Review: ‘The Outsiders’ National Tour

 

Strangely, time has a way of both marching on and standing still. In a sense, that is the case with The Outsiders, the 1967 best-selling novella by S. E. Hinton about teenage gangs in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The engine of that story has evolved in performance over the last 60 years from literary classic to motion picture and now re-worked into a stage musical. This musical version premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse in California in February 2023, spawning a Broadway opening in April 2024. Hitting the right nerve at the right time, the musical received twelve TONY award nominations, winning in four categories, including Best Musical, Best Direction, Best Lighting Design, and Best Sound Design. 

As The Outsiders continue to show attendance strength at Broadway’s Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, a National Tour production was launched in 2025. It is this tour that is making an eight performance stop in Knoxville at the Tennessee Theatre, April 22–26.

Just as Hinton’s original story 60 years ago had the strength of a first-hand account of teenage alienation, the musical adaptation transfers those feelings and emotions into a legitimate narrative that generally speaks to a contemporary audience. Admittedly, the socioeconomic chasm between the novel’s “greasers” and “socs” requires an historical adjustment to register with a 2026 audience, but it is the universal truth of teenage angst that lets it ring true. Should we mention and compare the group dynamics of the “Sharks” and “Jets” of West Side Story? Yes, add music to a literary classic and you force the narrative into one of contemporary taste and style.

That style was one championed by this show’s creators. The book by Adam Rapp and Justin Levine touches all the tragic bases as it should. The music by the duo of Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance (collectively known as Jamestown Revival) takes the narrative in a different direction, one of guitar-ish folk ballads that unfortunately defines the ultimate audience. As a first time audience member, I actually found it quite difficult to differentiate between many of the otherwise perfectly attractive songs, despite the variation in their intended context and lyrics.

The story centers on the strength of relationships. “Greasers” and brothers Ponyboy Curtis (Nolan White) and Sodapop (Corbin Drew Ross) are overseen by the oldest brother Darrel (Travis Roy Rogers) following the death of their parents in a tragic accident. The de facto leader of the Greasers, Dallas Winston (Tyler Jordan Wesley), represents the inevitable tragedy in the group number, “Grease Got a Hold.” Ponyboy and Johnny Cade (Bonale Fambrini) are best friends and attempt to cross gang boundaries by meeting “Soc” girls at the drive-in. While one may feel a West Side Story-like cross-gang romance coming on between Ponyboy and “Soc” Cherry Valance (Emma Hearn), the creators stick to the gang animosity and platonic relationships for their narrative, even though the duo does get a couple of cute and suggestive songs, “I Could Talk to You All Night” and “Hopeless War.”

Ultimately, despite the sincere efforts of that exceedingly attractive cast, the songs themselves are—as is the musical backbone—underwhelming. One is left with the conclusion that the success of this production comes directly from director Danya Taymor and her creative colleagues and their ability to construct a visual narrative immersion that is simply impressive and satisfying. The atmospheric rumble was staged by choreographers Rick and Jeff Kuperman with a theatrical violence and brutality that is intense and symbolic of the real thing. Partners in this were the workable scenic framework by Tatiana Kahvegian of the design collective AMP, the beautifully kinetic lighting design by Brian MacDevitt, the wowing, immersive projections by Hana S. Kim, textural costumes by Sarafina Bush, and special effects by Jeremy Chernick and Lillis Meeh. 

Cody Spencer’s sound design incorporated a number of impressive elements from surprising sound effects to an absolutely perfect balance of the instrumental ensemble with the performing voices. Admittedly, there are a myriad of compromises in touring a Broadway show that involve both the physical venue and the crew, but the voice reinforcement in this production was a paragon of clarity—for once.

Needless to say, this production of The Outsiders is capable of affecting an audience in the way that its creators had obviously hoped. One had only to hear the scattered sniffling throughout the Tennessee Theatre at strategically sad moments in the story to understand this. Ultimately, whether that emotion was naturally induced or the result of marvelous stagecraft, it is all theatre in the best sense of the word.