Wikipedia adds a footnote to the cast list.
Q 20Jack 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 24Before Broadway, the stage musical premiered in 2011 at which New Jersey theatre?
Paper Mill Playhouse
The tryout in Millburn ran just three weeks, from September 25 to October 16, before Disney moved it to New York.
Q 25Which Broadway house was home to the musical from 2012 to 2014?
Nederlander
It was originally booked as a limited engagement and only became open-ended after ticket sales exploded.
Q 26Who wrote the book (script) for the stage musical?
Harvey Fierstein
The Torch Song Trilogy and Kinky Boots writer earned a Tony nomination for Best Book of a Musical for it.
Q 27Who originated the role of Jack Kelly on Broadway?
Jeremy Jordan
He was Tony-nominated for the part and left in September 2012 to join NBC's Smash, later returning for the 2016 filmed production.
Q 28Which newcomer took over as Jack Kelly on Broadway in September 2012?
Corey Cott
He played the role until the show closed in August 2014; the other three names played Jack in the tour, London and 2010 workshop respectively.
Q 29How many Tony Award nominations did the Broadway production receive?
Eight
It won for Best Original Score and Best Choreography, but lost Best Musical to Once.
Q 30Who won the Tony Award for Best Choreography for the musical's acrobatic dance numbers?
Christopher Gattelli
The New York Times review singled out his full-speed-ahead phalanxes of dancing newsboys.