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'The Outsiders' Music and Stagecraft | The Box Seat Babes Podcast · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  I'm we're just, we're there.
• 0:06
  It's nine o'clock at night.
• 0:07
  We've just recorded 10 episodes, five podcasts, five topics.
• 0:11
  We're just...
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  We're doing it, live and in color.
• 0:18
  Last episode we talked about the story of the outsiders, which it seemed like we both liked it, right?
• 0:22
  It was a good story.
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  Sounds like it.
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  You're like, I'm not sure what we even talked about last episode, to tell you the truth.
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  But for a quick recap, this takes place in Tulsa 1967, I believe.
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  I believe that is the year.
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  I think that's in the song.
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  I could be wrong.
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  and it's follows the the story of Ponyboy who is telling the story of what happens to him and Johnny Cade as they get involved in a uh social warfare fight with the Socs and
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  someone ends up dying and they get caught in that and it's about their found family and stuff like that.
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  So that kind of sums up the story very broadly.
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  There's a lot of intricate details, but if you want those head back to episode one and give it a listen.
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  because we do break that all down for you.
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  We were quite good at it, if I do say so myself.
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  But today's focus is going to be on specifically the music, the staging, and whether the show lives up to the hype.
• 1:28
  I want to talk about the hype real quick.
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  So when we first went to New York, our first trip a year ago, we did not go to see the show.
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  And while we were standing in line for Water for Elephants,
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  As we were walking out of Waterfall Elephants, we said, damn, we should have seen that show.
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  Because the people's energy was so electric.
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  It was like watching children running out of like a playhouse, a playscape.
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  They were, it was like visiting a McDonald's where they have a playscape and you're watching the kids play and you're like, that looks like fun.
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  I wish I was doing that.
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  It's the only way I can describe the absolute energy that was coming from the outsiders.
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  I think that pretty much sums up exactly how it was and so we had to see it this time.
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  I think that was pretty much the way it went.
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  we had the Tony's too.
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  I think it was you after the Tony's.
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  were like, did you see the Tony's?
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  Did you see that performance?
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  I think we have to go see that.
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  Sounds about...
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  What about that Tony's performance made you decide that you had to see that show?
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  Other than the fact that it swept all the categories.
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  I mean obviously the rain.
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  No it just it was so the lighting again the lighting was so unique the staging
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  Just the overall vibe, really.
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  You don't see a lot of physical shows.
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  And so I knew by seeing that I was like, oh, if they go that hard for that scene or whatever, they probably go that hard the entire show.
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  thought we should take again.
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  scene, in case you haven't watched the 2020 Tony Awards, they do the fight scene from Act 2, which is like the big rumble where it's the Socs fighting the greasers after Ponyboy
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  returns home.
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  There's a lot of slow-mo, there's a lot of flashes, it is downpour raining.
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  And they did this on a Tony state, like they did this at the Tonys.
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  And it was quite impressive and I agree with you when you said hey, did you watch it go watch it right now?
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  think we need to go see the show I was like, yeah, holy holy hell that just looked Absolutely bonkers to think that a that a show could pull that off eight times a week But
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  before we get into the staging let's talk about the music It's a very folky.
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  It's like a very country.
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  It's like it's like Broadway country
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  That sounds right.
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  Yeah, I mean technically it's it's a mix of like folk and rock
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  Yeah.
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  And then because I think of their accents, does, it's got the country twang.
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  So it's, it's not like.
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  It's not like country pop music, but it does have kind of the rhythm of country, I think.
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  It's a little bit more like slow moving.
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  have prob...
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  I imagine the band is a little bit more acoustic.
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  I'm trying to remember.
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  I mean, you have like that banjo-y type feel, but it's moving.
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  Like it's quickly paced.
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  the other day I was driving to work and Tulsa 1967 or whatever like that that song came on and You can't help but kind of sing it in I like that southern twang because like they It
• 5:34
  is very intentional and I like a lot of times I know with music when you have an accent that Exit times to like disappear as you're singing that tends like co kind of go to the
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  background
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  But it is like they're intentionally making a point to sing it very like like almost like like blue grassy feel You know just being like the this is the southern twang that we have
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  to our voices And it does set the tone for that show because all the music is kind of Melodic in that way like very like country melody
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  Yeah, I mean, because of course you have to be...
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  Like the show takes place where it takes place, right?
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  So the heart of music has to make sense, I think for, obviously for the production.
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  But it's just enough, it's like just enough that it's not over the top twang.
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  Like you're not.
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  getting hit upside the head with a twang.
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  Because, and that just plays into the fact that it is tech, it's still musical theater.
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  So it's still like got enough of a kind of curve to it that really if you took, if you sang it without an accent, I think it would still work.
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  And that's usually the testament to that it's well done.
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  is like if you can take a song and you can take it out of its original context and it still sounds good, then you have a good song.
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  for sure.
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  And I think maybe that speaks to the work that Jamestown Revival and Justin D really did for the show because they took the essence of what made The Outsiders The Outsiders, it
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  just put it to music in a way that like felt very natural and integrated the show concepts very well.
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  Because there wasn't a time, there's sometimes when you watch shows or somebody who grew up on country music, sometimes just like this is
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  very country like this is very folky and it's a very acquired taste and there wasn't a moment of this that felt like it was specifically an acquired taste it was like bringing
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  like folky country rocky music to like the public front which i was a really cool kind of like idea like this was something that i'm sure a lot of people are going to be singing
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  because it's not like quintessential like willy nelson on the radio you know
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  What songs stuck out to you?
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  mean, the opening number is was a little bit of an earworm for me.
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  Ironically, and then the closing number.
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  I don't I don't know if it was technically I think it was the closing number stay gold.
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  No, because we had Tulsa 67 reprise at the end.
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  It was the exact same song that began the show.
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  Stay Gold was a good one though.
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  Yeah, those two.
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  It's crazy to me because I'm obviously there's a ton of music in it, but I didn't have a ton of like earworm songs.
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  Walking away.
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  Sure.
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  I get that.
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  obviously it's a very well-known and well-done show, but I think just because there's so much storytelling happening in the music too, that you have to be very familiar with what
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  point in the story, like each song is occurring.
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  What I think is interesting when you said that about like earworms is I remember walking away from Sufs, loving the music, but I could not tell you a single song besides Keep
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  Marching.
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  So I feel like there's some shows that have this very powerful message.
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  I only picked that one because I know it's your favorite, I'm sorry.
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  But like, it's like that one, I know you know the songs more than I do, but like I...
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  didn't walk out of that show being like, could sing you every single song.
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  So like for this one, Tulsa 1967 did get stuck in my head, but it's probably the only one that got stuck in my head.
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  But I remember having like visceral reactions to some of the songs throughout the show, but I couldn't tell you what those songs were, which is a very interesting way to kind of
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  have a show.
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  Well, and arguably, usually songs with reprises you are going to remember more because you've heard it more than once.
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  for sure.
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  which is the same with Suffs and Keep Marching.
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  They do actually do that one twice.
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  It's just called a different song.
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  yeah, this makes sense that you open and essentially close with, it is kind of a title song with it being that usually the portion that we remember is the title, right?
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  Like that phrase.
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  So.
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  For sure.
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  I do have to say one of my, not the one I'm gonna be singing all the time, I can't even listen to it all the time, but little brother, sang by Dallas, his brother Dallas.
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  I don't know if you remember, but I was an emotional wreck during that performance.
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  Yes.
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  That one hurt.
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  Bad.
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  Like that one was just one that...
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  And for people that...
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  Spoiler alert, I know we already gave a spoiler, but this is a song that is at the moment where Ponyboy and Johnny Cade have run off.
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  They're being sought after for murder.
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  And Dallas, the second brother in the family, the one that's still in the greaser lifestyle, but slightly more mature.
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  He's writing a letter to Ponyboy and basically asking him to come home because they're lost without him and I can't I can't sing you this song at all I can't think of what the
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  melody is because I all I can remember is being absolutely just like heart-wrenching just being like like watching I mean the actor who played Soda pop Jason Schmidt
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  was so good at this that he was basically crying on stage as he's singing, not missing a note, and making me turn into a puddle.
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  And so that was one that definitely struck me very hard, even though I could not tell you much about that song at this moment in our life.
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  But I wasn't the only one.
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  There was lots of people crying for that song.
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  Yes, mean, yeah, pretty much from that moment on, feel like people were crying.
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  But also like you said say gold was another one that it hit the heart wrench, you know I can't think of what song it was when
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  When Dallas kills himself, also that was very powerful.
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  There's like a lot of powerful songs for a show that also had a lot of upbeat songs and not that shows can't have both, but they definitely had, maybe it was that they like the
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  way they transitioned that went from easy, like it went from lighter songs and it got heavier as you got through.
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  because that's kind how I remember the progression but maybe I'm wrong about that.
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  Is that kind of how it went?
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  I mean, yeah, towards the beginning, it's a little bit lighter, just also because of the part of the story that we're in.
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  And then, I mean, a lot happens towards the back half of the show, where I feel like you've got this...
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  kind of maybe slight imbalance from before.
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  have more ballads, more kind of slow moving because also the plot slows down a little bit and focuses in on obviously particular relationships and all of the happenings around
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  that.
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  Does the music serve the story or do feel that it overpowered it at all?
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  You're like, don't ask me those questions.
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  I'm not sure if it served it, but also it didn't like dis-serve it.
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  As we know and as we've seen, like this is a book, it's a movie.
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  Like the story has existed without this music before.
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  So I struggle to say that it like serves it, but it doesn't, I don't think it overpowers it.
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  Okay.
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  Maybe an appropriate balance.
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  mean, it obviously it gives it a different spin and it takes certain portions and rather than just obviously hearing people say the like the the words were hearing it sung.
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  I think it lends itself in regards to making people emotional.
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  I think music always does that where it just pulls at your heartstrings just a little bit.
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  More maybe than normal.
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  I was going say I think that it definitely added to the emotionality of the show because I think if it was just a stage play I wouldn't have cried like that.
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  because I think that that music just, it's like the music with the lyrics and the emotion, all of it together hit me really hard.
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  If it was just the emotion, I would have been like, that's sad.
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  But I don't think I would have engaged with it in that way of just being like the, opened up my heart and like the floodgates just poured out.
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  And so I do think for that aspect, it was really good for what it did.
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  But yeah, it doesn't actually, it doesn't.
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  The story has existed for so long without it that it doesn't also need it.
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  Like this could have been a stage play and you could have had a fine show.
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  Maybe it wouldn't last as long on Broadway.
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  I think that this show is going to have a very like it's going to have a lasting impact.
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  But you're right.
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  There's like it could exist without it.
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  And there's some shows that you could.
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  I don't think.
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  I don't sorry.
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  I don't mean to attack you like this.
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  I don't think stuff could exist without the music.
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  Does that make sense?
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  Correct.
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  No, yeah.
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  Like, I don't think the show, people would go to see the show if it wasn't for that music that was carrying that.
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  Like, the music is one of the most important pieces of it, because it's so beautiful, but it's moving the story.
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  We already know that the story of the outsiders exists without it, because there's been so many annotations of it.
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  Let's talk about the staging.
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  This is a huge stage full of a lot of pieces.
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  There's...
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  The one part that always makes me laugh is when you were...
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  we were talking beforehand and we were like, that's definitely a projection of gravel.
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  And then in the first scene that gravel gets kicked up and we both like, oh, no, that's real gravel.
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  What did you think of the set?
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  What did you think of Jacob's theater?
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  Yeah, was happily surprised by the entire setup.
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  I mean, a stationary stage in regards to the set itself.
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  I mean, you have some pieces coming on and off.
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  Again, I think where the ensemble is important, you have people taking props on and off, but everything kind of lives on stage, which of course then you need a big stage for that.
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  And yet it was, you didn't feel like you were super far away.
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  Like it didn't feel like the staging was far back downstage.
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  Like it felt like everything was relatively.
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  I don't know, like towards the front of the curtain.
• 18:27
  Yeah, 100%.
• 18:29
  That was really far close to us.
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  yeah, like you have a stationary set, which I mean, I guess in app two, we do see them back there a little bit more, but most of the time they're, pretty close to us.
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  I'm very interested to see how this tours, like how they, I can only imagine the amount of trucks of like, like, will they do gravel?
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  Will they?
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  Like I feel like you have to because that's such a big part of the choreography, but carrying that like with you and laying it out every single time, that's brutal.
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  have pieces that are exploding because of the fire and like there's so much happening I thought the same thing too.
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  I was like, how does this tour like like how does it come together on a touring stage?
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  And it's also coming to the fisher theater, which means it's not a huge set It's I mean, it's gonna be big but it's like not gonna be like detroit opera house big
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah, I'll be real interested to see.
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  I feel like they have to slim it down, even if that means that the rain is only like they aren't actually in the rain, but that the rain is happening on a track so that it can
• 20:19
  drain.
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  Um, because yeah, good point.
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  Like you need a drainage system with what's on Broadway because of the amount of water you can literally see.
• 20:32
  where they have a drainage system kind of set up.
• 20:36
  yeah, that will be, unless it's literally a, like in pieces kind of canaled type set, but I guess we'll, we'll find out speculation.
• 20:54
  Absolutely.
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  I mean, I'm excited to see it, but there is this set ish.
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  It was quite felt quite big There was a lot of moving pieces.
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  I would not want to be sitting in the front Row with all the gravel that feels like a like a pink eye so situation waiting to happen
• 21:10
  Yeah, I mean they have a lip on it, but I'm for sure pieces fly.
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  I mean
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  for sure pieces fly out of there in the front, which I'm sure also people complain about.
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  What did you think of the choreography?
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  Because this is a very choreo like this is a heavy choreographed
• 22:06
  It almost reminded me of Hamilton in the degree to which it is choreographed.
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  Like every movement, and obviously there's fight scenes, like multiple, everything is very sharp and distinct and intentional and just high energy.
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  I mean, you're running all over the stage, even though it is a smaller stage, like you're still...
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  You're on, obviously on gravel.
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  I thought it was very, very well done, very convincing.
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  Absolutely.
• 22:44
  loved the use of slow mo because slow mo can be done really cheesy And like the way that they did it in the choreographed fights and stuff like that.
• 22:53
  It did make it feel more like rough and tumble brawly I liked how They had to be rolling on top of each other through the rain something that to the tee some of those things
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  They're jumping over each other and some of these things they're doing in slow motion.
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  I'm like there's no way that
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  Like you have to have so much control over your body.
• 23:17
  It's like that was almost like a work of art in of itself.
• 23:19
  The amount of work and love and power that they put into those things.
• 23:24
  The choreograph, the choreography was fantastic.
• 23:27
  Sam Peacleton's work.
• 23:29
  It's fantastic.
• 23:30
  David Cromer's direction of the show.
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  No wonder why I won Tony's because it truly is a masterpiece.
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  And I did not think it was going to be before we ever saw it.
• 23:40
  Like I did not know how it was sweeping the Tony's at first until I saw that performance.
• 23:44
  And now I know why because it truly is a work of art.
• 23:48
  So I think we know who loves the show and it's me.
• 23:52
  I think it's you too.
• 23:53
  But like I think like there is a group of people that this appeals to.
• 23:57
  I think it's people that love the
• 23:59
  Arta Theater.
• 24:01
  great.
• 24:03
  Um, do you feel like it lived up to the legacy of the outsiders?
• 24:06
  Like do you remember the book compared to that?
• 24:08
  Does it feel like it lives up to it?
• 24:10
  Yeah, I think so.
• 24:11
  mean, I think it stayed true to the original work and just essentially added, you know, added some added some music and called it a day.
• 24:24
  What would you give it a grade of?
• 24:27
  I would say...
• 24:31
  I would say an A minus.
• 24:33
  Okay, I'll agree.
• 24:35
  I'll agree.
• 24:36
  It's not my absolute favorite show, but it is in the top.
• 24:41
  It is really good.
• 24:42
  And it's one of those ones that I would go see again multiple times and probably get something new out of it each and every time.
• 24:51
  You stay with you.
• 24:51
  OK.
• 24:54
  And with that, we are done with part two of our The Outsiders discussion.
• 24:59
  Thank you so much for joining us here in our box seats.
• 25:01
  Stay tuned for more episodes until the next curtain call.