Musical ‘The Outsiders’ breathes new life into S.E. Hinton’s original text

When 17-year-old S.E. Hinton published her first novel, The Outsiders in 1967, the book immediately struck a chord with young-adults. Lauded for its authentic writing and heartbreaking, yet engaging, storytelling, the book served as a reminder for teenagers and adults alike to exercise empathy and compassion, urging them to condemn violence in all its forms.

In the nearly 60 years that have followed since the release of The Outsiders, the public has continually attempted to recapture the initial magic of the book.

Such attempts have included a Francis Ford Coppola film adaptation starring The Karate Kid ’s Ralph Macchio in 1983, turning the book into a (little-known) play in 1990, and even bringing it to television, also in 1990. 

Despite these valiant attempts, however, none of those replicas came close to capturing the soul and urgency of Hinton’s original novel. 

That is, until the Tony-Award-winning Broadway Musical The Outsiders opened on March 4, 2023.

The musical is narrated by 14-year-old Ponyboy, a smart, determined (though sometimes overzealous) orphan living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1967. As it so often goes, this Tulsa is divided by social class— the wealthy, enviable socs (short for socialites) on top, the scrappy, down-on their luck greasers at the bottom. 

Unfortunately, Ponyboy happens to be one of those greasers.

Alla West Side Story, Ponyboy and company swing from pipes and dance through streets, lamenting their less-than ideal circumstances and wishing for more.

For the most part, The Outsiders musical is stripped bare. A beat-up car remains on the right side of the stage for the entirety of the show, reconfigured into a bedroom, a drive-in theater, or an abandoned yard with the help of a mere sheet. The staging is simple, yet creative; both practical and attention-grabbing. 

But while the set stands well on its own, it is completely transformed by the musical’s tremendous lighting and sound design, spear-headed by Brian MacDevitt and Cody Spencer, respectively. 

During one particular moment of chaos between a group of socs and greasers, a character is plunged into the depths of a fountain, struggling to break free against the tight grasp of his attackers. Amidst the sounds of the character underwater and glimpses of the violence around him, the theater’s house lights go completely dark. The sound of a thick, resonant bass ricochets from a large speaker at ear-shattering volumes, coming quick and jarring at irregular intervals.

The Outsiders easily shines in these moments of implicit storytelling, but often falls short in the explicit— namely in its musical and lyrical content. Though musical moments like “Great Expectations” and “Throwing in The Towel” are incredibly moving, many of the musical’s other songs do not cut nearly as deep, being too sonically similar, or coming at inopportune times.

Despite these inconsistencies, however, The Outsiders manages to emerge as one of the most innovative shows to appear on Broadway in recent years, leaning on current technology to enhance the viewer’s experience and create a fully immersive story. 

And so, while it could have been very easy to fall into a trap of clichés with this musical adaptation, The Outsiders brings just the right amount of heart into Hinton’s original story, easily rendering it one of the truest and most successful adaptations of the novel in recent memory.