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February 16 • 2017

jn

AT THE MOVIES
The hit Broadway musical Newsies is
being shown in movie theaters across
the country on Feb. 16, 18 and 22.
Filmed live on stage in Los Angeles,
this rousing show co-stars original
Broadway stars Jeremy Jordan, 32, as
Jack Kelly and Ben Fankhauser, 27,
as Davey. Newsies began as an original
movie musical with songs by Alan
Menken, now 67, and lyrics by Jack
Feldman, now 68. It was a box-office
flop, but gained a cult following over
the years. It became a smash Broadway
hit in 2012, aided by a new “book” by
Harvey Fierstein, now 62. The story
is set in the 1890s and is based on a
true story: Kelley is a newsboy and the
leader of ragged teenaged newsies pro-
testing for higher pay. Davey is another
newsboy and Jack’s smart ally and
friend. (Visit fathomevents.com to find
local theaters screening the event.)
Jordan’s parents divorced when he
was very young, and his Jewish mother
(his father isn’t Jewish) struggled to
support him and his two siblings. But
he was a very good student and he
got a college scholarship. Shortly after
graduation, he got his first Broadway
musical role and he’s been starring
ever since in a series of shows and
on TV, including Smash. Fankhauser
was profiled last December in the JN,
when he appeared in Detroit as Barry
Mann, now 77, in a road production
of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.
Fankhauser’s parents (a Swiss Jewish
businessman and an American Jewish
psychologist, Binnie Gunn) met in
Detroit, her hometown. His parents
divorced when he was 5 and his
mother relocated to Cleveland, where
Ben went to Hebrew school and was
confirmed — but still spent many sum-
mers at Tamarack Camps.
Opening Feb. 17 is A Cure for
Wellness, a psychological thriller. The
basic plot: An ambitious young execu-
tive (Dane DeHaan) is sent to retrieve
his company’s CEO from a mysterious
“wellness center” at a remote location
in the Swiss Alps. He soon suspects that
the spa’s miraculous treatments are not
what they seem. When he begins to
unravel its terrifying secrets, his sanity
is tested as he finds himself diagnosed
with the same curious illness that keeps
all the guests here longing for the
cure. British Jewish actor Jason Isaacs,
53 (Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter
films), co-stars as the center’s director.

Fankhauser, left, and Jordan in Newsies

Isaacs

Kravitz

OVER ON HBO
The sixth and final season of Girls,
the hit HBO series, began last Sunday,
Feb. 12. Five of its nine main cast mem-
bers are Jewish (Lena Dunham, 30,
Jemima Kirke, 31, Zosia Mamet,
29, Alex Karpovsky, 41, and Ebon
Moss-Bachrach, 38). Also on HBO —
premiering this Sunday, Feb. 19 — is
Big Little Lies, a new limited series. An
adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s 2014
darkly comic novel, Big Little Lies
revolves around three mothers of kin-
dergartners — Celeste (Nicole Kidman),
Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) and
Jane (Shailene Woodley) — whose
apparently perfect lives unravel to the
point of murder. Zoe Kravitz, 28,
plays Bonnie Carlson, who is married
to Madeline’s ex-husband. Bonnie is a
spiritual yoga instructor, a sensitive soul
with a strong moral compass. •

