#i honestly dont know why this adaptation isn't more popular

[bl-inded]

A part of me absolutely loves the utopian non-homophobic world that BLs exist in. But when they draw that bar of acceptance with that subtlest undercurrent of thoughts every queer person has had multiple times in their life, oof it hits.

Cherry magic TH especially is doing wonders to make my little queer heart so extremely seen. Internalised homophobia doesn't always manifest as self hatred but more often as a means of "understanding". There is willingness to forgive rejection because you can't assume acceptance. Which sucks. But it's so true to life.

Karan had done it so many times before him and Achi got together but Achi with his new colleagues in episode 11 made me feel some kind of way 🥲. Especially this specific scene.

Yeah. I've told myself this exact thing soooo many times. They don't need to know me, I don't need to make them feel uncomfortable if I can avoid it. And Achi doesn't do this because his colleagues are hateful, it's just not another problem he wants to think about- because acceptance is not a given.

I love soo many things Cherry Magic TH has done different from the Japanese version, especially the cultural adaptation. The Japanese version starts and ends with their relationship being a secret. This version is more hopeful, and these little moments nod to that struggle and make it more appropriate to the setting and let us see the characters overcome it.

[thatnerdinthecorner]

I agree with everything here, but I will just add ('just add' she said, thinking this was going to be short) that I saw Uksies about a month ago and I don't think I've mentioned anything negative about Uksies Spot (don't worry, I'll get into it) before on here bc pretty much everyone I've seen talking about it has been very positive, which honestly is a really great sign, and 5-10yrs ago I don't think it would have been the same in the newsies fandom, and probably most other fandoms at least on tumblr, especially with regard to a popular white mlm ship.

That being said, I think that if the only thing that bothers people is the ship dynamic then it could be that Spot really isn't the same character, and you can like the new character portrayal while not necessarily thinking they mesh with another character. I haven't seen any Ralbert in a while and idk if it's still as popular as it was, but even when I did see it a lot it was always less popular than Sprace, bc people like the dynamic between the stoic scary one and the ridiculous gremlin of chaos more than the dynamic between 2 chaos gremlins.

I think Uksies sprace would probably have a dynamic more like Ralbert than previous versions of sprace, bc Spot was really shown more as being cheeky rather than threatening in Uksies. The difference in protayal between adaptations isn't surprising, or even necesserily bad, but when people care about a character they're going to be mad about changes made to a character (that's actually part of the reason I haven't said anything negative about uk spot bc im really happy that people don't seem to be mad about the change simply bc its different to the version they're used to), so those changes have to be done well. I don't know if there are still subsections of the fandom having this argument, but I remember people had really strong opinions about which versions of a character you prefer between 92sies, toursies and livesies, and thats not even getting into the different actors on broadway.

The broadway adaptation cut the spot introduction for time, so having him show up looking teeny tiny anyone who hadnt seen the movie would be really confused about why everyone was so scared of him. Instead, hes big (well, bigger) and tough, and threatening that way. In Uksies, Spot is small and slight, and she (and all the brooklyn newsies) seems to be really excited to be there. But everyone's still scared of her. (Also, side note, if you look on the website, shes not in the cast list, all the women besides Medda and Katherine as swing or ensemble.) It's kind of weird, and feels like they either should have cast someone else and leant into the physical intimidating presence (it's not like big women don't exist and can't be threatening) or just added back in a scene of Jack and Davey going to Brooklyn and given the audience a reason to view her as threatening. Even though the newsies were all still scared of Brooklyn, my dad (who took me bc he knew id been obsessed with it for a couple of years when I was a teenager, but who never really new anything about the show) left afterwards being confused about why they were scared of Brooklyn, bc Spot really just wasn't scary, and as a result that element of the story doesn't quite translate. (Just to clarify, this is my only criticism of Uk spot.)

From a Sprace standpoint the weird story confusion doesn't really matter (and bc a lot of people who see newsies are big fans it doesnt matter that much for the story either - like how people used to talk about the fact that if you hadn't read the hp books the later movies dont 100% make sense, yk, back before we realised jk was evil, but i digress), but it does remove the element of grumpy-sunshine bc Spot isn't portrayed as either grumpy or particularly scary.

TLDR: It's a different dynamic and probably more for the old ralbert fans than sprace fans.

west end question: i obviously love my brooklyn girls and would die for them all, but is it bad that it’s taken away the sprace dynamic for me? like i’m still 100% on board with a nowhere near canon ship and it shouldn’t affect me they’ve decided to have spot be a girl, but it lowkey has? and i feel kinda guilty about it? idk i love my proshot boys. but i am 100% here for all the uk newsies cast they are amazing and so talented and it’s definitely my favourite production by far!! idk if i’m making sense

ok part of me feels a litle baited actually because like. i feel like... im vocal abt mlm musical sprace not being a big vibe for me in the first place. so im a funny person to ask if you were looking for relief lmao. anyway here's my thesis below.

wait also if ur a white newsie fan a read-thru+rb of this would be much appreciated thank youuu (also yall have been eating up my character analyses anyway sooooo!)

TL;DR THESIS: if you're feeling genuinely let down that your ship did not see the light of day and a black girlsie spot conlon got to instead, then yes, you should reevaluate that.

followers, if you've been with me long enough, you know that i have quite strong opinions about how this show gets treated when it comes to interpretations and fandom/fanon. mostly, this is because i literally work in theater, and it's extremely backwards in my brain personally when shows get treated more like a movie or tv show than a performance piece.

im also one of the only ppl in this fandom that ever seems to dare speak on race (not the damn character smh). and anon, buddy, kiddo, this does have to do with race, gender, and sexuality.

firstly, what i think needs to be understood about newsies, is that it is theater, which means it is meant to be mutable. there is no one way. there should never be one way. it does not exist. secondly, theater does not exist in a fandom vacuum. its live every night, conceptually. theater is a live performance art.

interpretations change- it's the nature of theater. so i think asks like these really do illuminate the difference between fans of the show's content or fans of... i guess the show's culture's content.

this is a culture content ask.

one thing i really, truly, deeply need you all to understand: from an objective, script- and staging-based perspective, proshot sprace does not exist. they do not speak. they barely see each other. race does not even volunteer to go to brooklyn. the ship originates from the 1992 movie, where they do actually interact, which is why the ship has prevailed through the 90s to today. they're from the movie, not the musical.

of course, this doesn't bash the ship- it has history, and naturally fans want to create new history when they get a new source material (the musical). it's true for like every newsie ship lowkey (but also not lowkey because all the manhattan newsies do interact and sprace literally does not but thats a different post!!), which is something i do admire about the fandom- we do a lot of our own legwork here, we invent relationships and backgrounds from one-liners that could be given to tbh any frickin newsie. i respect the 30 years we have invented ships.

however.

when a huge, publicized, consistently sold out production comes along with spot conlon as not only a woman, but a woman of color (specifically black rn!) as the leader of the most feared group on stage, there becomes something much more important than a "sprace dynamic", which does not canonically exist in the musical anyway bro. you can't miss something that isn't there imo. often the story and casting within a story comes first, and goddamn if this isn't one of those times. lillie-pearl's spot brings bravado, swagger, confidence, and intimidation that is literally....fine maybe i'm being personal but it is slash gen incredible to see in technically a period piece! a black woman in leadership with that kind of assuredness! in such a popular musical! how is that not– automatically surpassing an often obsessed-over (yes i am. hinting at something here, straight girl fans) mlm ship?

and while i'm on the topic of the over-obsessiveness of mlm musical sprace, let me talk about uksies sprace. because what's also wack abt this ask is that sprace is not a hopeless case in this production- it literally has about as much 'evidence' as the proshot imo!!!!!

i got to hop over to 2nd row brooklyn seating for act 2 so i saw once and for all really close up, right. there's a moment when race is upstage letting the newsies in/down from the stairs. spot comes down and she does, in fact, share a look with him. race gives spot a nod and she keeps moving.

and like im gonna see the show again (every day i am counting my mf blessings fr), so if i'm wrong or they don't do it every time i'll correct myself, but that's what i saw with my own dang eyes on saturday. they do acknowledge each other in uksies.

and since they do, i really like. i have to ask. what is bothersome/unpopular abt uksies sprace, other than oh idk.... its not white/white mlm with a twink/manly bf trope? why can't race still love who spot is as a character, this strong and fearless ruler of brooklyn, in uksies? because tbh josh's racer...nahhhh because. this is such a side note now but they'd be so good together oh jesus am i gonna ship uk sprace. and it's not like they're 'taking away' from a queer ship because a) you can headcanon spot as a queer girl and race being trans is consistently popular and b) newsies has ten billion gayass ships bro we've been eatin for literal decades.

anon, i'm sure you didn't mean harm by this ask. i'm sure, honestly, that a lot of fans are feeling the same way as you and weren't quite sure how to put it in words. but, i'm also not surprised you sent an ask like this on anonymous specifically.

should you feel guilty about it? i don't think guilt is the right word. but i believe you should think more about how newsies is not.....static. it does not exist in one form, and it never will. if you're feeling genuinely let down that your ship did not see the light of day and a black girlsie spot conlon got to instead, then yes, you should reevaluate that. in theater, you should always question why something impacted you the way it did- a major point of theater is to discuss and think about it when you leave! i know this because ive spent three years literally studying it, to back up my thesis credentials.

thank you for reading this, newsies fandom. i do honestly say all this with love, and i hope it made u think !! ♥️