makes some cash singing in a club in the Tenderloin, gets an idea. He opens the door to Brock’s office just a crack and lures Brock out with his fantastic singing (“Artificial Flowers”). Brock calls for Martin and orders him to use Tommy in the choir. Tommy tells Brock that he heard his inspiring sermon last week, and would like to help him with his cause by informing him about the goings-on he’s privy to from his job as a reporter at the Tatler. Although they’re both suspicious of each other, they share a certain stealthy ambition that draws the two men together (“What’s In It For You?”) At the 19th Precinct Police Station, Tommy waits to speak to the Lieutenant Schmidt amidst a rag-tag group of prostitutes and drunks. Schmidt finally comes out, and Tommy warns him that Reverend Brock is on his way to the police station to have it out with him. It seems Tommy is something of a double agent. The Sargeant spots Rev. Brock outside hitching up his horse, and pandemonium erupts as Schmidt orders all the derelicts out of the room. But by the time Rev. Brock enters all is quiet, and Schmidt feigns surprise at Brock’s visit. Brock reports lascivious behavior at Spanish Anna’s, one of the Tenderloin’s most active bordellos, and suggests that Schmidt and his men investigate. Schmidt pulls the wool over Brock’s eyes, insisting that he’s never heard of such a thing going on in his precinct, and promises to come down hard on any immoral behavior. Brock exits, and Tommy comes back in having proven himself of great worth to Lieutenant Schmidt. Gertie, a young prostitute, and a couple of her friends spot Rev. Brock on the street, and the girls laugh and carry on about his useless attempts at “Reform.” On the other side of town, Laura and Jessica sit in the parlor of Laura’s posh Fifth Avenue home. Jessica reads aloud to Laura about Lieutenant Schmidt’s raid on Spanish Anna’s. Purdy enters disgusted that the girls are bothering themselves with such filth. He’s disgusted by Brock’s campaign against sin and all the low-lives it seems to be stirring up and bringing out into the open. He’s particularly disgusted with the young Tommy Howatt. Laura protests, insisting that Tommy is not the ruffian her uncles believe him to be, and informs him that she has in fact invited Tommy over that very afternoon. When Tommy arrives, Jessica goes to fetch some tea, leaving Laura alone with Tommy’s exaggerated stories and obvious advances. Laura finally blows a fuse when Tommy reads to her a poem by Lord Byron he claims to have written himself just for her. Laura pleads for him just to be himself, but when Tommy leaves, Laura recognizes that she is not being herself either; her calm is a façade to hide the growing excitement she feels for this crude young gent (“Tommy, Tommy”). That evening at Clark’s tavern, detective Frye conducts a horse race with two prostitutes mounted on the shoulders of two male customers as the rest of the rowdy patrons look on laughing and cheering. Joe Kovack enters, nervous, but befriends Nita with a twenty dollar bill, and the two sit and chat over champagne. Tommy walks in late for his call, and goes right up on stage to sing a number for the bar (“The Picture of Happiness”). Joe recognizes Tommy from singing at the church. Nita thinks this is hoot, and shoos Joe away to find out what Tommy is up to, singing at a church. Old gentle Joe protests; it appears he’s somehow very quickly become attached to Nita, but she tells him to get lost, pushing him into a booth with Gertie. Tommy tells Nita all about how he’s double-crossing both the police and Rev. Brock. Later that night, a very drunk Joe Kovack is escorted out of Clark’s by a cop. Early the next afternoon, Purdy sits on a beach dourly reading The Wall Street Journal as his niece Laura enjoys the sun with Jessica and some girlfriends. Brock and Purdy begin to argue about the Tenderloin before Brock cuts him off, insisting that it’s much too nice a day to bother themselves with their differences (“Dear Friend”). Tommy joins the group, and he and Laura spend some time taking pictures of each other and playfully wrestling. Then Joe enters distraught. He confesses his night out in the slammer to Rev. Brock. He also tells him that he overheard some guys in jail carrying on about how Lieutenant Schmidt had fooled Brock with a fake raid on Spanish Anna’s bordello. Brock confronts Tommy about double-crossing him, but with a new resolve to take down the Tenderloin, he enlists Tommy and a group of stalwart young men to join his now explosively fanatical crusade. His plan: infiltrate these houses of ill-repute in disguise, collecting as much evidence as they can to bring to city and state authorities who will have no choice but to close down the Tenderloin for good. With God on his side, Brock rallies the spirits of his men – “The Army of the Just.”
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