THE OUTSIDERS Broadway Previews

Going to first preview Saturday. Will be my first time seeing a first preview since I saw and fell asleep to The Band's Visit. Hopefully this will not drag as much in its preview.

Seeing this, The Notebook, Days of Wine and Roses and Merrily (in that reverse order).

Stay gold, Ponyboy.

The new musical The Outsiders begins Broadway previews tomorrow night (March 16) at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, before an April 11 official opening. It arrives in New York with great expectations, on the heels of the seminal S.E. Hinton young adult novel of the same name (which inspired a Francis Ford Coppola motion picture) and a promising tryout production in San Diego last spring. The diverse principal cast of Greasers and Socs includes Brody Grant, Sky Lakota-Lynch, Joshua Boone, Brent Comer, Jason Schmidt, Emma Pittman, Daryl Tofa, Kevin William Paul, and Dan Berry.

Who else is ready to rumble?

Music video for "Stay Gold" is up and the single is available on streaming platforms now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzbHPqULtdA

Was at invited dress tonight. I absolutely loved it.

The stage is so incredibly unique, and they had a wonderful rain scene. The show is also INCREDIBLY physical. Those young folks must be exhausted.

I wasn't sure what a musical based on this book could be, but I loved how it was adapted.

He was amazing! Sad to hear he won’t be in “The Outsiders” but gives me a reason to see “The Notebook”!

I couldn’t find a runtime on the show’s website or on Telecharge, but TodayTix says 2:30 including a 15-minute intermission.

The line wrapped around two blocks, so it got a late start at 8:13 p.m. and let out around 10:45. They had "Stay Gold" patches on the arms of all seats.

This was a pretty good first preview and it was a lot of fun. Of the three newest movie musicals now on Broadway (Water for Elephants, The Notebook, The Outsiders), I feel like this one has the strongest, most memorable music and could be a contender for best score with some trimming imho. I personally think that "Great Expectations" should be the Act I closer, and it could work narratively. The lyrics about Darrell and Johnny don't work as well where it is currently because we haven't learned enough about Darrell's past and Johnny hasn't committed a crime yet. It feels like musically, that's the peak of the production and it would be a better closer than "Run Run Brother." Ponyboy can be reading the book to Johnny instead of Sodapop. Darrel's songs have the weakest lyrics, especially "Throwing in the Towel," and a song about Sodapop watching cartoons, both of which I think can be cut without losing much of the story. "Hopeless War" feels out of place and the lyrics are a bit contrived. There are some seriously catchy tunes in this one though, so I'm looking forward to a recording at some point. One more thing on the music. I didn't like Tulsa 1967 when the video came out a couple weeks back, but it has so much energy live and then the blend of that and Stay Gold for the finale is so catchy and a great closer.

I thought the simplistic set design worked beautifully, though they went a little too far at times using the tires and planks. I think the scenes in the hospital weren't as impactful because of the way they were staged. A little more realism in the hospital scenes would really give those moments more weight. The fight choreography was a lot of fun, and in all that rain! I saw The Notebook this afternoon, and The Outsiders did rain better.

The church fire scene was really cool to watch with shadow choreography and pyrotechnics, though those unfamiliar with the story might miss what was happening. We were with my mom and aunt, and they didn't realize the kids were in the church. There was one line about kids being down the hill a few minutes earlier, so I get why it could be confusing.

Aside from the sound mix, you wouldn't know this was a first preview.

This has the energy of Newsies mixed in with some folksy pop and rock.

Musical Numbers

Act I: Tulsa 67, Grease Got a Hold, Runs in the Family, Great Expectations, Friday at the Drive-In, I Could Talk to You All Night, Runs in the Family (reprise), Far Away from Tulsa, Run Run Brother.

Act II: Justice for Tulsa, Death's at my Door, Throwing in the Towel, Soda's Letter, Hoods Turned Heroes, Hopeless War, Trouble, Little Brother, Stay Gold, Finale

Updated On: 3/17/24 at 12:19 AM

Those are not “movie musicals.” They are musicals that are based on novels.

I am excited to see this show.

Mixed reviews out of town, but hoping for the best on Broadway.

I’d say yes. The jungle gym is stage right and the car is stage left. There are scenes on both extreme sides and I imagine you’d miss some of it.

Also saw the first preview last night and agree with a lot of theatretenor2‘s comments. I think this may be similar in popularity to Newsies as the young crowd last night was going absolutely nuts for this attractive young cast, during the show and also outside the theater both before and after the show with the cast members hanging out the theater windows. Sounded like a boy band concert.
Curious about a small aspect. I read in comments about the La Jolla run that quite a few people thought “the hand holding” between Ponyboy and Cherry was too much/going too far. I paid attention during the drive-in scene and did not notice ANY hand holding.
So I thought that might have been changed. However a song after that scene had characters singing about the hand holding. So did I miss it, or were the song lyrics not changed to go with the “no hand holding” change?

Was also at first preview last night and echo the previous reviews here. I thought it was pretty fantastic with some genuinely thrilling staging and direction from Danya Taymor. It's incredible raw and that cast is throwing themselves all over the stage, it's incredibly physical.

Score-wise occasionally it starts to sound a bit same-y, and I'm not entirely sold on some of the numbers that are sung conversations, the lyricists don't feel totally at ease there, but when the score nails it, it really nails it. There is some incredible singing in this show, especially from Brody Grant as Ponyboy. But a lot of the voices on that stage are really unlike any I've heard on Broadway before.

A huge standout, though, is Joshua Boone as Dallas, who I would not at all be surprised to see take home a slew of awards for his performance. Dangerous and scary while still injecting a huge amount of heart into the character. Really blown away by him.

Shoutout to Daryl Tofa, too, who I've seen in a few shows now and always exudes a level of joy in performing/dancing that is just infectious to watch. They have him dancing on the hood of the car during the opening number and he's got a few other moments to show off his skillset, he's just wonderful.

I agree that "Hopeless War" stuck out as rather weak, and I think Grant needs to settle into Ponyboy a bit more, he's a good anchor for the show but with so much narration, the actual development of the character felt a bit choppy to me.

Overall, though, really great first preview and the audience was just eating it up.