Perry Tannenbaum

But as good as Adam Rapp’s book is at capturing the striated inertia of Hinton’s Tulsa, the propulsive electricity of The Outsiders comes from its score and the flair of Rick & Jeff Kuperman’s jagged choreography. Even this isn’t enough for Taymor. The hoofers send up bursts of plastic pellets from the floor, and the climactic rumble between the gangs brings down storm showers from above.

With some showy lighting by Howard Hudson setting the glitz aglow, we can simply enjoy. Read tosses out plenty of feminist critiques and barbs in the marital clinches between Will and Anne, the puns and wordplay are delightfully sharp, and guess what? Besides reinventing his own Shakespeare and Anne as stage characters, he often wittily emulates the Bard. Yes, poetry!

McClure does his best work during this hectic denouement, and against all odds, we don’t absolutely despise Maggie Lakis as Miranda, though we’re rooting against her all evening. Starting her own company and casting Mrs. D in the video promo certainly help, so Lakis and Benjamin eventually melt appealingly. Aided by Daniel’s conspicuous indifference toward his ex, despite Doubtfire’s meddlesome jealousy, Leo Roberts gradually gains our favor as Stuart, even if he is pumped-up and comparatively normal.

Design to the rescue! However you might react to the film's storytelling, which also implicated Robert Goulet and Dick Cavett in cameo visits, Burton's comedy-horror stew was a visual wow, with touches of Disney, Dali, Hitchcock, and Edward Gorey. Onstage at Belk Theater, we behold an orgy of scenic, costume, lighting, makeup, wig, and projection design - augmented by magic, SFX, a special illuminated edition of The Handbook for the Recently Deceased, and puppets. Fear not, the pinhead guy we encountered in Tim Burton's netherworld has not been left behind.