Patter songs are not as common for women as men in musical theater but Cailen Fu who plays Katherine Plumber in Disney’s Newsies, gets to do a great one in “Watch What Happens.”
“She has a really hard track vocally because she comes in super hot. The first time you hear her sing is this crazy patter song. As a woman who’s done a lot of musical theater, it’s actually something that I’m not as versed in.,” Fu said. “So learning how to think fast and make sense and also singing and keeping up with the music was definitely a challenge. “
Fu (Broadway: Mean Girls) plays the young would-be female reporter documenting the strike by newsboys against the newspaper price hike engineered by publisher Joseph Pulitzer. The Tony Award-winning musical, based on the real newsboy strike of 1899, is about to go on the Hobby stage thanks to Theatre Under the Stars.
“This is such a dream role. I’ve loved the show for so many years,” Fu said. “The show itself stands the test of time.”
And she said she relates to her character in a lot of ways. “She’s a character who always seems as someone who understands what it means to fight for something she believes in. To be a young person with an opinion. She’s really a strong female character. Her songs are so fun and she’s so witty. There’s a lot of depth to her. She’s not just a one dimensional girl in a musical. She’s actually driving action.”
Other cast members include Pierre Marais as Jack Kelly, Ben Diamond as Davey, Christina Wells as Medda Larkin, Graham Rowat as Pulitzer and Luis-Pablo Garcia as Crutchie, There’s also an immense number of newsboys on stage. Alan Menken wrote the musi with lyrics by Jack Feldman and book by Harvey Fierstein.
“The newsies themselves are dancing and singing and holding the show up,” Fu said.
The love interest is between Katherine and Jack, the leader of the strike action. “They meet and they’re two bulls colliding heads or like two asteroids coming together. Something that neither of them ever experienced. It’s both an obstacle and this really ‘Oh my gosh. I finally see someone who sees me, how I see myself.'”
Asked how she got in theater to begin with, Fu says laughing “It wasn’t fully my choice. I was 4 years old and my parents put me in a K-8 performing arts school. I’m originally from California, Fresno. Instead of doing PE I was taking dance classes. I was devising plays in second and third grade. But I just grew to really love it. I love expressing myself in this way. So I just continued on.” She does both straight plays and musicals after growing up in both worlds she said. And got her degree in UC-Irvine.
She’s used to being onstage in somewhat confining costumes, she said,
“I have done my fair share of. period pieces so I’m used to being in things like a corset or in certain kinds of shoes or long dresses in big layers. What I love about costumes is it automatically shifts you. Your full body feels the circumstances of that time. Coleen [Grady] who has been designing the costumes has has really enveloped us in the period in such a beautiful way. Everyone looks stunning.
“The music is so exhilarating. It packs a punch.,” she said. “I think it’s a musical hat a lot of different people can relate to. There is a love story. Young people trying to fight for something that they feel they deserve. They feel injustice and they’re trying to fight for what’s right. I think that’s something no matter what age you are at some point you have fought for something and you have felt so strongly about an opinion or something that needs to happen and we can all relate to that.
Performances are scheduled for May 21 through June 2 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and Sundays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at the Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 713-558-8887 or visit tuts.com.$40-$139.
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This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
