In Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1967, the hardened hearts and aching souls of Ponyboy Curtis, Johnny Cade and their chosen family of ‘outsiders’ are in a fight for survival and a quest for purpose in a world that may never accept them. A story of the bonds that brothers share and the hopes we all hold on to, this gripping new musical reinvigorates the timeless tale of ‘haves and have nots’, of protecting what’s yours and fighting for what could be. Adapted from S.E. Hinton’s seminal book and Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic film, THE OUTSIDERS features a book by Adam Rapp with Justin Levine, music and lyrics by Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay & Zach Chance) and Justin Levine, music supervision, arrangements & orchestrations by Justin Levine, choreography by Rick Kuperman & Jeff Kuperman and directed by Danya Taymor.
I suspect that a lot of people will like The Outsiders more than I did. But to me, its approach misses the central thrust of Hinton’s story. Her point was that kids who might be dismissed as juvenile delinquents are teenagers like any others, with complicated feelings and dreams. But in the musical, they mostly seem neither juvenile—Grant is a terrific singer, but he doesn’t sound remotely 14—nor delinquent. Rapp and Levine add cuss words to the dialogue, but otherwise their version scrubs the Greasers clean. In the book, they are low-level criminals. Here, they are presented as innocent victims, targeted by the villainous Socs merely for being poor, and perhaps for not all being white guys: Their leader, Dallas (an excellent Joshua Boone), is now Black, and their group includes an Anybodys -style tomboy. It’s like a version of West Side Story in which one of the gangs is entirely to blame, and the other is just trying not to die while crossing from the wrong side of the tracks. And this sanitization makes the musical feel oddly superficial. It approaches its subjects from the outside.
Luckily, the words matter less than they might have because the most outstanding aspect of this musical is the staging – by which I mean primarily the choreography. The set, design (especially the lighting by Brian MacDevitt) and special effects (rain, smoke, fire) allow for, and sometimes enhance, the movement. This encompasses not just the dancing, but the fighting, which at its most arresting, resembles not just slow-motion cinematography but stop-motion animation – performed by the human beings on stage.
General Rush:
Price: $45
Where: Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre box office
When: Rush tickets are available at the box office on the day of the show when the box office opens at 10 AM Monday-Saturday, 12 PM Sunday.
Limit: Two per customer
Information: Subject to availability.
30 Under 30:
Price: $45
Where: Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre box office
When: $30 Under 30 tickets are available at the box office on the day of the show when the box office opens at 10 AM Monday-Saturday, 12 PM Sunday.
Limit: Two per customer
Information: Subject to daily availability, the production will make available a limited number of tickets for anyone 30 years of age and under.
Digital Lottery:
Price: $49
Where: https://rush.telecharge.com/
When: The digital lottery opens at 12AM ET one day before the performance closing at 3 PM the day before the performance. Winners will be notified by email shortly after each drawing and have six hours to claim and purchase tickets online. Tickets will be emailed.
Limit: Two per customer
Information: Winners are drawn at 10AM ET and 3PM ET that same day. While every effort will be made to seat pairs together with a full view, there is a chance that pairs may be split up and that your seat may have a partial view of the stage.
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