The Outsiders is the most Genre elevating musical since Hamilton (IMO)

Shows rarely evolve the entire genre of theater. There have been a few that make the Musical Theatre landscape take notice and have to be better than it was before that Musical.
West Side Story, Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, Phantom, Les MIs, Ms Saigon, Ragtime, RENT, Book of Mormon, Hamilton (to name a few) and now (IMO) The Outsiders.
The fight scene alone i Act 2 should win its own tony award for actually portraying a real fight scene on stage. Unlike basically every other fight scene before it. It's visceral, and bloody and vicious and brilliant.

The stage itself is a marvel. the Sound effects, the special effects and the storytelling. This is what you get when you actually have a pulitzer prize nominated writer and all around brilliant playwright, write a musical. You get book scenes that rival broadway plays and not some generic elementary fluff that usually comes with musicals.
The dancing is unlike anything we have seen before. Gritty, emotional, brilliant.
To me, there is no competition for Best Musical this year and I have seen them all. Every one. Nothing comes close to what the outsiders brings to the genre and elevates it.
I applaud the creative team, marketing team and the brilliant actors on that stage. I also think the actor who plays Pony boy should easily win the Tony over Groff. It's not close in my eyes.

This is what musical theater can be if you actually care and take risks instead of just doing another version of the same tired playbook.
Congrats to all involved. This will run for years, and be in regional theaters for decades. I look forward to the inevitable movie that comes out.

massofmen said: "Shows rarely evolve the entire genre of theater.There have been a few that make the Musical Theatre landscape take notice and have to be better than it was before that Musical.
West Side Story, Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, Phantom, Les MIs, Ms Saigon, Ragtime, RENT, Book of Mormon, Hamilton (to name a few) and now (IMO) The Outsiders.
The fight scene alone i Act 2 should win its own tony award for actually portraying a real fight scene on stage. Unlike basically every other fight scene before it. It's visceral, and bloody and vicious and brilliant.

The stage itself is a marvel. the Sound effects, the special effects and the storytelling. This is what you get when you actually have a pulitzer prize nominated writer and all around brilliant playwright, write a musical. You get book scenes that rival broadway plays and not some generic elementary fluff that usually comes with musicals.
The dancing is unlike anything we have seen before. Gritty, emotional, brilliant.
To me, there is no competition for Best Musical this year and I have seen them all. Every one. Nothing comes close to what the outsiders brings to the genre and elevates it.
I applaud the creative team, marketing team and the brilliant actors on that stage. I also think the actor who plays Pony boy should easily win the Tony over Groff. It's not close in my eyes.

This is what musical theater can be if you actually care and take risks instead of just doing another version of the same tired playbook.
Congrats to all involved. This will run for years, and be in regional theaters for decades. I look forward to the inevitable movie that comes out."



I pretty much disagree with you on everything.


but I agree that the actor who played Pony Boy should at least have been nominated

Skip23 said: "massofmen said: "Shows rarely evolve the entire genre of theater.There have been a few that make the Musical Theatre landscape take notice and have to be better than it was before that Musical.
West Side Story, Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, Phantom, Les MIs, Ms Saigon, Ragtime, RENT, Book of Mormon, Hamilton (to name a few) and now (IMO) The Outsiders.
The fight scene alone i Act 2 should win its own tony award for actually portraying a real fight scene on stage. Unlike basically every other fight scene before it. It's visceral, and bloody and vicious and brilliant.

The stage itself is a marvel. the Sound effects, the special effects and the storytelling. This is what you get when you actually have a pulitzer prize nominated writer and all around brilliant playwright, write a musical. You get book scenes that rival broadway plays and not some generic elementary fluff that usually comes with musicals.
The dancing is unlike anything we have seen before. Gritty, emotional, brilliant.
To me, there is no competition for Best Musical this year and I have seen them all. Every one. Nothing comes close to what the outsiders brings to the genre and elevates it.
I applaud the creative team, marketing team and the brilliant actors on that stage. I also think the actor who plays Pony boy should easily win the Tony over Groff. It's not close in my eyes.

This is what musical theater can be if you actually care and take risks instead of just doing another version of the same tired playbook.
Congrats to all involved. This will run for years, and be in regional theaters for decades. I look forward to the inevitable movie that comes out."



I pretty much disagree with you on everything.


but I agree that the actor who played Pony Boy should at least have been nominated

"

Brody Grant was indeed nominated.

My fave parts in The Outsiders were the quiet moments. When you could hear the score for Stereophonic pounding through the wall behind the orchestra seats.

Haven't seen it so can't speak to the quality, but it seems popular. According to tye reddit Saturday rush report thread there were 75 people in line yesterday trying to get rush seats. More than any of the other shows. I looked at the TKTS live site, and while it was available it was listed as only offering a 20% discount with tickets from $185. $185 at the TKTS booth!!!! That's ridiculous!

The one thing I have read that makes me question the staging is that there are reports of sst pieces on the sides that cause obstructed views. Again I haven't seen it for myself, but have read that there is a tire sitting at stage left and a car at stage right that both obstruct views. That seems like a pretty dumb move. Why didn't they move those things?

I’ve enjoyed the score since the first time I saw the show and now having listened to it a bunch, it’s easily my favorite score of the season with some songs I’ve had on repeat pretty much non stop for a couple weeks. It’s not the greatest score in the history of the American Musical Theater (few are) but for what it is, I really do love it.

I enjoyed The Outsiders enough that I bought a second ticket through Audience Rewards. And by chance, I'm in the exact same seat again. I was relatively bored through most of Act 1 until the murder. After that, the show had my full attention and flew by. I think the lighting is great, the choreography is really neat. Especially the rain rumble. The fire was done so well it felt real. And I generally like the music. But I do not think this show is Hamilton level by any chance. I do think it will win the Tony and have a healthy run on Broadway and tour. But it will not be running nearly 10 years from now.

In my opinion this is a mediocre musical, at best. The plot itself feels dated, a cross between Grease and West Side Story. The score is generic and doesn’t move the story forward. The cast is “fine”, the best part of the show is the direction and choreography.

Personally, although I enjoyed the show, I don't think it's genre-elevating or even a very outstanding show. Along with most people, I thought the rumble scene was brilliant, but I also agree it could have started maybe a quarter of the way through its current form. Although the staging was interesting, i didn't see anything groundbreaking. I didn't think the special effects were anything special (one crucial scene looked cheap to me). A lot of people are commenting about the music. I think it fit the show and was somewhat appropriate for its setting, but as someone else said, much of the score is repetitive. I enjoyed some of the songs better than others, but I won't download the cast recording for future listening. I do think some of the actors deserved their Tony nominations (Joshua Boone's u/s was on the night I saw the show), but I didn't see any tour de force performances. Overall, it was a pleasant night at the theater, and I've recommended the show to others, but I don't think it's in any way altering the future of musical theater.

Updated On: 6/3/24 at 03:06 PM

I mean, if we're talking "genre elevating"-- look no further than the musical currently at the Walter Kerr-- When I think of elevating the art of the musical, I feel Hadestown is really the only one that fits that description...

I loved The Outsiders so much more than I expected to going in. It's not perfect, but it has so much heart, the technical aspects are top-notch, the cast is immaculate, and the score is really lovely and evocative, and (unlike many original scores in the last decade or two) has its fair share of melodies that actually stick.