ARTS & CULTURE
By Isaiah Bliss | Photos by Matthew Murphy
Stay Gold and Kick Off the Broadway Season With The Outsiders
The winner of four 2024 Tony Awards including best musical, The Outsiders is coming to Walton Arts Center on Sept. 1-6. With “high-octane choreography” according to New York Magazine, “The Outsiders has the power to inspire an entire generation,” said Entertainment Weekly.
This classic coming-of-age story takes place in 1967 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Ponyboy Curtis, his best friend, Johnny Cade, and their family of greaser “outsiders” navigate the complexities of self-discovery and dream about who they want to become in a world that will never accept them. This is a story about friendship, family, belonging and the realization that there is still “lots of good in the world.”
Adapted from S.E. Hinton’s seminal novel and Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic film, this thrilling new musical features a book by Adam Rapp with Tony Award winner Justin Levine, music and lyrics by Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance) and Levine, and choreography by Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman. The Outsiders features Danya Taymor’s Tony Award-winning direction that’s “refreshing, gritty and endlessly effective,” said The New York Times.
“The musical stayed very close to the book and true to the characters,” Hinton said. “Naturally, I am pleased about this. I believe the music provides insight to the characters. I like that some people will experience the story for the first time as a musical, and then they read the book or see the movie.”
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That translation from page to stage does more than add spectacle — it reshapes how we experience the characters themselves. Ponyboy’s interior world, once confined to narration, becomes a living, breathing presence when voiced through music. His songs sharpen his identity as both a dreamer and an outsider, underscoring his yearning for beauty amid chaos. As Hinton said, “It was really good because it showed how much he identified with the book,” referring to the poignant staging of Ponyboy clinging to Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
With Jamestown Revival’s original score, The Outsiders captures the raw emotional depth of 1960s Oklahoma by emphasizing a blend of folk, rock and Americana that brings the beloved story to life in a new and exciting way. The song “Stay Gold” was written nearly nine years prior to the duo’s music making its way to Broadway. Co-written with Levine, the soundtrack takes inspiration from the duo’s debut album, Utah, which captures the duality of youthful ambition and the weight of the world around oneself.
For audiences stepping into the theater, it offers both nostalgia and discovery. Some will arrive with decades of love for Ponyboy and Johnny; others will meet them for the first time under bright stage lights. But all will leave reminded of what Hinton has always hoped for: that the story sparks connection, joy and a deeper understanding of what it means to “stay gold.”
Tickets start at $48.30 and are available by visiting www.waltonartscenter.org, by calling (479) 443-5600 weekdays 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. or in person at Walton Arts Center Box Office weekdays 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
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Show Dates and Times:
Sept. 1 at 7 p.m.
Sept. 2 at 7 p.m.
Sept. 3 at 1:30 and 7 p.m.
Sept. 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 5 at 2 and 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 6 at 2 p.m.