"What the heck I gotta do to be with you?"
"Tell me who I gotta be for you to be with me."
21 Chump Street is a fifteen-minute musical play created by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Based on 21 Jump Street and an episode of This American Life, the play tells the story of Park Vista Community High School senior Justin Laboy as he falls in love with transfer student Naomi Rodriguez. Unbeknownst to Justin, Naomi is actually a twenty-five-year-old cop part of "Operation: D Minus", an operation for police officers to go undercover in high schools and find drug dealers."Tell me who I gotta be for you to be with me."
Although there have only been two official showings of the musical, it has a full soundtrack. The role of Justin was originated by Anthony Ramos (known for being John Laurens and Phillip Hamilton in Hamilton), and Naomi by singer and actress Lindsay Mendez. The chorus was played by Alex Boniello, Gerard Canonico, and Antwaun Holley. Lin-Manuel himself played the role of a narrator that interacts with the two leads.
21 Chump Street contains examples of:
- All There in the Manual: The students' names aren't mentioned at all in the musical, but they're given as Tevin (Boniello), Derek (Canonico) and Andrew (Holley) in the script.
- Arc Words: "What the heck (...)"
- Bittersweet Ending: "Operation: D Minus" is a success, as dozens of legitimate illegal dealers are caught and tried for their crimes. Sadly, Justin is one of them (despite not truly being a dealer), and his life is forever ruined by his decision. Naomi laments that she'll never forget Justin and shows remorse for somewhat forcing him to sell to her.
- Blatant Lies: In "One School", Naomi claims to the narrator that she never told Justin she'll think about his request to go to prom, but the audience knows that's exactly what happened in the song before.
- Break the Cutie: Justin is pretty much a picture-perfect example of this. He starts off as a relatively happy straight-A student who just wants to go to prom with a girl he fancies. When the musical ends, he's pleading guilty to a felony and probably waving goodbye to any colleges that might have considered him with a clean record. And to make matters worse, he doesn't even end up with Naomi.
- Character Narrator: Played by Lin-Man himself.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Implied for Naomi. She grew up seeing the effects of marijuana and pills, which was what brought her to her job.
- Dark Reprise: The "Naomi" melody from the first song gets repeated in a more ominous tone in "The Money" as Naomi is trying to give the money to Justin, symbolizing Naomi's scared thoughts during the scene.
- Darker and Edgier: Compared to where it gets its name from, the musical is more somber. Read Bittersweet Ending above.
- Did Not Get the Girl: Justin ends up going to jail for selling drugs on school property, despite not actually being a drug dealer. Safe to say he won't be getting with the girl he wanted anytime soon.
- Dramatic Irony: Naomi is an undercover cop and Justin is none the wiser.
- Dude Magnet: It is implied that Naomi didn't catch Justin eyes alone, as students join in with him singing her name.
- Femme Fatale: Arguably Naomi. She quickly catches on to Justin's crush on her, and uses it in order to manipulate him into selling her marijuana ("I'll find a way to re-pay you, Justin"). Subverted in the sense that she gets a fleshed-out personality and backstory and isn't dismissed as an airhead or a bimbo for her usage of these tactics.
- Gosh Darn It to Heck!: Unlike Lin's other musicals, the show doesn't have any curse words. Especially notable with the constantly repeated "What the heck..." motif.
- Honey Trap: Naomi didn't intend to do this to Justin, but realizing that he's head over heels for her, she uses that to get some drugs out of him. In her defense, she thought that Justin really was a dealer.
- Horrible Judge of Character: It's a little bit of a stretch to say this about Justin, seeing as Naomi was a trained professional and he probably had a bunch of hormones getting in the way of rational decision-making. But he does fall hopelessly in love with a girl that ends up all but ruining his life, so...
- Hypocrite: Though she's working to bust drug dealers, Naomi admits to the narrator that she has drinks at the end of the day due to how tired she'd get from being among teenagers. Though, as noted in this Genius annotation
, this seems to be a result of alcohol being generally more acceptable than weed in society. Still, it puts her moral authority in a very questionable light. - I Did What I Had to Do: Though she ends up ruining his life, Naomi insists that she's doing the right thing and hopes someone keeps doing it for the sake of teaching teenagers a lesson.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Naomi, as revealed in "One School", drinks once she returns home due to the fatigue this operation brings her.
- Ironic Echo: The eager, hopeful "what the heck I gotta do to be with you" versus the defeated "what the heck did you do". Ouch. Just ouch.
- "I Want" Song: "What The Heck I Gotta Do" for Justin, he wants the girl. See above for how that turned out.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Though morally grey characters like Naomi usually come with a mixed reception, she's not being unreasonable when she says that teenagers who smoke weed should be made more aware of the consequences, legal or otherwise. Her unfortunate backstory cements this point even further.
- Keep the Reward: Justin's reaction to Naomi giving him money in the titular song, insisting that it was just a favor for her.
- Love at First Sight: Justin to Naomi, as detailed in "What The Heck I Gotta Do".
- Love Makes You Dumb: The Musical.
- Meaningful Echo: In "One School", Naomi sings, "If I'm doing my job, and I'm doing it right, I am making life safer one school at a time." In the epilogue, she says, "I am doing my job, I am doing it right. I am making life safer one school at a time." By removing the "if", she's reassuring herself that she did the right thing, even though she regrets getting Justin arrested.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Naomi in "The Money". Justin denies taking money for the drugs and continues confessing to her, making her realize that Justin really isn't a drug dealer. However, the only way to bust him is to pay him for the weed, so she forces the money into his hands and kisses him. By the end of the musical, she laments that Justin made a bad decision to get weed to begin with, but admits that she'll never forget him.
- Say My Name: "Naomi" is repeated multiple times - often at the climax of the song - in the exact same tune.
- The Stoner: All of Justin's cousins, whose personalities are essentially limited to "these guys do drugs". This is excusable due to the fact that it's hard to cram complex characterisation into a fourteen-minute musical.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: In "The Money", Justin refuses to take Naomi's money in exchange for weed, telling her "there's nothing I won't do for you / I'll come through for you / every time / just in time". It's properly painful for both the audience and Naomi, seeing as the reason she wants to give it to him in the first place is so she can arrest him for dealing drugs at school. She even acknowledges this in the song, saying "you're making me feel guilty, take the money" as he goes on about how he got her the weed as a favour and not for financial gain.
- Older and Wiser: Naomi, at least in comparison to Justin and the other teenagers at her school. She laments that "these kids need to learn there are consequences in life" when Justin immediately agrees to start selling marijuana for the sake of a pretty girl. Of course, there's the fact that she's actually twenty-five, which is probably the cause of most of this.
- Older Than They Look: Though Naomi's twenty-five, she can easily pass as a teenager. Though Justin comments on her "mature" figure, it's an expression of lust rather than sincere skepticism of her youth.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Her name isn't actually Naomi Rodriguez, but she can't give her full name.
- Villain Song: Averted. Though Naomi's actions have a lot of negative consequences for Justin, she's not portrayed as evil or malicious by any means. In fact, her song "One School" fixates on how she genuinely believes the work she's doing will affect the world in a positive way.
- What the Hell, Hero?: In the end, the narrator asks Justin what he would say to Naomi if he saw her.Justin: I would say...What the heck did you do? What the heck did you do? Naomi, what the heck did you...do?
