Christian Bale Praises Jeremy Jordan and the Cast of Broadway's Newsies

Christian Bale will soon be flying high as Batman in Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated film The Dark Knight Rises. Bale’s movie career has included hits like The Fighter, American Psycho and Empire of the Sun as well as one major flop: Newsies. In the 1992 Disney film, the Oscar-winning star created the character of Jack Kelly, currently being played at the Nederlander Theatre by Tony nominee Jeremy Jordan. In the current issue of Entertainment Weekly, Bale discussed the surprising Broadway success of Newsies.

“I’m incredibly happy for them,” said Bale. “They’re having the success our movie never had. I’m not really into musicals. But I wish them the best.”

Bale, who has yet to see the show, had this to say about his successor, Jordan: “I’m sure the person playing the character I played exceeded whatever I did, and congratulations to them.”

Newsies opened at Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre on March 29. Directed by Jeff Calhoun and choreographed by Tony winner Christopher Gattelli, the musical features the movie's original music as well as additional songs by Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken and lyricist Jack Feldman, and a book by four-time Tony winner Harvey Fierstein.

In addition to Jordan, Newsies stars Kara Lindsay, John Dossett, Capathia Jenkins, Ben Fankhauser,  Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Lewis Grosso and Matthew Schechter.