Newsies Trivia
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99 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 99 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who plays Jack 'Cowboy' Kelly in the 1992 Disney film?
Christian Bale
Christian Bale, 17 during filming, played Jack; he later admitted he was not much of a singer, and 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
Kenny Ortega, a choreographer on Dirty Dancing, made Newsies his first feature as director, followed a year later by Hocus Pocus, another flop turned cult favourite, and later the High School Musical trilogy.
Q 03Who composed the songs for the 1992 film?
Alan Menken
Alan Menken composed the score, including 'Seize the Day' and 'King of New York'; his usual lyricist Howard Ashman was too ill with AIDS to collaborate, so a new partner was brought in.
Q 04Who wrote the lyrics for the film's songs?
Jack Feldman
Jack Feldman wrote the lyrics, stepping in for the ailing Howard Ashman; he stayed with the property for two decades and shared the 2012 Tony for Best Original Score with Alan Menken.
Q 05Which Oscar-winning actor plays newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer in the film?
Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall, Oscar winner for Tender Mercies, played Pulitzer with a thick accent and earned a Golden Raspberry nomination for Worst Supporting Actor for the role.
Q 06Which screen legend plays the Bowery performer Medda Larkson?
Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret played the Bowery's 'Swedish Meadowlark', Medda Larkson, a friend and protector of Jack; she sings two numbers in the film, 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 Denton, the Sun reporter who backs the boys and leads them through 'King of New York' after their strike 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 warden's testimony exposes 'Jack Kelly' as Francis Sullivan, whose mother is dead and whose father is in state prison, puncturing the cowboy persona Jack had built.
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
The Refuge is the grim House of Refuge where Jack was once jailed; its warden pockets the money the city pays for the children's care, which the newsies' own paper eventually exposes.
Q 11What is the surname of the corrupt warden who runs the juvenile detention center?
Snyder
Warden Snyder, played by Kevin Tighe, runs the Refuge; Wiesel is Pulitzer's distribution man, Seitz his business manager, and Kloppman keeps the newsboys' lodging house.
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 21Who plays Davey, the smart new newsie who becomes Jack's partner?
David Moscow
David Moscow, already known as the young Josh Baskin in the 1988 Tom Hanks film Big, played Davey, whose little brother Les tags along selling papers.
Q 22Who plays the cigar-chewing newsie 'Racetrack' Higgins?
Max Casella
Max Casella, then best known as Vinnie Delpino on Doogie Howser, M.D., played Racetrack and also voices the film's opening narration.
Q 23Before Broadway, the stage musical premiered in 2011 at which New Jersey theatre?
Paper Mill Playhouse
The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn hosted the tryout for just three weeks, from September 25 to October 16, 2011, before Disney moved the show to New York.
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 film 'won' the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song?
High Times, Hard Times
'High Times, Hard Times', Medda's Bowery number, took the Razzie for Worst Original Song; the same season Alan Menken won Oscars for Aladdin, making him the first person to win both awards in one year.
Q 16The film's New York street scenes were shot on the backlot of which studio?
Universal Studios
Universal Studios' New York Street backlot doubled for 1899 Manhattan; Newsies was the first feature to shoot on the set after it was rebuilt following a 1990 fire.
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
The newsie actor Trey Parker is not the South Park creator Trey Parker; the confusion is common enough that cast lists often add a footnote.
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 20What do the newsies call the paper they print on Pulitzer's old press and hand out to child laborers?
The Newsie Banner
The Newsie Banner, run off on Pulitzer's old press in the World's basement, rallies the city's child laborers and reaches the governor with its exposé of the Refuge.
Q 24Which Broadway house was home to the musical from 2012 to 2014?
Nederlander
The Nederlander Theatre on West 41st Street housed Newsies from March 2012; booked as a limited engagement, it went open-ended after ticket sales exploded.
Q 25Who wrote the book (script) for the stage musical?
Harvey Fierstein
Harvey Fierstein, author of Torch Song Trilogy and the book for Kinky Boots, wrote the Newsies book and earned a 2012 Tony nomination for Best Book of a Musical.
Q 26Who originated the role of Jack Kelly on Broadway?
Jeremy Jordan
Jeremy Jordan created Jack at Paper Mill and on Broadway, earned a Tony nomination, left in September 2012 for NBC's Smash and returned for the 2016 filmed production.
Q 27Which newcomer took over as Jack Kelly on Broadway in September 2012?
Corey Cott
Corey Cott, fresh out of Carnegie Mellon, took over from Jeremy Jordan in September 2012 and played Jack until the show closed in August 2014.
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 Tony Award for Best Choreography for the musical's acrobatic dance numbers?
Christopher Gattelli
Christopher Gattelli won the 2012 Tony for Best Choreography; The New York Times singled out his full-speed-ahead phalanxes of dancing newsboys.
Q 30In the musical, who is reporter Katherine Plumber revealed to be?
Pulitzer's daughter
Katherine is Pulitzer's daughter, writing under a pen name; the character borrows the name of the publisher's real daughter Katherine Ethel, who died of pneumonia in 1884 at the age of two.