00058: THE OUTSIDERS (BROADWAY)

This musical is based on the 1967 book written by S. E. Hinton and the 1983 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The musical’s book is  by Adam Rapp and Justin Levine and music and lyrics by Jonathan Clay & Zach Chance and Justine Levine.

The Outsiders tells the story of a group of teenagers who are called “The Greasers,” and their story is told from the point of view of one of the group’s members: Ponyboy Curtis. Ponyboy is writing about his own experiences as part of “the greasers,” which eventually would become the book he’s writing, titled, “The Outsiders.”

Like the book, the musical is touching and emotional. And although the music genre isn’t something I like (country), the lyrics are strong and heartfelt. The ensemble of actors (mostly male) do an incredible job at performing and singing. Their dancing, interpretive moment, and fight choreography are some of the highlights of the show. The three actors playing the Curtis Brothers worked together well and have a strong sense of emotional responsibility. And while they are brothers, each is very distinctive in their personalities, ways of thinking, and looks. 

Ponyboy is our leading man (teen actually.) He has a best friend, Johnny, and both look up to an older member of their gang, Dallas. Dallas has been to prison and knows the ways of life, and he makes an effort to show the younger ones how to survive. Of course, in this story, things do not go well for many of the young people, they either get killed or killed themselves, which makes “The Outsiders” a musical that has a tragic ending… and a hopeful one too. Mostly everyone knows the story of “The Outsiders,” if you are one of the few that doesn’t, it is time to pick up the book and read it or just watch the film. 

In terms of performances, every cast member in this ensemble piece performed with strength and professionalism. The emotional moments were there and the singing and dancing were top notch. And while all the characters have their great moments, songs, and personal stories, my favorite character and story became the one about the older Curtis Brothers, Darrell. Being the oldest, he felt a responsibility to take care of his younger siblings. The pressure to be a young man, a responsible person, and a father figured, really became a very frustrating burden to him. His song “Throwing in the Towel” was one of my favorites, along with “Great Expectations,” which is a reflection on how people expect certain things from others or how we set up goals and have great expectations for ourselves but life gets in the way. Both songs truly resonated with me. 

Despite the tragic endings for some of the characters and the hopeful ending for others, the musical is a very strong theatrical piece that I can see being produced all over the country. It is about teenage life in rural America, like “Footlose” the musical, but with much better music and lyrics and with a much stronger and emotional story. And despite that sometimes musical delude the emotional core of a narrative, especially of a book, I feel that “The Outsiders” musical does a very good job at offering us strong characters and an emotional story while entertaining us through song and dance, and artistic achievement. 

This musical gets three musical snaps!