Like a lot of Gen Xers, I read The Outsiders in school when I was a kid. When I heard there was a musical in the works based on S.E. Hinton’s gritty 1967 YA novel a few years back, I was perplexed. A play along the lines of the 1983 Francis Coppola film adaptation? Sure. But a musical? I realized how dumb I was at the opening of The Outsiders at Broadway in Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre Wednesday night. Executed as essentially a slick combination of Grease and West Side Story, this saga pitting outcast teens against their affluent classmates in late-60s Tulsa proves a natural for the musical stage.
It doesn’t hurt that Nolan White, who stars as the soulful greaser Ponyboy Curtis, has a This Boy’s Life-era Leo DiCaprio vibe. He’s surrounded by a talented ensemble of young actors who give the rousing folk-rock score by Jonathan Clay, Zach Chance and Justin Levine a high-octane workout all while creating exhilarating stage pictures under the direction of Danya Taymor. Tyler Jordan Wesley, as lost boys leader Dallas Winston, is the standout singer and dancer, but other highlights abound.
There’s no conventional romance here. Smart, sensitive Ponyboy finds his Soc counterpart in Cherry Valance (a winning Emma Hearn), but he’s too young for her. The real love triangle is between Ponyboy, Dally (as the greasers call Dallas) and Ponyboy’s oldest brother, Darrel (Travis Roy Rogers), who present him with very different paths to adulthood.
When Ponyboy and his best friend Johnny Cade (a compelling Bonale Fambrini) take it on the lam after a deadly encounter with a group of Soc bullies, they have plenty of time to consider their life choices while holed up in an abandoned church. Will Ponyboy reject the appeal of the outlaw life to pursue a career as a storyteller? The existence of this story provides a pretty big clue.
And the fact that you’ll likely be humming songs like “Tulsa ’67,” “Great Expectations” and “Stay Gold” as you walk out of the theater is a good indication why this show won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical, on Broadway in 2024.
The Outsiders runs through February 22 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre.
For a full roundup of reviews of this show, visit Theatre in Chicago.
Photo by Matthew Murphy
