Spot got his nickname because when he first joined the Brooklyn newsies he had a face full of prominent freckles, but as he grew older, they gradually faded until they were a very pale brown.
Albert had been given a lot of different nicknames over the years, but he hated all of them so he never let them stick. Eventually the newsies just settled at calling him by his name or a shortened version of his name (eg. Al, Albie).
One thing I’ve learned through my years of consuming live theatre and bootlegs of live theatre is that you can almost always tell when someone used to be a Newsie.
They always have this like indescribable quality about how they move even compared to other incredibly well trained dancers. I think it’s just because Newsies is such an insane, other level caliber of dance that it just brings them to another quality of movement.
I don’t know how to describe it. I just know that whenever I watch something the Newsie always stands out.