#newsies rant

[munsons-mutiny]

Let’s talk about the Watch What Happens (reprise) and why Only Davey could’ve sang it.

Like at this point they’re pushing the Katherine and Jack agenda, why shouldn’t she be his inspiration to keep going in this moment???

And the answer is cause she can’t grasp the situation fully!!!

Let me make it very clear that this is Not Katherine slander. I love her. I think this scene highlights the differences in their struggles and upbringing in a really brilliant way.

When she sees Jack wants to quit in this scene she’s so harsh with him. Doesn’t try to empathize with his situation at all, wants him to just buck up and keep going! Because for her, in her situation, with her upbringing, that’s the only way to get anywhere! She wants to be a reporter? Well she can’t listen when she’s told no. She has to push ahead no matter what. She can’t show fear and she can’t show weakness cause she’ll be called a girl like it’s a bad thing and have it used against her. But she doesn’t see her privilege in this! That in coming from a rich powerful family her physical safety can not be put in jeopardy! Her worst case scenario is moving back home and having to deal with her family’s idea of what it means to be a women in this time period. And don’t get me wrong that’s horrible, it would be a terrible and unfair outcome.

But it doesn’t threaten her physical safety!! (Not to say this is true for all women in her position but the show paints a picture that her dad does genuinely love her in his extremely misguided way and we never see him threaten her physical well being or even to stop bank rolling her). She can’t understand that sometimes you need to let a fight pass you by to survive. She doesn’t understand what it really means for Crutchie to be in the Refuge until later. So she pushes hard and it would’ve just ended in a fight where her and Jack miss each other’s points entirely.

But Davey gets it. Maybe not to the extent Jack does, but Jack said it himself Davey’s dads physical safety being jeopardized at work has threatened his whole family’s housing and food security. Something that could’ve been prevented with a union. He knows that this isn’t safe, he fully grasps the danger they’re in, to an extent that Katherine can’t because she’s never threatened by it. Not really. For her and her rich friends she involves this could just be a pet project (she would never view it that way of course) but if this all goes pear shaped all she has to live with is the guilt not the consequences. Her life continues with maybe some delays depending how long her blacklisting lasts.

But for Davey this could be the choice that means they can’t afford food or can’t pay rent. This could be the choice that means Les can’t go to school and his dad doesn’t have a safe place to recover. He gets it, he matches Jack’s fear, but he can’t backdown when they’re making real changes that Jack is having a hard time seeing in the wake of losing Crutchie to an institution that is a large source of his trauma. He needed empathy and hope not an ass kicking and Davey delivered.

Without him that scene would’ve ended with Jack running away a lot sooner and a lot more permanently. Rant over. Hopefully this is semi-well articulated it’s late and I couldn’t sleep til I got this out.

#newsies rant #this is why I love javid sm too #and don’t really ship Katherine and Jack at all #they just have such a sibling ass kicking way of pushing each other #which they both need sometimes!! #but idk not enough empathy for me to ever ship them #the whole antagonistic flirting thing is just not for me #antagonistic besties on the other hand #there’s a reason you don’t send a boyfriend to do a best friends job #jack kelly #davey jacobs #katherine plumber #katherine pulitzer #livesies #watch what happens reprise #newsies #javid #just a lil #mine

[dogdogdog]

I'm exploring the idea that Jack actually really enjoys reading. in 92sies he carries his little dime-novel about cowboys in santa fe, he reads the papers he sells and creates little stories to improve the truth into something people want to hear about. Jack Kelly stealing novels from Katherine in his free time, begging Davey to show him his school books whenever he's learning about something interesting, coming back to his little magazine time and time again because even though he's found himself something worth staying in New York for, he still dreams of that little town out west. I see him getting into creative writing, maybe even illustrating his own works

#jack kelly #newsies #wybie blogs #newsies rant #unfinished

[i-didnt-do-1t]

still can’t get over Jack singing ‘let me go, far away, somewhere they won’t never find me’ as if sante fe is not the First Place that everyone would look if he disappeared

#newsies #Jack Kelly #Jack pls you do not shut up about it #I also love the implication that davey was told about sante fe of screen #‘that a real place? that sante fe’ #Jack definitely ranted about it to him on the way to and from Brooklyn

[zoeyslament]

Wanna know why I kinda left the Newsies fandom?

Sprace.

Uksies Sprace isn’t the problem. The problem is Livesies and 92sies Sprace. I’m so tired of everyone making Spot a tough guy with a heart of steel, and Race a pretty little gay twink.

Not only is he a NEWSIE, surviving days of selling papes and living on the streets, he’s also not as ‘uwu femboy’ as a lot of people portray him??

If you portray him like that, fine, but please, PLEASE don’t let another ship get watered down to stereotypes please :<

#newsies #rant

[jackmkelly]

btw the way this is staged making it look like jacks the reason les ended up in a sling plagues my mind weekly

#newsies #jack kelly #les jacobs #he just does everything to protect everyone :( #and ended up hurting the youngest :( #also theres a whole side rant about les and jack’s dynamic but thats for another day

[pigeonwit]

hi i was last anon (i was nervous sorry) uhhh can u give us more thoughts on transfem jack…

i just think its one of those headcanons that just,,, makes SENSE yknow. its not my default for jack as a character but its one of those things that clicks into place and makes you go 'ohhhh yeah. yeah that'd make sense.' like a big thing for jack as a character is they're never allowed to express any vulnerability in the show. they HAVE to be the leader, they HAVE to be the protector, they HAVE to be this one-note hypermasculine force that everyone they care about can rely on and everyone who could threaten them will be intimidated by and its killing them. the only times jack is openly vulnerable is when they're by themself in 'santa fe', with katherine in 'something to believe in', and ONE line with davey ('its good to have you back again' 'shut up') and even then thats debatable. and jack being transfem really recontextualizes that because vulnerability of any kind is still to this day considered feminine and (especially for those who are viewed as masculine) weak. which just makes it more poignant when jack is allowed to be vulnerable imo.

i dont know if jack would be able to be open about their identity in canon era right away. jack the cowboy is a persona that keeps them protected, and they need to maintain that for as long as they're a newsie. but i think they'd trust some people with it. medda would be a big one; she creates this very safe place for jack in the theatre, its one of the only two places in the show we're able to see jack show their innermost feelings. i like to think that through this soft and reassuring place she makes for jack, she encourages them to be more Them. like if jacks a little too enamoured with the stage makeup the bowery beauties use, or if they stare at the feathers a little too long. i think medda's the one they feel safest and most assured expressing femininity around.

(btw fuck you *psychically airdrops jack in bowery beauty makeup into your mind*)

that being said, i think spot's a close second. spot's always been the one to say that being a girl doesnt make her weak, but being tough doesn't make her any less a girl, either - and i know a lot of fanon believes they had some kind of sibling-ish relationship as they grew up, so there's got to be a lot of trust there. i like to think they bring jack to some girls poker games and all the other girls figure it out pretty quick - there are definitely some trans girls at brooklyn - and even if some of the brooklyn girls dont totally get it, they'll still respect it.

they'd obviously talk to katherine about it, but not right away, even when they do start seeing each other. katherine holds a lot more societal power than jack does so even though they've had their breakthrough together and know they can rely on one another and express their vulnerabilities to each other, i still think jack would be wary. i think the more they get to know katherine's life and the company she keeps (i know she's covered for bill and darcy SO much) they start opening up bit by bit. katherine's nothing but supportive. i know her autistic girl swag ass is looking for any kind of resource on gender nonconformity she can find.

davey and jack i imagine have pretty frequent conversations about feeling different, feeling wrong. imo, davey listens more than he talks (and he talks a LOT) so i think this is something davey might've picked up on before jack ever had to tell him. neither of them would have the vocabulary to explain it, but i don't think they'd need it. i like to think they agree to move in together as they grow older and leave the lodging house, and that davey goes out of his way to make sure jack feels comfortable expressing themself there, as its probably one of the only places they could.

crutchie is interesting because while he and jack are the closest friendship in newsies, in a way they're both constantly performing to each other - jack with their big 'run away to santa fe' fantasy and crutchie with his constant blend of pessimism and cockiness that keeps him from dreaming too big, but also from thinking of himself as small. so in a way i think crutchie is the person of jack's close circle that they tell last. and i think crutchie might privately be a bit hurt about that but i think he'd still understand why it had to be that way. and even then i dont think he's anything other than protective and supportive. big brother crutchie forever.

thats kind of it, i think. obviously in canon era its something that'd have to be kept under wraps but i think with jacks whole 'sensitive artist' lifestyle they'd eventually find a community where they can Be without judgement. but as it stands they have their family to rely on.

#THANK YOU MX DAVEYSEXUAL THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME RANT ABOUT THIS!!! #man. transfem jack huh. #newsies #uksies #jack kelly #ask

[this-is-macy]

Let Crutchie be allosexual and alloromantic.

Let Crutchie be allosexual and alloromantic.

Let Crutchie be allosexual and alloromantic.

Let Crutchie be allosexual and alloromantic.

Let Crutchie be allosexual and alloromantic.

Let Crutchie be allosexual and alloromantic.

Let Crutchie be allosexual and alloromantic.

Let Crutchie be allosexual and alloromantic.

#please #disabled characters are allowed to have sex lives/dating lives too. #i'm not trying to rustle any jimmies here but as a disabled person myself this trend is getting quite annoying and yes it is ableist. #i'm just sayin' that if any other 2 characters had the same dynamic that jack and crutchie do then people would ship the hell outta them. #and not just platonically #crutchie #crutchy #newsies #newsies musical #newsies 2017 #newsies 1992 #newsies uk #disability #disability representation #disabled characters #musical #theatre #mini rant #crutchie morris #crutchy morris

[louisapennyfeather2021]

This is me realizing that not a lot of people know Jeremy Jordan from Newsies on Broadway anymore.

WHICH IS TOTALLY FINE BTW

It's just super interesting to see the fandom spaces where actors are currently the most influential in. Like, for me, I'll always know Jeremy for Newsies, Bonnie&Clyde, and Supergirl. Other people will know him for Tangled and Death Note the Musical. And obviously people will know him as Lucifer in Hazbin Hotel, now.

I just think that's cool :)

#sam's thoughts #sam says stuff #sam's ranting #sam says shit #sam's club #sam's life #sam's gas can #jeremy jordan #newsies broadway #newsies live #death note the musical #hazbin hotel #tangled the series #bonnie and clyde the musical

[we-are-inevitable]

ok so i was talking to @to-be-a-dreamer @tarantulas4davey and @carpe-diem-since-1899 about racetrack things the other day and i just thought i would dump some of those thoughts here bc i am So invested in this weird little guy

anyway i just ,, i have a lot of feelings abt jack passing the newsies onto racer once he ages out.

i feel like. charlie is the next choice, but charlie in my eyes is the same age as- if not older than- jack; if jack hadn’t been the leader of the newsboys, it definitely would have been charlie, but jack is the one who took the reins. (this age hc is mostly because of west endsies ngl.) anyway! moving on

jack and charlie have always been a team. charlie is definitely jack’s second in terms of always being there, but race is his second in terms of business- it only makes sense for race to take over when jack is gone, and i just,, i love the concept of race either not really wanting that or not really knowing how to handle that. i think, at his core, race is trying to hold onto whatever youth he has left. its why he’s always cracking jokes, despite how jaded and angry he is under the surface. he pretends not to care or else he’ll crack under the pressure, and when he cracks, it’s angry. it’s mean. his bark is as bad as his bite. so he puts on this front- this childish, snarky, comedic relief front- and he’s terrified of the implications of Being The Leader because he feels like he’ll no longer have that front to hold onto or hide behind. and it takes him a long time, i think, to realize that he doesn’t have to be exactly who Jack was- he can lead the newsboys how he sees fit, he doesn’t need to be a carbon copy of jack, because they’re fundamentally so different. and i think that is just very fun

but more on the anger, because i think it’s an interesting take that is very much represented in West Endsies- as @roideny and @jack-kellys have pointed out before:

i’m interested in the other newsies- especially albert, finch, and maybe spot- seeing that sadness and strain and anger that seems to be taking it’s place as his dominant trait. yeah. bc i think,, i think race is angry at his core, like i said. angry at his position in all of this. angry that jack left, that charlie followed, that davey was never staying in the first place, that spot still thinks of him as a kid instead of a new leader, that other burrough leaders don’t take him seriously because they know him as the jokester. angry that these kids are his kids now, and angry that his kids are still starving, still walking holes in their shoes, still shivering at night and still dying of sickness when the cold weather hits too hard. i want this race to be fucking pissed and i want everyone else to be caught off guard by it.

because, let’s be real, jack wasn’t the roughest leader. he was strong, and dependable, and not afraid to put kids in their place, but he’s still nurturing and parental. after years of being used to that, i think the newsies would struggle with Race for a while, especially as race tries to figure out his leadership style, and i think a lot of that would manifest in this anger that has been bubbling up under the surface for ages- the anger he never lets anyone see because he doesn’t want that.

race has spent anywhere from 5 to 10 years- depending on when you headcanon him to join the newsies- being the funny guy, the clown, the joker; if he’s going to earn respect, he’s going to have to take it from a few kids. lashing out and being brash- all for the sake of keeping everyone safe, of course- but he’s such a different leader than jack, and i think it would be SO fun to explore that more in post-canon works.

i feel like this post is a little disjointed and i may not be explaining things correctly, plus i haven’t actually seen west endsies yet! a lot of this is based on convos with the besties and i am just having brainrot. besties, feel free to jump in with any additions, and anyone reading this: feel free to send asks or talk in the tags <33

#i’m gonna be so for real rn a lot of this is just copy-pasted from some discord rants #but i put some more thoughts in it lmao #anyway give me ANGRY RACEEE ugh ok. ok im so normal about this #originally this had a lot more ralbert in it but i kinda took it out to focus on canon #(chandler if youre reading this: hi ily go wild with ralbert thoughts if you want) #n e ways #newsies #jac txt. #livesies #racetrack higgins #jack kelly #racetrack newsies #race newsies #west endsies #newsies live #newsies broadway #broadway newsies #david jacobs #davey jacobs #spot conlon #crutchie morris

[hellosammy19]

It's crazy to come back to tumblr after a few weeks and everyone is fucking exposing themselves as miserable misogynists (but I shouldn't be surprised, people have been talking shit about Katherine since the beginning of her existence)

Katherine is a good character with motivations that are adjacent to the newsies - wanting to be heard in a society that doesn't value them because of what they were born as.

She is writing about the newsies so it can be her first front-page article but also to help them gain a successful deal- she sacrifices her father‘s goodwill (her career) to fight for them even after the article was published. If you think this is exploitation- it's literally just journalism and Denton does the exact same thing - just without the needing-to-be-heard aspect (as he's not a female reporter)

If I see complex / grey area stories (murder, theft, manipulation etc) and motivations about the most random newsies and you can't extend that love to Katherine or Hannah or Medda or so forth - please do look at yourself.

(And personally, I think it would have been better if Sarah was the reporter instead of Pulitzer’s daughter because then she’s really starting at the bottom and also- it’s a weird reveal for Katherine to be his daughter because what does that do? Make Jack feel more isolated? He’s already feeling isolated.

Then David can be mad at Sarah for not taking a traditionally feminine job for a stable income (like he was doing) and pursuing this dream that he doesn’t think she can achieve but over time he sees that her words are really making a change - for the newsies and child labours in New York.

But, whatever, Katherine is a good character anyways- the struggle between her background and her current fight to become a journalist and fight for worker’s rights has depth to it and I don’t believe some people can’t see that.)

#newsies rant that I’m very late to lol #newsies

[felt-squirrels]

You guys have NO IDEA how nice it is to be in clothes that aren’t dress pants and jazz shoes also my friend apparently has a sense of humor

#felt rants #tech week #newsies #newsies musical #newsies broadway #livesies

[thatdumbgoth]

pssst hi um pls lore dump about newsies to me

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OFC MOST OF THIS WILL BE FUN FACTS AND STUFF BUT UEAH OMG OMG OMG OMH OMG

Okay so basically a bit of historical context first

The story of newsies is loosely based on the Newsboy Strike of 1899, in which prices were raised in July of 1899 by Pulutzer and Hearst to get prices back to wartime income. The newsies did not take this well and went on strike. The charecter of Jack Kelly is loosely based on a newsie named Kid Blink, aka Louis Baletti. He was the first union leader and lived to be 32 before dieing of tuberculosis and he may have worked for a mobster!!!! The charecter of Davey Jacobs is loosely based on David Simmons, a Jewish boxer newsie, the second leader of the strike. Both Blink and Simmons were kicked out for alleged scabbing. The charecter closest to a real life person is Racetrack Higgins, the lovable Manhatten newsie in the musical. He's based on Ed "Racetrack" Higgins, who led Brooklyn and started the strike with a 14 year old Spot Conlon. Ed actually lived a long time, living to be around 75 or so. Another key player was a female newsie named Annie Kelly, although I can't find much information on her. Crutchie Morris was also a real person with the same name as his musical counterpart, who reportedly sold around the sheepshead track if im not mistaken.

Racetrack in the movie is actually confirmed trans by the director if im not mistaken, which is pretty cool. The movie is actually pretty gay in terms of interactions and subtext and everything. Although, it did flop at box-office. It was rushed and Christian Bale was cast because he was famous, not necessarily cause he could sing.

The musical, on the other hand, did quite the opposite of flop. When it premiered at the papermill playhouse, it almost immediately went to broadway. Oh, and another thing about the movie. Katherine Plumber was not originally in it! She was added when it was adopted into a stage musical. She's named for Pulitzers real daughter who died at age two. I've actually seen newsies twice live, once in the round, once traditionally.

Mike Faist originally played Morris Delancey, and a lot of former newsies are actually in the cast of 2021's West Side Story!

All the newsies have collectors cards that explain their backstories, for example Jojo, who was raises by nuns all his life. My dream is to own those cards it'd be so cool. I'd also really like to play jack kelly. There is actually a newsie called Kid Blink in the 92 movie, with an eyepatch. That's all I can think to say rn, but I'll answer any questions u have!!!!!!

#newsies broadway #rubys random thoughts #im silly #answering asks #infodump #rant post #newsies #newsies musical #jack kelly

[ricky-tiki-tah]

Why must I do the thing where I get more into the thing my friend showed me than my friend??

Example time:

Friend: *presents something cool that they like passingly*

Me: *takes it and makes it my personality, learning more lore than my friend within a matter of days*

Me: *unable to have conversations about it now because I’d be the one explaining it to them now*

EVERY DAMN TIME

#newsies #newsies 1992 #harry potter #percy jackson #pjo hoo toa #bbc sherlock #supernatural #spn #fnaf #five nights at freddy's #markiplier #jacksepticeye #neurodivergent #autism #adhd #ricky rants

[metaphorically-saltire]

Hey guys i need more newsies friends. Hit me. Asks, rbs i dont care. CONTACT ME I NEED SOMEONE TO RANT WITH. (Btw i am in AEST time zone so if u get a message at,, 12am im sorry lmao)

#Im lonely #i promise im cool #I suck at talking #But please bear with me #newsies #uksies #livesies #92sies #i also like hamilton btw #Will happily rant abt any of these with u

[unofficially-racetrack]

HAHAHA GUYs

I have these sweatpants I use as pajamas, and this white shirt that’s really big that has a stick figure in fire that says “im fine everything’s fine”

and both of those I use as pajamas. It being Thursday and me not having school tomorrow, I decided, why not? I also picked out my very first newsies hat to go with it. The shirt is white and the pants are gray, and the hat looks exactly like Broadway Jack Kelly’s. (Jeremy Jordan the recorded Broadway one)

But my mom said the shirt was wrinkled, so I put it in the dryer, she said it’s still wrinkled but I convinced her so now I’m so happy :D

#Kiara rants #Kia wears pajamas to school #newsies #Jack Kelly #hat

[riding-palominos-every-day]

Sometimes it's really annoying my brain refuses to perceive literally any romantic relationship (canon or fanon) in Newsies. Cannot go any further than crushes before my brain just shuts off it's so stupid-

#unironically Mayer and Esther Jacobs are the only romantic relationship I perceive in Newsies #i wanna join in convos. but ships amongst the newsies just don't do anything for me #platonic/brotherly dynamics absolutely. brain draws a blank at romantic tho or just goes “why??” #not tagging for this one #not a vent but perhaps a rant