Director of Broadway musical 'The Outsiders' stays true to Tulsa writer S.E. Hinton's story

Danya Taymor didn't read Oklahoma author S.E. Hinton's iconic coming-of-age novel "The Outsiders" until she was a grown-up.

But when she did open the influential book for the first time, she read it in one sitting.

"I burst into tears when Ponyboy reads Johnny's letter. ... It really broke me open, the experience of reading it. Even though I was an adult, it just brought me back to my 15-year-old self like that," Taymor said, snapping her fingers.

"I think that's part of the magic of it, because we all have that kid inside us. For so many people, it's when many of the most important things happen to us and mark us forever."

With her immediate connection to the story, Taymor signed on to direct the world-premiere production of "The Outsiders" musical last year at the La Jolla Playhouse in her native California. Now, the eagerly awaited musical is opening on Broadway with the award-winning director at the helm.

“The Outsiders” musical begins its Broadway run with previews starting March 16 ahead of the official opening night on April 11 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre.

"I hadn't read the book or seen the movie when I first got sent the musical. So, my first experience with the story was through the music and the script," Taymor told The Oklahoman during a Jan. 26 interview at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.

"Even if we can't achieve what the book does, because it has so much first-person narration ... there's so many ways in which it's guided us."

What advice did S.E. Hinton give to the cast and creative team of 'The Outsiders' musical?

Ahead of the start of rehearsals in New York City, members of the cast and creative team of “The Outsiders” musical — including Oscar winner Angelina Jolie, a lead producer on the show — made a January visit to Tulsa to explore the place where Hinton penned her iconic 1967 novel and Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola filmed his classic 1983 movie adaptation.

It wasn't Taymor's first trip to Tulsa on the project: She was part of a contingent that visited Hinton in her hometown about a year and a half ago.

"She said, 'The characters are so important. That's such an important root of this, but have your vision.' She also said to the actors ... 'Don't try to recreate what's already been done; make it your own.' And that permission and trust was really, really powerful to me," said Taymor, the niece of Julie Taymor, who in 1998 became the first woman to win a Tony Award for best director of a musical, for her smash Broadway production of Disney's "The Lion King."

A Tony Award winner for his work on “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” Justin Levine co-wrote the book for the “The Outsiders" musical with Tony nominee Adam Rapp.

Levine co-wrote the music and lyrics with musical theater newcomers Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance, also known as the Texas roots rock duo Jamestown Revival.

"The Outsiders" musical features scenography by AMP featuring Tatiana Kahvegian, costume design by Sarafina Bush, lighting design by Brian MacDevitt, sound design by Cody Spencer and projection design by Hana Kim.

"Being in the place heavily influenced the set design. ... Our set doesn't have a typical Broadway floor — it's dirt — and there's the way that there's a huge sky," said Taymor, whose Chicago production of Antoinette Nwandu’s play “Pass Over” was filmed in 2017 by Oscar nominee Spike Lee, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and is streaming on Amazon's Prime Video.

"It was also important to (see and) feel the Art Deco buildings. ... When you're near the train tracks, you can see the glittering skyline and what it must have been like for those kids to look across town at something that's not that far, but it's pretty far away."

Who is starring in the new Broadway musical ‘The Outsiders?'

Like most Broadway shows, the musical adaptation of “The Outsiders” has been years in the making.

The stage version is based on both Hinton’s landmark coming-of-age novel, which has sold more than 15 million copies and been published in more than 30 languages, and Coppola’s iconic movie, which has only grown in popularity as a cult favorite over the past four decades.

Inspired by her experiences at Will Rogers High School, Susan "Susie" Eloise Hinton penned the tale of two rival Tulsa gangs — the poor Greasers and the privileged Socs (pronounced Soshs) — when she was still a teenager. She published "The Outsiders" under her initials to keep male reviewers from knowing she was a woman and immediately dismissing her work.

"I grew up with an older brother and around a lot of his friends ... seeing what they could or couldn't say to each other, what they were going through. You can also look at the world and see all the different things in place to keep boys and men — and people in general — from expressing themselves," said Taymor, who won a 2020 Obie Award for directing the Off-Broadway production of Will Arbery's drama "Heroes of the Fourth Turning."

"So, that's something I feel is so profound about this girl writing about these boys. I feel like only she could have done it, she can see them in their roughness and their bravado and their tenderness."

Like the book and film, “The Outsiders” musical is set in Tulsa in the 1960s and focuses on young Greaser Ponyboy Curtis, his two older brothers and their chosen family of “outsiders” struggling to survive in a world of haves and have-nots.

Brody Grant is making his Broadway debut in the role of Ponyboy, while Sky Lakota-Lynch is returning to Broadway in the role of Johnny, Ponyboy’s best friend. Brent Comer makes his Broadway bow in the role of the eldest Curtis brother, Darrel, while Jason Schmidt is a Broadway newcomer playing the role of Sodapop, the middle Curtis brother. Joshua Boone and Daryl Tofa play fellow Greasers Dallas Winston and Two-Bit Mathews, respectively.

Emma Pittman co-stars as Cherry Valance, while Kevin William Paul and Dan Berry play Socs Bob Sheldon and Paul Holden, respectively.

"A lot of people think 'The Outsiders' are just the Greasers. But I think she (Hinton) is talking about everybody. ... That you could have compassion for somebody who might hate you is radical to me, and it's beyond empathy. To me, it's profound, so I think spreading that message into the world can bring healing. And I think that's really what drew me to want to tell the story," Taymor said.

How is 'The Outsiders' musical staging the famed rumble in the rain?

Taymor admitted that the beloved Greasers from Hinton's story are not the type of guys who would ever go to a musical.

"What musicals do so brilliantly is allow for emotional catharsis, which I also think her book allows for. Music is probably the most primal way of communicating anything. I think that's why church can be so powerful ... or places where there's a lot of music, because it's telling a story about something bigger than everything," she said.

"There's an old adage in musicals, 'When you can't talk, sing,' and I feel like so many of these characters have so much pent up that the form actually allows for that kind of release."

She said working with choregraphers Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman, who are brothers, has given the musical a physicality that suits the story, especially the famed rumble scene.

"The way that we've staged that rumble in the rain is visceral, like it really happens. It really rains; it's in the dirt," Taymor said. "Things like the fire are extremely physical and embodied in a way that I think is really authentic to how these kids would have grown up ... and the wildness of being young in your body and not being afraid."

The new show already has gained Hinton's seal of approval. Danny Boy O’Connor, founder and executive director of Outsiders House Museum, told The Oklahoman that he saw “The Outsiders” musical with Hinton during its California run and is looking forward to its Broadway debut.

“We both loved it. I'd never been to a musical before in my life and had no idea what to expect,” O'Connor said in a fall interview.

When Hinton attended the musical in California, the writer sat behind the director.

"The whole show, I was like, 'Don't turn around. Just trust. Just trust.' ... It was exciting and nerve wracking. Then at the end of the show, people were giving a standing ovation, and I turned around. She had tears in her eyes, and she looked and me and put her hand on her heart. It was amazing. I got chills," Taymor recalled.

"When I think about how to make this, I'm trying to think about making it for teenagers. And that's not to say it's only for teenagers — it's for the teenager in all us, in that part of our souls. And then I'm also making it for her."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Director of 'The Outsiders' musical readies for show's Broadway debut