Becoming Jack Kelly (or, The Newsies Saved the Dreamer)
It’s something that’s been talked about here before (I think??) bUt I’m gonna talk about it again
HERES WHY I LOVE NEWSIES WITH MY VERY SOUL
I was in newsies at the beginning of the year as none other than the amazing Katherine Plumber. It was a very small cast and production and I had to do basically everything to get to show on its feet.
So the rehearsals got underway and playing Katherine was a DREAM. It was so amazing to be able to be sweet and smart and sophisticated in the middle of a bunch of newsies. (Not to mention being able to make hilarious jokes at their expense)
But I didn’t really enjoy it as much as I thought I would. As good as I thought I was at being Katherine, I found that (whenever I had to stand in for someone) being a rough and dirty and boisterous newsie was FAR easier. But I kept my concerns to myself as there were many other girls in the cast who would’ve liked to be Katherine.
That was when the worst happened.
Our Jack Kelly, a fantastic and unbelievably talented guy named Caleb, had to drop out of the production due to family problems. He warned us of this beforehand and had an understudy ready to take on the part.
So the understudy took on the mantel of Jack Kelly for a whole TWO rehearsals before having to drop out too due to *gags* college.
Therefore I had a perfectly stressful couple of days to figure it what the HECK I was going to do. (As I was also the director and did basically everything else for the show) Only a couple people knew that we were without a Jack and I had to come up with a way for this thing to work.
The only solution soon came to me.
It wouldn’t be a hard thing for me to do. I already knew all the lines and music since I’d been directing the darn thing and had seen the show eighty BILLION times.
So our Albert became Katherine and our Tommy Boy took over Albert’s part and rehearsals went on.
I hear a lot of people talk about how roles change them. How they learn things from their characters and playing that role made them a better person. But I always thought that was just a rouse.
I’d never had that experience and I’ve been in PLENTY of musicals. So I guess I thought it was just something other actors would say to make people enjoy the show or like the characters more.
But that all changed when I played Jack Kelly.
Jack Kelly is a damaged person. A girl orphaned in New York who has to make herself mean and hard and tough in order to survive. She had to cut her hair, wear men’s clothes, but cruel to people she’d rather be friends with.
On top of that, Crutchie is Jacks younger sibling. Cnon and confirmed in our production. So Jack has the weight of caring for Crutchie and feeling responsible for what happened to them.
My Jack Kelly is damaged and tired person. She is so heavy with the weight of the world. She is being drained by trying to live up to peoples expectations and likewise guard herself from those people. And that also makes her angry. She is so upset that she has to live in this world where she not only has to be someone she’s not in order to stay safe, but also act the part they’re expecting of her because of her defense mechanism.
Jack Kelly is an actress. But she does not enjoy the part.
During the course of the show the audience sees this. She is tired and angry and longs for something more. She pretends that she’s alright for the sake of Crutchie and the people around her, but in the end she’s just tired.
Then she meets Katherine. And Katherine is a lady, she gets to wear pretty dresses, she gets to be sweet. And when Jack looks at her, she sees the person she wanted to be. Jack wanted to be all that but it was stolen from her when her parents died.
And likewise with Katherine. She’s from a society family, forced to behave a certain way to maintain standards. Forced to be a doll, weak, voiceless. So she sees JACK. Jack is a girl getting to be as wild and passionate and free as she wants to. And Katherine wants THAT.
So throughout the show Jack and Katherine see each other and how they live. And both of them want what the other has desperately. We even added this bit of dialogue during the Something to Belive In Scene where Jack talks about how Katherine made her feel special and no one had ever done that before.
In the end, both women find who they are and who they want to be through each other and I find it WAYYYYYY more meaningful then just a romance??
All that to say... I did learn something from Jack Kelly. I LOVE her for that.
I was an actress too. Hiding how I felt about so many things. I struggled with depression but pretended that I didn’t. I forced myself to smile and be happy because people NEEDED me to be.
I hid how I felt for particular people and that caused me even more pain.
My hopes and dreams of a brighter future, my imagination, were all being slowly eaten away because I didn’t know how to deal with my own problems.
In the end, going on Jacks journey with her made me a much better person. I learned to love myself for and through my flaws and found the beautiful parts of myself through that.
So I did learn something from Jack Kelly. My journey was the same as hers. Again, I love her for that.
Just as I love and will forever love the newsies... for the rest of my days.
And that was how Jack Kelly and the newsies save the dreamer....
anyways thanks for coming to my tedtalk....
