★★★ REVIEW: The Outsiders (Broadway) | the Tony Award nominated new musical at the Jacobs Theatre
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- čas přidán 27. 05. 2024
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OHMYGOD HEY!
One of this year's most Tony Award nominated new musicals (with 12 nominations) is THE OUTSIDERS, the new musical adaptation of The S.E Hinton Novel currently playing at Broadway's Jacobs Theatre.
Check out this video review for my perspective on this acclaimed show...
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00:00 | introduction
03:36 | overview / synopsis
07:16 | the material
13:59 | the highlights
17:21 | performances
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ABOUT THE OUTSIDERS
The Outsiders is a 12-time Tony Award-nominated musical adaptation of the groundbreaking novel by S. E. Hinton and film by Francis Ford Coppola. The Outsiders features original songs by Justin Levine and the folk duo Jamestown Revival, composed of Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance. The book is by Tony-nominated playwright Adam Rapp, known for The Sound Inside, and Levine.
Tulsa, Oklahoma. Two teenage gangs sustain a rivalry: the well-to-do "Socs" (short for "socials") and the ne'er-do-well "greasers." The greasers, including the iconic characters of Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade, have an often rocky brotherhood, but in a society that's all but abandoned them, it's all they have. The Outsiders musical tells a timeless coming-of-age story about finding hope and connection in a rough world.
The cast features Brody Grant as "Ponyboy," Sky Lakota-Lynch as "Johnny," Daniel Marconi as "Randy," Kevin William Paul as "Bob," Brent Comer as "Paul," Ryan Vasquez as "Darrel," Da'Von T. Moody as "Dallas," Jason Schmidt as "Sodapop," Trevor McGhie as "Two-Bit," Piper Patterson as "Cherry," and Kiki Lemieux as "Marcia." They are joined by ensemble members Annelise Baker, Jordan Chin, Milena Comeau, Barton Cowperthwaite, Tilly Evans-Krueger, Spencer McCabe Hunsicker, Sean H. Jones, L'ogan J'ones, Renni Magee, Tristan McIntyre, Junior Nyong'o, Melody Rose, and Daryl Tofa.
Hinton published her novel in 1967, the same year the show is set and three years after she started writing the novel while still in high school herself. The Outsiders book and its subsequent 1983 film adaptation remain groundbreaking for their naturalistic, unsanitized portrayals of how teenagers talk and act and what happens when they're neglected. The film also launched the careers of then-new actors like Ralph Macchio, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Patrick Swayze, and Matt Dillon.
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I absolutely sobbed, with strangers sitting on the both sides of me. This was the best and most emotional show I saw. By the way, very nice meeting you and Aeron at The Great Gatsby!
I sat in the front row and the “gravel” onstage is really just tiny soft pieces of rubber. It was very immersive having it kicked onto our faces and laps during the show 😂
I really loved it. I’m glad you got to see it. I think The Outsiders will have a long life, every theatre group around the country will want to perform it in the future.
I’m rooting for it to win Best Musical!
I'm American but went into this show cold - I read other Hinton books as a teen but somehow missed The Outsiders (I read the book on my flight home from NY, though, so now I have a better understanding of the adaptation) and I've never seen the movie. But I *loved* it; for me it had a much bigger emotional hook and was more exciting than any of the other new shows. I really enjoyed the first person narration! Okay, maybe there were some scenes that would have been better without that shortcut, but for me, it emphasizes the way that Ponyboy's writing was his path out of darkness, his means of staying gold. It heightened the impact of the scenes in Act 2 where (trying to avoid spoilers, won't mention the reasons) he is unresponsive, because the narration *stops*, until he reads Johnny's letter and finds his way to writing down his experiences. The story of the show is in many ways a love letter to writing - a theme that comes through even more in the novel - especially to writing about difficult, violent, ugly things and finding the beauty and hope in those stories. Soda's letter, Johnny's letter, and Pony's story all have such narrative importance, it makes sense that we hear them being read to us instead of or in addition to seeing the events they describe. The novel, by the way, is generally credited as having created the entire "young adult" genre. Prior to its publication, this type of gritty, realistic novel by, for, and about teens and very young adults did not really exist.
Also, to me the actors did not come across as too old. We saw a swing in the role of Darrel, so possibly he actually is younger, but more generally, I'm 55 so they all are very young to me! Worth noting, in the book, Darrel and Dallas are in fact adults, in their 20s, so they're meant to be noticeably older than Ponyboy (14) and Johnny (16), and truly surrogate father figures. And the kind of vulnerable boyish moments you wanted for them would not be appropriate for either character; neither of them has had the kind of life that allows for it. They've both had to be tough guys taking on parental/mentor type responsibilities much too young, and the interesting thing is the compare-and-contrast in how they've each gone about it.
Oh, and the dirt/gravel stuff on stage is rubber pellets. Apparently if you sit in the front two or three rows you're likely to get pelted with a few of them. 😄
THat book has one of my favorite opening lines of all time. "When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home."
The Outsiders was one of the seminal realistic YA novels, and it is an old favorite of mine.
That opening line is also the opening line for the musical. ❤
doesn't exactly sound like literature for the ages ... one of your favorite opening lines of all time?? is this the only book you've ever read?
@@Marcel_Audubon it's a favorite from childhood. I am also partial to the opening sentence of "The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul" by Douglas Adams.I shan't quote it here. I'm sure you are familar.
I think one thing that is missing for your understanding is a scene they tried to change for the musical. In the book, Ponyboy misses school for several weeks. His English teacher asks him to write an essay, to bring his grade up to a passing level after missing so many weeks of school. In the musical, they have him read from his notebook from the end the opening paragraph from the book. How I interpret this is that Pony is telling us the story, he is not necessarily narrating what is happing in the moment. He is instead teaching us what life is like in this type of area and lifestyle.I saw this show twice within one month, because I loved it so much. It is my new obsession and I cannot get enough. I also love how excited and sweet the cast is at the stage door.
I’m from America and this makes a lot of sense because my school used to study the book and watch the movie. I read the book a couple of times and have seen the movie once or twice. It’s definitely more of an American thing. I love the book and movie, but I agree the name Pony Boy and Soda Pop are a little ridiculous.
I remember reading the book and watching the move in high school it’s very popular thing to do study in school it didn’t stick with me until I seen the broadway show which was really good 😌
You're missing the point of the first person. Ponyboy is writing the story. His asides to the audience is him writing the story. "It's hard to write the story when the story's writing me." I also disagree with you regarding the score. It's one of the best and original on Broadway right now.
after we finished the book, my middle school English class had a dress up day where half of the class dressed up like the Greasers and the other half dressed like the Socs and we had snacks and root beer floats, never thought about its potential as a musical before, would be interesting to see
I'm one of the rare Americans that didn't read the book in school or see the movie. That being said, I really loved this show. Mainly cuz of the staging and performances over the material, but I liked the score and book well enough.
I took my 12 year old who will be required to read the book next year. It was supposed to be his first Broadway play however- we won several lotteries and attended 3 shows prior to seeing this play. We LOVED it! And the best was the emotion on my 12 year old when he stated with tears "He died!" We were on our feet- yelling BRAVO!
Absolutely wonderful, well done show!
I read that the book and watched the film in middle school. Honestly, the fan base for this musical has been rapidly increasingly and popularity in a similar way Newsies’s fanbase was. Though both of these musicals are completely different; that was the same vibe that I got.
Occasionally this channel makes me feel really old! This is one such time. I'm British, and when I was going through school in the 80's The Outsiders was required reading. The book and the movie were EVERYWHERE in the UK, and were highly regarded. It astonishes me to hear a Brit saying they've never heard of The Outsiders. Wow! I recommend the movie, if you get the chance to see it. The cast is amazing: C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Diane Lane, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, Leif Garrett, Tom Waits. I hope the musical comes to the West End.
I'm 21 and from the UK and read The Outsiders for GCSEs!! it's still done some places :)))
Where I live gets brutally cold, so my 6th grade teachers read it to us when it was too cold for us to go outdoors for recess. By brutally cold, I mean -50F. I can still recite Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” 😊
"Pony Boy" is just a totally ridiculous name! ... says "MickeyJo Theatre."
I have actually seen this twice now, once in previews (w producer Angelina and also Bennifer in the audience 😅) and once after opening. And I’m a woman of a certain age for whom the movie was a big influence on, mostly due to the hunky cast. All that being said, this is my favorite show I’ve seen in a while. (I haven’t seen everything but quite a decent smattering) due to the fact it makes me feel something. I loved the relationships between the brothers and I think some of their songs are great. I think one may be called Throw in the Towel. There are actually 3 songs released on Spotify and at least one more here on CZcams. I find the music memorable and moving.
Dallly’s song Little Brother just brings me to tears.
The rumble. The RUMBLE. Best sequence I’ve ever seen on Broadway. Deserves an award of its own. And that stage is so cool. I think this will run for a while and then tour. The novel has been an American staple for decades and continues to be, so I see this appealing to all audiences. Actually, the first time I saw it was with my 14 year old son and he loved it too!
So I teach middle school students, and the ones (mostly girls, interestingly enough) who love this book REALLY love it. There is a lot of "tell" in the book as well.
What do you mean by “tell?”
@@MrBjbates He was complaining about the play telling instead of showing. The book actually has a lot of that as well. It's first person, so that style hits different than a play would. But without having seen the show I wonder how much of that telling instead of showing dialogue is directly from the text.
(Edited because I'm tired and switched my words around the first time!)
@sevensongs That’s what I thought. I could see the book telling more than showing. I read it awhile ago. The musical does more showing (i.e. Johnny’s parents being alcoholics and abusers - you see the fighting through a window.)
One of the most compelling aspects of the show is its use of silence, as in the case of no music during the rumble scene and the quiet in certain dialogue scenes where there is the absence of underscore. So effective.
I’m Scottish and a teenager of the 80s so myself and my friends all read and loved the book and the film. As well as all the other brat pack films. The Outsiders, however, was and still is my absolute favourite. I really hope this musical comes to the UK along with The Notebook, another of my favourite books and films. The cast of The Outsiders was incredible and the book - fantastic. I must’ve been 15 or 16 when I first watched this so I now feel very old!! Love your videos.
I am one of the folks that read this book in Junior High back in the 80’s here in the US. The movie was good and starred a lot of great actors that were still early in their careers. I wish this show well on Broadway! Happy it got some Tony love. Appreciate your review. I had limited slots for shows on my trip in June and this one didn’t make the cut for me, I had too many others I was more interested in.
I was debating between this and Stereophonic, and he suggested the latter. Went with that instead.
I think you made a great choice! I’m seeing Stereophonic, Cabaret, Merrily, and Illinoise. I wouldn’t sacrifice any of those shows at this point- too excited to see them!
@@kimber11buddha Cabaret is an experience like no other. That said, I think Merrily might have a slight edge, which I hate to say, as Cabaret was by far the greatest Theatrical experience of my life! Also, I am a Sondheim fanatic so I also want Merrily to win. It's 50/50 for me lol! Overall, those two will probably be the highlights of your trip!
I didn't get a chance to see The Outsiders when I was in NYC a couple of weeks ago, but I had similar criticisms for The Great Gatsby. I think they were so determined to stick to such iconic source material that they didn't lean into the musical as a genre as well as they could have. I get it, people can be vicious when their favorite book gets adapted, but for the genre of a musical, a filmic or literary approach just doesn't hit the same way.
The Outsiders is one of my most favorite novels and I re-read it every year. I was so curious to hear your take on the show! I was so excited when they announced the show, but I could just not get into the music! Totally understand the narrative difficulties of the way the story is structured - Ponyboy's narrative voice is so essential to the book, but I can see how that would be difficult to translate to the stage. Also, I'm sad there is not more levity in the show - the book is filled with sad, moving moments, but it's also hilarious!! Ponyboy's perspective on the Greasers as a teenage boy is just laugh-out-loud funny in moments. Also the movie (in my mind) is such a classic and really lifts the story off the page, it's hard to see how another adaptation would work as well. I highly recommend checking out book and the Coppola film (the "whole novel" version)!
The movie version does a great job of showing the depth of Cherry’s character, played by Diane Lane. The Directors cut (the Outsiders: The complete novel ) has even more scenes with Cherry & intimate moments between the Curtis brothers. I would recommend reading the book (it’s a quick read) or watching the movie, even better if you can watch the directors cut of the movie. By reading and or seeing the original source Material I think you will better understand the relationships and ages of the characters as some are young adults in the original work, like Darell, Pony’s oldest brother is in his 20’s and so his his friends like Dallas. There is a dynamic in the original work that shows how little adult representation is in the life of Ponyboy b/c the adults in his life are not much older than him.
i've never read the book in school, although i went to school in brooklyn, but the movie has an all-star cast before much of their careers take off like matt dillon, patrick swayze, ralph macchio, and of course a cameo by sofia coppola because the movie is directed by iconic francis ford coppola. plus stay gold by stevie wonder was a huge hit song from the movie. so if u have to choose to indulge one medium i'd vote for the movie. glad u made it back safe!
Jamestown Revival has been my favorite band for so long! It's a little wild to hear you talk about them; they are so incredibly talented!
This is interesting. I had good expectations as well but this also has me reconsidering. I still would love to see it, but I just don't know if I'm hyped up about it as much. These musical adaptions of famous novels seem to have me perplexed of sorts.
I'm uk. Did this for english lit about 95/96..book and film.
What made the outsiders very famous is that it was a movie from the 80s with a bunch of unknown actors and this movie made them a very very class a actors that we see all the time. The movie made over $100 million in the 80s and I remember going with my father and he took us to go see it and it was so good and There is a part that makes you cry a lot. I would like to see Broadway tackle a movie like a love story because I never seen so many grown a tough muscular man cry in that movie. After talking about outsiders, and being surprised that Angelina Jolie is one of the producers made me go and watch the movie again, and it made me cry again, you should look at the movie because then you’ll recognize all the A-list actors from the 80s and 90s that came out of bed and stuff. You were not dislike
I read the book in junior high school (& loved it). The movie adaptation is great kicking off the careers of actors like Tom Cruise, Patrick Swazy, Ralph Macchio, Diane Lane & highlights other great young actors like Matt Dillion, C.Thomas Howell and Leaf Garrett. Then years later a director’s cut of the movie came out (the Outsiders:The Complete Novel) making the movie way better as it’s a more detailed adaptation of the book with about 20 min of extra footage! I’m also a big fan of musical theater for over 30 years and so when a musical adaptation was announced I was excited but not sure how the story would translate to a musical format. I’m curious…thanks for your review.
Love the review as always! The Outsiders was an essential read during my middle school years, in the United States, and has become a favorite of many of my friends. Personally, it never really got me hooked and thus I was very indifferent about a musical adaptation.
I’m from the US and I’ve never read the book or seen the movie. Happens to the best of us!
Totally agree - all tell and no show. And the biggest flaw in the book is the underdeveloped ponyboy/cherry relationship. The responses of the characters do not make sense without a strong sense of the relationship. The score rarely advanced the plot. I was thoroughly bored.
Spot on review, good not great. I appreciated your point of view. Definitely a must see if you read the book or saw the movie. I dig your take on theater, keep it coming!
Thanks, Read the book in high school. Haven’t seen the musical yet. Were you surprised about the Outsiders acting nominations?
Suffs next please!
Enjoyed the show, but your review was spot on. Strong critiques 👌🏿
As an American in my mid 50s the famous film version of “The Outsiders” was released when I was in high school. So this film and story was something I knew well when the musical version was announced. To be honest, I think the film version was never very good. Coppola had a hard time making it and my take is that it’s notable only because of the director’s name and that the cast featured maybe the biggest collection of future Hollywood stars as any film of that era. But the narrative of the film is half-baked and certainly not a big screen project that was screaming to be made into a Broadway musical.
Across the last 40+ years of my life, I’ve seen over 150 different Broadway musicals performed on major theatre stages, so it’s in that context that I post my thoughts here on this new musical. I’ll also add that I think you do a great job with your musical reviews - especially in keeping the focus on the songs and the book of the musical. I got to see “The Outsiders” at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, prior to its opening on Broadway. I have not yet seen the Broadway version, but from all I’ve heard (including your review) it appears to be substantially the same as what they put on stage in La Jolla.
My reaction to your review is this. Gimmicky staging and set design should not be the new measure of success for a piece of musical theatre. The reason these producers throw gimmicks at us like “rain” and “fire” on stage is because it’s an easy way to get an audience to forget about all the more important things that the production gets wrong. By the time we get to the silly fight sequence in the rain in this musical, so much else of real substance has gone wrong with this show - much of which you point out and then minimize because you got excited to see the actors and the stage get wet. But c’mon now. I think we can admit we liked watching rain on stage without having to then declare the musical was worth seeing because of it. A musical has to foundationally be about great songs to gain critical merit.
If you’re adapting a famous book and a famous film into a stage musical, then the least a theatre audience should expect is that whoever is responsible for the music and lyrics has written a good handful of fantastic, memorable songs for it. Otherwise, stage it as a straight play. The songs in this show are just plain bad. They’re so on the nose with their lyrics (as you sort of point out) and so forgettable with respect to the music that you could replace ANY of them with random pop songs (Moulin Rouge or American Psycho style) and they’d at least be more hummable and more enjoyable. This is a show where most people won’t walk out of the theatre with a single song in their head by the time they get back home. Ten years from now, nobody will be performing these songs.
For that fight scene to work, you also need to feel like there’s some real tension of believable toxic masculinity building throughout the show. But none of the male actors cast in this piece exhibit that trait, nor does the book of this musical do anything special to emphasize it. It largely felt to me like some theatre kids idea of what it might be like to be a toxic male. For me, it came off like watching the characters from “A Chorus Line” pretend to dance-brawl.
There have been a number of musicals over the years where I believed the whole theme of “class difference” far more than in this insipid excuse for a Broadway musical. Even a not-so-respected show like “Blood Brothers” played the whole social class subject matter to more believable effect than did “The Outsiders.” To me, there was nothing in this show that rang authentic. Felt like the whole thing was just an effort to make an easy score on existing IP and rush the thing to Broadway. What I saw in La Jolla needed several years more work. It got only several WEEKS more. I get that many people posting here really liked it, but it is squarely on my list of the 20 worst pieces of musical theatre I've ever seen. BTW...another show I saw last year at La Jolla (pre-Broadway) is also on that "Bottom 20" list - Lempicka. Keep up the good work on your video reviews!
This show made me cry and cry and cry. Multiple people around me, crying. This musical was electric, it was a courageous adaptation. With respect, I do not believe a 3 star review is remotely good enough. Saying this is like if the characters from Grease were put into West Side Story is surprisingly and disappointingly reductive. I do tend to believe your audience is educated enough that they could make out the gist of the plot without that shallow of a comparison, and I do believe that you are a talented critic who could have written such a description.
I would argue that your characterization of Cherry is flawed. One of the most important lines she says is, after having that conversation with Ponyboy and holding his hand, she tells him "If I don't talk to you at school, don't take it personally." And he says how much that disappointed him. I feel like that speaks such volumes about who she is. Yes, she's shared she's had a difficult upbringing, she has a fondness for Ponyboy, but she's still not interested in changing the ways in which her class benefits her. Even her later actions- when she says she advocated for Ponyboy and Johnny when talking to the police, bringing Johnny's letter and things to the Curtis household- these are actions she can take because she is in a position of class power. She gets to have police take her seriously. Right. She's the one who gets to decide if Johnny's things get saved. Her delivering the number about Ponyboy and Johnny becoming heroes in the public eye wouldn't make sense because she is, at the end of the day, comfortable with her class, and there's really nowhere for her emotions to go. I think for this particular moment she would actually be the least interesting perspective because she would be the most neutral party in the show. The other socs would be outraged, the greasers elated. Of course the greasers would excitedly sing about, for the first time, some of them being considered heroes. It raises the mood and the scene right in time for us to see the truth behind the heroism: Johnny slowly dying from his injuries. It's the greasers because the perspective is charged and it gives us a moment of joy before a moment of pain.
And I know you were throwing out It's Quiet Uptown just as an example of a song where the narration does not come from the main parties involved. That said, it's important to say that relationship Cherry has with the Greasers is not remotely similar to Angelica's relationship to Eliza and Alexander. Angelica is family. She was in love with him, and she was her sister. It makes sense for her to sing It's Quiet Uptown for two main reasons.
1. In The Reynold's Pamphlet, Angelica is actually the first person to let the audience know that Alexander and Eliza's relationship has been broken. She lets him know she's not here for him, that what they had was over, and she's taking Eliza's side. Alexander doesn't say he's messed things up with his wife, and we don't hear from Eliza until Burn, and even then it takes her a while to build to the point where she says he's no longer hers. In that respect, with the audience first being told things are dire from Angelica, it in turn makes a lot of sense for her to narrate when they come back together.
2. The first lines of the song are literally about how impossible it is to put grief to words. "There are moments that the words don't reach. There is suffering too terrible to name." Eliza and Alexander's grief has sundered them speechless. The best he can do at the beginning of the song is state really simple facts. He sits in the garden for hours. He walks alone to the store. He used to not like quiet. At that point he does not have the capacity to say "I fundamentally lack the words to describe the grief of losing my son." All he can say is I sit in the garden alone. I like quiet now. I pray. He finds his words eventually but if he started out singing about how much he's grieving, that grief wouldn't read strong enough.
Angelica singing that song is really, really functional. Cherry singing that song wouldn't be functional. And while I understand you initially thinking, where are the women, I don't think someone would ask "where are the girls in the Dead Poets Society?" Do you feel me? It's a school for boys. That's the story. I also want to highlight that the author of the book, S.E. Hinton, is a woman. Maybe there isn't a proliferation of female characters, but is it not also important to highlight, study, and respect the works of women, even if women aren't central characters? I don't think anyone has ever read a book by a man and asked where the male representation is in his narrative. To be clear: Cherry plays more of a role in the musical than she does in the book. They're already pushing it further in regards to representation. I just find it perplexing that you would critique a female author for not having enough women in her story.
I'll finish off by saying, I also love the structure of Ponyboy being the narrator. And really truly being the narrator. I know you saw the Gatsby musical, though I can't recall if you've read the book or not. I think so much is lost because that production decided to forget or ignore that Nick is actually the main character of the book. Nick is the narrator. And in act two, Nick is relegated to being Jordan's love interest. I think Great Comet works because it really doesn't forget it's a book. They're singing out huge chunks of passages. Pages from War and Peace literally fall from the sky into the audience's laps at the top of act two. I wonder if this kind of structure would make more sense to you if they had kept a framing device from the book. Ponyboy misses a lot of school being on the run and grieving, and a teacher says he'll pass him if he writes a five page assignment. And at the end, Ponyboy begins his essay with the opening line of the book: "When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home." In the musical, Ponyboy is just writing for the sake of writing.
I really haven't been this excited to be at the theater since Great Comet, for my friend with me, not since Deaf West Spring Awakening. Like, I saw Woods and Parade and Merrily, all shows with amazing reviews. I have had a blast watching them. The Outsiders is what really truly blew me away. I mean absolutely no disrespect, I am a faithful subscriber, I watch all your videos, but I just think this review is flawed from a couple of misconceptions and misunderstandings. I really encourage everyone to see the show.
Yes! Upcoming NYC vlogs! 🗽
From the pictures I've seen (haven't had a chance in person yet), the ground cover looks exactly like what they used at the New York Theater Workshop in Half God of Rainfall (that, yes, featured rain as well). It was super fascinating to see how it played with the show.
I saw this during its run at La Jolla Playhouse and lean toward more of a 4-star rating personally? I loved the score, and thought it and the design/staging elevate a serviceable if weaker book - which I think struggles to balance the novel's many threads.
It's the cast recording I've been personally most looking forward to this season....we'll after finally getting White Girl In Danger which ran last year.
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If you do any more US travel this year i would highlight that Jason Robert Brown's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is doing it's out of town run in Chicago and overlaps with the US premiere of Watermill's Lord of the Rings.
I’ve been waiting to hear your thoughts- as usual you are spot on. I grew up with this movie and read the book in school. I found the musical serviceable, the score was underwhelming and the lyrics filled with exposition, and the music didn’t serve to convey what seemed to be heady teenage emotions. I didn’t love the gravel set, but the staging was very strong. I only had time for one show this spring and I kind of regretted picking the Outsiders.
Perfect timing! In nyc right now for the week with a couple of empty shows slots, too many left to see, and struggling to make decisions.
Side note: Aside from the quality, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts/ predictions about which of these shows are more/less likely to tour, or which would need to change major set/design elements for a tour. When I really can't decide what to see in nyc, I will often choose the one less likely to travel to me, so that eventually I will see them all. My impression is that most shows with any short of recognizable name/ IP or enough awards hype will tour but I've been wrong before.
Go see Suffs!
@@yankee04I just did! That was one of the easier choices. I've already seen Uncle Vanya, Hell's Kitchen, and Suffs. I have tickets for Lempicka (extra glad I snatched those up before they announced they're closing), Stereophonic and Illinoise. I have one spot left and I'm torn between Water for Elephants, The Outsiders, and Appropriate. I was honestly leaning towards App but it starts an hour later and I don't want to cut my train too close. And that's not even mentioning the shows I would like to see but have decided are lower down the list like The Notebook and Tommy. I think i have to try for another weekend trip in june but don't want to count on it
I opted not to see Suffs because I figured it will tour, and the B'way cast isn't motivating for me. (I dislike Shaina Taub's singing, so probably actually prefer a tour cast.)
I think Outsiders, Notebook, and W4E will all eventually tour successfully, but Outsiders and Notebook may need some simplifications to the set for the purpose. Outsiders has the most complicated design so I'd prioritize it to see on Broadway, and then The Notebook based on the water and rain features and the strength of the original cast's performances.
See Gatsby on B'way if you want to see Jeremy and Eva and will enjoy the spectacle. I doubt I'd bother to see a tour version of the show.
Can't comment on Hells Kitchen, didn't see it for lack of interest. And I couldn't fit in Illinoise or Stereophonic. Hoping Illinoise will tour.
Lempicka just announced it's closing in like two weeks. As a flop I doubt it'll tour, so see it now if you're interested in it.
@@hollymcl Very helpful, thank you!! We seem to think similarly. Sounds like I should probably go for Outsiders or The Notebook on Sunday.
I would highly recommend seeing Hell's kitchen with the OBC if you can. Not enough adjectives for how talented the cast is. The performances and the story really blew me away, and that's coming from someone who can barely name 2 Alicia Keys songs.
I had never seen (or heard) of Shaina Taub before this show but I agree with you about her singing. Airways nice to see Jenn Colella though.
@@ThexImperfectionist I was very surprised by all the HK Tony noms, it really wasn't on my radar at all because I'd heard almost all negative reviews, I'm not a big fan of jukeboxes generally, and when I went to watch the promo music video I was kinda like... it's okay, I guess? Maybe I'll see it on tour sometime - I live in California, blew all my cash on an eight-show trip last week, and won't be back to Broadway any time very soon!
I have read the book 2 times, watched the movie multiple times (both versions), and have done a project on S.E Hinton. For me the show was spectacular and the changes made from book to movie to Broadway really made sense and to me helped the story. I loved all of the songs ,but agree the friday night song is weak. At my show specifically all through intermission i heard people singing the act 1 finale. In regards to age Darryl is supposed to be college age, but due to their parents dying appears older. In the movie he is played by patrick swayze who was at leat 10 years older than ghe rest of the cast i believe. I would suggest @mickeyjotheatre to either watch the extended movie version or to read the book its under 150 pages and that might help explain some of the nuances.
I absolutely love seeing an English person’s reaction to the name “Ponyboy” 🤣 having grown up with the book it didn’t seem that funny to me at the time but now I see how ridiculous it can sound in such a serious context 🤣🤣🤣
I just saw Hells Kitchen and loved every minute of the show, I can’t wait to hear what you think!
I had heard the song Great Expectations and immediately bought tickets.
Having now seen it, I still enjoyed it, but it sits near the bottom tier of musicals to me.
First the good:
Joshua Boone (Dally) gave one of the best acting performances I've seen in theater and carried many scenes.
The rumble was amazing.
Brody Grant sings fantastic although I wish he'd pronounce words better, sometimes he's mumbling.
The Bad:
Holy crap the acting for Johnny was so bad. Skye can really sing but the acting was making me laugh during moments that should break your heart.
I also felt that while the rumble had amazing choreography, some other scenes had terrible choreography. For instance when Soda and Darrel sing Throwing in the Towel, they just kind of stand and sit awkwardly.
And could not agree more about the first person aspect. They can kick us off with him telling the story but that doesn't mean they have to not show us scenes like Cherry telling us about her parents, we should see and hear what Pony saw and heard.
And then my final critique is when Ponyboy lies to the audience. He says "Dally leaves his shirt by the train track" but we SEE Dally while Pony is talking, he never puts his shirt anywhere. Lol
7.9/10 wanted to love it more than I did. Album is really solid.
This was (still is) one of my favourite books as a teen. My school librarian gave it to me (I was a 90s teen obsessed with America). It's so weird to watch the film now because it's a star-studded cast, but when it came out, the actors were so young and not as well known
Saw the pre Broadway version last year. Felt the show had some good elements but the whole thing needed some work. I was surprised when it announced the Broadway opening. Was hoping they were able to fix a bunch of things. I guess they didn’t. I thought the rumble scene was amazing. But that’s about the only thing I can say was memorable
I saw it in La Jolla too. Felt the same way. What we saw there was, in no way, close to being ready for Broadway. Most of the songs needed to be scrapped and replaced and the book needed serious work. It required some deep producer pockets and some honest feedback to cover the several years of additional work needed to get that musical ready for Broadway. Instead it took the cheapest path and quickly moved to NY with, likely, very little change. They gambled that Broadway audiences wouldn't care about all the problems with the show because they liked the existing IP and the show had some gimmicks in the staging to distract people. They also got lucky that a lot of the other new musicals opening this season were just as bad. So when it comes to audiences having to decide whether to go see a problematic/horrible new musical with no existing IP like "Lempicka" or a problematic/horrible new musical with IP they know like "The Outsiders"...well, "The Outsiders" wins that decision nearly every time. But both new musicals are atrocious.
I keep hearing reviews like this for so many of the new shows: it has several absolutely magical moments, but as a whole, it doesn't quite deliver. What is going on here? Why is this happening?
The Outsiders is one of my favorite audio books. Every summer between my school years of high school, I would ask my teacher if I could borrow it and I would sit and draw and listen to it over and over all summer for three Summers straight. The movie is phenomenal and honestly I wouldn't mind you putting up a little mini reaction to it because there are so many celebrities before they were stars involved. Most of who you've probably heard of. The material is certainly flawed and dated and problematic in its own ways, but there could also be a slight disconnect being that you are a British man in the 2020s reading a story that has its place in today's society but is very much a story of 50s to 60s americana. And that could be where it lost you ever so slightly, although I'm sure you're fully capable of Crossing that bridge and empathizing in your own way. The bits of Music I've heard have only been Snippets and I personally didn't like what I heard but I have a harder time listening to new musicals these days because I always have to hear the songs out of context. And I hate that
Totally agree with your review. Also from the UK, so have no previous connection to the text, but really felt it was fairly one note. Moments of brilliance but ultimately a little bland
Sounds like they didn't fix the issues that this musical had at La Jolla. I really was disappointed by it then, and it sounds like it's still a giant EHHHHHHHHH now too. I think you are right, people just have rose colored glasses on it. It's just not....great.
We read the book in high school in the 1970s in Canada, and had to do a book report. In mine I asked, "Haven't we seen this basic plot in West Side Story?" Still, a good book. I don't think it would be improved upon by making it a musical, and if not, then what's the point?
Since West Side Story is a re-telling of Romeo and Juliet, then what is your point? This isn’t about star-crossed lovers. Hope your teacher caught that.
It's the star-crossed lovers thing combined with rival gangs.
And every fantasy story is "the hero's journey".
Stop being pretentious.
I studied this in year 9 I really enjoyed the book
In Australia The Outsiders in a musical that is often performed in high schools, we did a performance in 2003. I’m not sure how different this is from this new musical on broadway.
We had to read this in middle school and it left me cold because at that point I'd read and written fanfiction, and the book reads like a 16 year old's fanfiction, instantly forgettable female characters, "creative" names, a conflict that escalates out of nowhere after much pointless meandering all charged with vague homoerotic undertones. From your recounting, I doubt the musical would make any better an impression on me, and you are not alone being like ???? that's it???
I had to read the book in 9th grade. That was a long time ago. The movie was shown to us as well after we read the book. The musical looks interesting, but I wasn't crazy about the book.
I vaguely remember it as one of the early Brat Pack movies. The cast is like they said ‘who will be the most remembered actors of this generation’, and cast all of them.
Were you able to catch Lempicka while you were here? I am so upset it is closing so quickly 😢
18:53 Why did I hear this as the beginning of a song?
(“Is something aflame?
“Is something… burninnnng?”)
I am from america and I loved the musical. The only part that I didn’t enjoy was that they changed the death of dally from the police to just plain suicide
It was nice to see all the Tony Awards it received. The book is as Americana as, Ragtime is.
Again, it’s hard for you to see a certain point of you because you have not watch the movie. What brought so many people to go see the movie were teenage girls who fell in love with all the actors that were in the movie in the movie they had people like Patrick Swayze, Tom Cruise, all the big young actors that were coming up in the 80s were in the movie girls probably had posters of these actors after the movie. The movie was so big that they had to do so much press, and when it opened at the theaters, the second week at the box office was massive because of word of mouth. One of the other actors that was in the movie. His brother is very very famous because of his TV series. I am so sorry not remembering the actors but if you look up the movie and you watch, and you would clearly understand the focus of the musical I have many friends to go see it in New York and they say it’s almost so close to the movie. It’s incredible. Another actor that was in it was Emilio Estevez, and he was bigger than his brother at the time. the brother the youngest brother was played by an actor who was so big in the 80s in the 90s and whatever movie he put out with a massive hit. Again I apologize not knowing the actors but I I am in massive pain due to a medical condition and it’s wiping down my short-term memory. It seems. I think you really should’ve watch the movie before giving your critique because the movie of the same name of the outsiders is probably in the top five for teen moviesthat
I enjoyed this show 😊
I did it at school 1983-1988
I still want that sweatshirt, though!
Need an Illinoise Review!
On its way! Bear with me 😅
wait HIS REAL NAME IS PONYBOY?!
Yep. In the book he explains that both his name and his middle brother's (Sodapop) are on their birth certificates. It isn't really explained why his parents made those choices, but just the fact that they did tells you something about what kind of people they were!
I’m American, and never read this book in school 🤷🏻♀️
Where’s your Sutton and tveit Sweeney review? Xxx
Did it deserve 12 tony awards?
I’m willing to give this a chance but I hated the book and the movie growing up. Never understood the appeal.
The book was Young Adult fiction and not really great literature. It is read in Junior High, or was at least back in the late 70's and 80's. It was very popular with teen girls a few years older than me it seems. Many teachers didn't choose it for their curriculum. My English teachers didn't, so I never read it. However I was familiar with the gist of the story and characters. The movie was done by Francis Ford Coppola not because he had a love for the book but because its fans pushed for him to do it. I have never been able to sit through the movie. So when the musical premiered here in La Jolla I had not interest in seeing it. Still don't.
I loved everything about the book and movie. (And her other books.)
But this looks "meh".
Fun fact. When I started smoking cigarettes in high school, I chose Kool's because that's what they smoked in the book. I thought I was so cool
👁️👄👁️
You are so well spoken and wise with your reasonings!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I was starting to think I was losing my mind with the way people are raving about this show that I thought was…fine. So many wonderful theater artists are doing fantastic work on this show that, in my opinion, cannot overcome a lackluster book. I agree on almost every count, and I’m quite familiar with the material from reading the book in school in the American Midwest. Nostalgia alone couldn’t make me invested in the story.
There was no one in the cast that needed to be lifted up by other members. Every cast member was incredible. One of the best plays of the decade. Easily 5 stars Mr. Self proclaimed critic dude. Your 3 stars are because you think you have to be negative to be a good critic. Not true. You need to get out of your head and get in your heart. It was incredible!!!!
I originally wanted to see it as I thought it was going to be a big hit but I'm hearing a lot of reviews similar to yours. No real connection or standout songs etc etc. Think I'll pass.
Oh no!. I'm supposed to see this tomorrow night and now I'm not hopeful. Thanks for letting us know, Mickey Jo. I appreciate it.
I totally agree with this review, and I found this play really frustrating. Music was boilerplate songs to move exposition, and the storytelling just doesn't work very well. Agree about the first person narrative too & the choices for where to place songs feel really weird.
Its very obvious you missed the point of the entire show, very sad and disappointed you didn’t get the power of the show and story itself
I was disappointed not to enjoy it more, honestly. Guess I missed the point, like you said.
@@MickeyJoTheatre I forgot to include it in my original comment, but I respect your opinion
Plus film full of brat pack stars! You are just too young
I think I'll give it a pass. I'm more hyped for Sutfs. I really would like to see Great American B**tch, The Strong One and How Long staged. Please review