Oklahoma in the Broadway spotlight: These shows and artists are up for Tony Awards

Brandy McDonnell, The Oklahoman
Updated ·8 min read
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On the national theater stage, Oklahoma — the state, not the show of the same name this time — is having a moment in the New York spotlight, with plenty of award nominations to prove it.

The new stage adaptation of "The Outsiders" shines like gold, the new musical "Dead Outlaw" looks alive, and Oklahoma natives Kelli O'Hara and Mary Kathryn Nagle are contenders as the nominees for the Tony Awards and other New York theater prizes have been revealed.

Presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, the 77th Annual Tony Awards, which honor theater professionals for distinguished achievement in 2023-2024 Broadway productions, will air live Sunday, June 16 on CBS and will stream on Paramount+ in the U.S. for subscribers.

From left, Jason Schmidt plays Sodapop Curtis and Brody Grant stars as Ponyboy Curtis in the new Broadway production of "The Outsiders" musical.
From left, Jason Schmidt plays Sodapop Curtis and Brody Grant stars as Ponyboy Curtis in the new Broadway production of "The Outsiders" musical.

Oscar winner and Tony nominee Ariana DeBose returns to host the Tony Awards for the third time at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.

But the nominations also have been announced in the past few days for the Drama Desk Awards, Drama League Awards and Outer Critics Circle Awards, which all honor the top Broadway and Off-Broadway productions of the past season.

Oklahoma City native and co-producer Laura Galt poses outside the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Broadway, where "The Outsiders" musical is playing. The stage adaptation of Tulsa writer S.E. Hinton's classic novel began its Broadway run with previews starting on March 16 ahead of the official opening night on April 11.
Oklahoma City native and co-producer Laura Galt poses outside the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Broadway, where "The Outsiders" musical is playing. The stage adaptation of Tulsa writer S.E. Hinton's classic novel began its Broadway run with previews starting on March 16 ahead of the official opening night on April 11.

Here's a look at the theater award nominations with Oklahoma ties:

'The Outsiders' nominated for 12 Tony Awards

"The Outsiders," the musical theater version of Oklahoma novelist S.E. Hinton’s landmark 1967 coming-of-age book and Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic 1983 movie adaptation, earned 12 Tony nominations, including best musical.

The show's dozen Tony nods comes in second only to the 13 nominations for "Hell's Kitchen," a new musical featuring the songs of Grammy winner Alicia Keys, and "Stereophonic," a play about a feuding 1970s band set entirely in a recording studio.

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

Along with best musical, the show is nominated for Tonys for best book of a musical for Adam Rapp and Justin Levine; best original score (music and/or lyrics) for Jamestown Revival and Levine; best orchestrations for Levine, Matt Hinkley and Jamestown Revival; best direction of a musical for Danya Taymor; best choreography for Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman; best scenic design of a musical for AMP featuring Tatiana Kahvegian; best lighting design of a musical for Brian MacDevitt and Hana S. Kim; and best sound design of a musical for Cody Spencer.

In the acting categories, Grant is nominated for best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical, and two "The Outsiders" cast members are nominees for best performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical: Sky Lakota-Lynch, who plays Ponyboy's best friend Johnny Cade, and Joshua Boone, who portrays tough Greaser Dallas "Dally" Winston.

"It has been such a joy to watch this reimagination of Susie Hinton’s beloved Oklahoma narrative develop and launch on Broadway," said Oklahoma City native Laura Galt, who is a co-producer on the show and has been involved in its development since 2018.

"I am grateful the cast, creative, and production teams' heart and hard work have been recognized."

The cast performs in the new Broadway production of the musical "The Outsiders," adapted from Oklahoma author S.E. Hinton's classic coming-of-age novel.
The cast performs in the new Broadway production of the musical "The Outsiders," adapted from Oklahoma author S.E. Hinton's classic coming-of-age novel.

'The Outsiders' is nominated three more times for top musical award

"The Outsiders," which counts Oscar winner Angelina Jolie as a lead producer, also received nine Drama Desk Awards nominations, including outstanding musical, outstanding lead performance in a musical, outstanding direction of a musical, outstanding choreography, outstanding music, outstanding lyrics, outstanding scenic design of a musical, outstanding lighting design of a musical and outstanding sound design of a musical.

The Drama Desk Awards, which are voted on by theater critics, journalists, editors and publishers, will be handed out June 10 in a NYC ceremony.

"The Outsiders" garnered three nominations — for outstanding new Broadway musical, outstanding choreography and outstanding lighting design — for the Outer Critics Circle Awards.

The Outer Critics Circle, whose membership includes writers working for 90-plus newspapers, magazines, broadcast stations and online news organizations worldwide, will announce its annual winners May 13.

For the Drama League Awards, "The Outsiders" is nominated for outstanding production of a musical, while Grant and Boone are among the nominees for distinguished performance. The Drama League, a NYC-based theatrical association, will name its victors at a May 17 event.

"The musical is a love letter to Susie Hinton’s legacy. Its universal themes of identity, found family, reaching for dreams and staying gold through challenging times resonate deeply with audiences, allowing everyone to see a part of themselves reflected in the characters, music, and story. Thank you to all of the organizations for these incredible recognitions," Galt said.

"The Outsiders" began its Broadway run with previews on March 16 ahead of the official opening night on April 11 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, where performances continue.

From left, Thom Sesma, Andrew Durand and Dashiell Eaves appear in the Off-Broadway world-premiere musical "Dead Outlaw," based on the true story of a early 20th-century outlaw-turned-mummy who robbed, died and eventually was buried in Oklahoma.
From left, Thom Sesma, Andrew Durand and Dashiell Eaves appear in the Off-Broadway world-premiere musical "Dead Outlaw," based on the true story of a early 20th-century outlaw-turned-mummy who robbed, died and eventually was buried in Oklahoma.

'Dead Outlaw' leads Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations

Based on the twisty tale of Oklahoma outlaw-turned-mummy Elmer McCurdy, the Off-Broadway musical "Dead Outlaw" played a limited engagement at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre that ended April 14. But that didn't stop the musical from leading both the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards nominations.

Shot and killed by a posse in the Osage Hills in 1911, McCurdy, an ill-fated bank and train robber, had his body embalmed by a Pawhuska undertaker, but his remains went unclaimed, eventually drying up and mummifying. His corpse spent six decades traveling the country as a macabre attraction in sideshows, wax museums and low-budget movies, until the cast and crew of the television show "The Six Million Dollar Man" discovered it while filming in a California amusement park funhouse in 1976. McCurdy's body was buried the following year in Guthrie.

For the Drama Desk Awards, "Dead Outlaw" received 11 nominations, including outstanding musical (opposite "The Outsiders"); outstanding lead performance in a musical for Andrew Durand, who portrayed McCurdy; outstanding featured performance in a musical for Thom Sesma, who played the coroner; outstanding direction of a musical for David Cromer; outstanding book of a musical for Itamar Moses; outstanding scenic design of a musical for Arnulfo Maldonado; outstanding lighting design of a musical for Heather Gilbert; and outstanding sound design of a musical for Kai Harada and Joshua Millican.

Also, the show is nominated for outstanding music and outstanding lyrics for David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna as well as outstanding orchestrations for Penna, Dean Sharenow and Yazbek.

"Frankly, I’m surprised 'Dead Outlaw' is getting such high praise," Penna told The Oklahoman. "Not that I had any doubts about the quality of our work, but that the show is devoid of many contemporary musical theater conventions. I assumed subjects like mortality, America, forensics and the absurdity of the ego would be vibe killers for the theater world."

"Dead Outlaw" also leads the Outer Critics Circle Awards with nine nods, including outstanding new Off-Broadway musical, outstanding book of a musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway), outstanding score (Broadway or Off-Broadway), outstanding orchestrations (Broadway or Off-Broadway) and outstanding direction of a musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway).

In the acting categories, the show landed four total Outer Critics nominations: two for outstanding lead performer in an Off-Broadway musical, for Durand and Jeb Brown, who plays the narrator/bandleader, and two for outstanding featured performer in an Off-Broadway musical, for Sesma and Julia Knitel, who does double duty playing Elmer's Oklahoma girlfriend and a filmmaker's daughter.

For the Drama League Awards, "Dead Outlaw" rounded up nominations for outstanding production of a musical (again pitting it against "The Outsiders) and outstanding direction of a musical.

Brian d'Arcy James and Kelli O'Hara in "Days of Wine and Roses" on Broadway.
Brian d'Arcy James and Kelli O'Hara in "Days of Wine and Roses" on Broadway.

Oklahoma native Kelli O'Hara receives eighth Tony nomination

Oklahoma native Kelli O'Hara earned her eighth Tony nomination for best leading actress in a musical for the now-closed new show "Days of Wine and Roses," an adaptation of the Oscar-winning 1962 film directed by Tulsa native Blake Edwards.

An Elk City native who graduated from Deer Creek Public Schools and Oklahoma City University, O'Hara won a Tony for best lead actress in a musical for her turn as Anna Leonowens in the 2015 revival of "The King & I."

For "Days of Wine and Roses," she's also nominated for the Drama Desk award for outstanding lead performance in a musical, the Outer Critics Circle prize for outstanding lead performer in a Broadway musical and the Drama League trophy for distinguished performance.

Cherokee Nation playwright and actor Mary Kathryn Nagle performs as the late Muscogee activist Jean Hill Chaudhuri, her mother-in-law, in her new play "On the Far End."
Cherokee Nation playwright and actor Mary Kathryn Nagle performs as the late Muscogee activist Jean Hill Chaudhuri, her mother-in-law, in her new play "On the Far End."

Cherokee playwright Mary Kathryn Nagle earns Outer Critics Circle nod

An Oklahoma City native and enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, playwright and attorney Mary Kathryn Nagle received an Outer Critics Circle nomination for the John Gassner Award, which goes to a new American play, preferably by a new playwright.

Nagle garnered the nomination for her drama "Manahatta," which New York's Public Theater staged late last year.

"Manahatta," which Nagle showcased as a work-in-progress in OKC during the 2014 Native American New Play Festival, follows Jane Snake, a brilliant Native woman with a Stanford MBA. Jane reconnects with her ancestral Lenape homeland, known as Manahatta, when she moves from Oklahoma to New York for a banking job just before the 2008 financial crisis.

"I am honored to say that my play about the Indigenous Oklahoma experience has been nominated," Nagle said in an email. "I have so many people to thank, but this nomination would not be possible without the contributions of the Lenape Center and Delaware Tribe citizen Joe Baker. I am also thankful that so many Native and non-Native artists brought this play to life nearly 10 years ago in OKC."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: 'The Outsiders,' based on Tulsa novel, earns 12 Tony nominations