Newsies Musical Summary *spoilers may be present*~

The musical starts with Jack Kelly and his best friend Crutchie waking up before a long day of work as newsies. Before the morning bell rings, Jack Kelly fantasizes about the life he has always wanted out west in Santa Fe. He brings Crutchie on a visual journey and convinces him that Santa Fe could be the best thing to happen to them. The morning bell then interrupts and they start their days on the stinkin’ streets of New York. As the first day for the Jacobs’ comes to a close, Jack is spotted by “Snyder the Spider”, the warden of the children's jail, the Refuge. Jack has been wanted since escaping on the back of Teddy Roosevelt's carriage. While running, the three boys go to Miss Medda Larkin’s burlesque house for safe hiding. This is where Jack Kelly has his second interaction with the beautiful and talented reporter, Katherine Plummer. 

The next day, Pulitzer takes action against the newsies by charging 10 cents more per hundred papers, in hopes of making back the money he shelled out trying to beat his biggest rivals in the newspaper business and beyond, especially one William Hearst. This triggers the newsies to not only be angered by this decision, but pushed them to action in the form of a union. This is fairly accurate for the time period since there were so many unions being formed to try and get worker’s rights. With Jack and Davey leading, the newsies go into their first battle with Mr. Weisel and the Delancey brothers. The battle starts out fine, but once the cops show up, all hell breaks loose. After the cops show up and arrest Crutchie, Jack flees to the rooftop. This is where we get treated with the amazing power ballad, Santa Fe, that brings out all the emotions of losing his best friend to the people he had spent his life running from. This is the only time the audience truly gets to see what's going on inside Jack’s head and his connection with the other boys making them beyond coworkers, but the only family he had ever known. Santa Fe is also when we first see Jack why Jack wants to leave New York; he wants to go somewhere where he is more than a kid wasting his days dreaming of an impossible future. While Jack is singing his heart out on the rooftop, the other boys and Katherine celebrate being on the front page, above the fold. King of New York, one of the biggest dance numbers of the show and the only to feature tap dancing, is the first time we get to see Katherine forming a bond with the other boys, not just Jack. 

The next time Jack is seen, he is painting a new backdrop for Miss Medda to earn the money needed to get to Santa Fe. His solitude is interrupted by Davey, Les, and Katherine who manage to convince him not to quit on them and to keep fighting for their rights. After rejoining the group, Jack visits Pulitzer to invite him to the rally the burlesque house will be hosting in order to give him the opportunity to defend his side. This is also when the biggest twist of the movie is revealed, Katherine Plummer is actually Katherine Pulitzer, Joe’s daughter. Feeling betrayed, Jack does what he can to get out of there and away from the traitor. Mr. Pulitzer offers Jack either be arrested by Snyder the Spider, or speak against the newsies and take the money. He makes the unexpected decision to take the money. He speaks to the newsies at the rally and disappears again, preparing to leave for Santa Fe.

Fast Forward to Katherine appearing on the rooftop, waiting for Jack, as she finds disturbing images Jack drew of the refuge from his time there. The images are graphic and provide all the information Katherine needs to finally put an end to the strike and the final nail in her father’s coffin, The Children’s Crusade. The flack Pulizter got from this article brought the attention of Governor Roosevelt, who’s hatred for Pulitzer ran deep after he launched a campaign against Roosevelt in an attempt to keep him from taking political office. 

The movie ends with Katherine and Jack happy together, Governor Roosevelt praising Jack for his work, and most importantly, the Newsies got their rights. Pulitzer and Jack agreed to lower the price raise by half and for Pulitzer to buy back any paper that goes unsold for full price. Jack’s passion and talent also landed him a dream job drawing political cartoons for the World, bringing him inside the paper instead of outside hawking it. All in all, most everyone had their happy ending, except for Romeo, who was unfortunately, still all alone.

Newsies Critique~

In Newsies, it really helps place the importance of newsies at the turn of the century. It also shows the poor conditions forced upon children without parents. I also enjoy the use of Katherine’s character by making her an advocate for both women looking to join the workforce and for children trying to get out of it. The only issue I have with this musical is that they treat Crutchie like one of the most important characters, but he has very little screen time and doesn’t have much of an impact on the final result, though I must admit that Crutchie’s arrest was one of the few things that kept Jack fighting. That being said, I love Newsies, more specifically, Jeremy Jordan in Newsies. I have watched this musical close to once a week since the end of 2019. The story, the singing, and especially the dancing is beyond amazing. I am a huge musical theatre nerd, and this musical is easily in my top five favorite, maybe even top three. I’ve watched this so many times, yet I still find small details that make the musical that much better.