Man, I really frickin love Davey Jacobs
Cause likeā¦in act one heās all uptight, quiet nerd, stick in the mud, whatever, and I think we all knew he was gonna develop as a character, but how it happened is just hilarious to me
The newsies form their union and he just LIGHTS UP. He is so quickly invested in the strike, itās kind of adorable. He looks like heās been waiting for this moment for YEARS. Okay, that checks out. Thereās your character development.
BUT THEN.
WATCH WHAT HAPPENS REPRISE.
That entire SCENE is magical. I know itās supposed to be theĀ āget Jack back on trackā scene, but to me itās theĀ āDavey Jacobs unleashes his full chaotic potentialā scene.Ā
āMind lettin a pal know youāre alive??!!ā
āThereās no escaping us pal, weāre inevitable.ā *literally smacks Jack on the butt with a newspaper*
āTell me how quitting does Crutchie ANY good.āĀ ā-dsjkb-āĀ āEXAcTLy!ā
āGo and look it up, the poor GUYāS HEad is spinning-ā
And my personal favourite:
LIGHTEN UP. NO ONE DIED. AFTER THEY JUST HAD A RALLY THAT ENDED IN A HUGE FIGHT AND A CRIPPLED NEWSIE GETTING DRAGGED OFF TO ORPHAN JAIL, THIS BOY SAYS āYeah but no one died so get back to work you useless emoā.
And Jack just
Cause again, this is the same guy who, when the strike was first suggested, said āyeah no, you guys have fun but Iām out, Iām just here to feed my familyā. And now he has fully embraced the spirit of being a newsie. IN THE TIME SPAN OF LIKE TWO DAYS.
TDLR; Davey Jacobs is one of my favourite musical characters of all time and anyone who baselessly disrespects him can catch these hands. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
