Jeremy Jordan admitted that reprising his role as Jack Kelly in the upcoming live film version of “Newsies” was a little harder than he initially thought.
“It was four years almost to the day when I left and went back to ‘Newsies,’” Jordan told New York Daily News. “After a couple of days [of returning to the role,] it all fell into place.”
“It was cool,” he added of putting himself in Jack’s shoes once again in a separate interview with Billboard. “I never thought I’d be able to play it again. At first, you’re like — ‘oh, man, what am I doing? This is harder than I remember it!’— but then it snaps back into place. It was a blast.”
Jordan played the character of Jack for the first time in the stage version of “Newsies” at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey in September 2011.
He then reprised the role of the scrappy leader of an 1899 newsboy strike in Disney’s “Newsies” on Broadway, which opened at the Nederlander Theatre in March 2012. For the role, Jordan was nominated for the 2012 Tony Award for best performance by a leading actor in a musical. He was also nominated for a 2013 Grammy Award for best musical theatre album as a principal soloist on the “Newsies” original cast album.
Jordan stayed on the Broadway production for only six months. He exited the production when he joined the cast of NBC’s “Smash” as Jimmy Collins for Season 2. Two years after “Smash” was cancelled, Jordan landed the role of Winn Schott in the CBS-turned-CW series “Supergirl,” which is having a musical crossover event between “The Flash” next month.
“Newsies” Broadway director Jeff Calhoun told the Daily News that he “always saw Jeremy as a young James Dean. Those qualities made him a terrific Jack Kelly.” Calhoun added that Jordan’s subsequent experience “has enriched his performance in the [live] film [version of the musical].”
“Disney’s Newsies the Broadway Musical” airs in selected theaters on Feb. 16, 18 and 22. Visit newsiesthemusical.com for more details.
“Supergirl” star Jeremy Jordan said that reprising his role as Jack Kelly in the upcoming “Disney’s Newsies the Broadway Musical” was a “blast.” Pictured: Jeremy Jordan attends the premiere of “The Last Five Years” in Los Angeles on Feb. 11, 2015. Photo: Reuters/Phil McCarten
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