#broadwaysies comes to a close second

[lmelodymusicl]

Tonight, I’m going to review the 2012 Broadwaysies bootleg. This version has Ryan Breslin as Racetrack and an adorable Matthew Schechter as Les Jacobs!

My thoughts:

First up, everything wrong with Broadwaysies

As much as I wish I could like Broadwaysies, it’s the same thing as Livesies, just without “Letter From the Refuge”.

Jeremy’s version of Jack keeps pissing me off. He makes Jack more angry, and the way he interacted with Katherine was so toxic. Ugh!

Also, he didn’t have that much chemistry with any of the other newsies.

Andrew Keenan Bolger is more naive as Crutchie than Marty Belafsky!

All of the lyric changes were very unnecessary.

I’m not a fan of Kara Lindsay as Katherine. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a great actress, but she makes Katherine look like a scatterbrain.

Next up, everything great about Broadwaysies:

Ben Fankhauser is amazing as Davey! He just brings out the energy whenever he shows up, especially in King of New York.

Little Matthew Schechter is a cutie pie as Les Jacobs! He brings the role of Les to another level by making Les spunkier, but still keeps the sweetness and innocence!

I would rank Matthew in second place after Luke Edwards and before Lewis Grosso. It’s a refreshing break after seeing Livesies with Ethan Steiner (groan)!

The way I see it, Luke does a sweet and innocent Les, Matthew and Lewis do spunky and sassy Leses, but Ethan does an obnoxious Les!

Ryan Breslin is pretty good as Racetrack, but he lacks the charisma that Max Casella has in 92sies. He’s still better than Ben Tyler Cook, as the latter made Racetrack seem like an idiot!

There was more dancing and that is another thing I like about the musical!

I still would’ve kept Sarah and Denton, giving them bigger roles!

So overall, Broadwaysies is a mixed bag. I would rank it second after 92sies, and before Livesies!