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'The Outsiders' Tour Music & Stagecraft | The BSB Podcast · The BSB Podcast

0:00
Welcome back theater lovers! We see that you've decided to come back for part
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2 of our Outsiders discussion.
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Wise choice, as we'll be talking about everything else that makes this show stay
0:08
gold, as well as give our final verdicts if this musical is worth your time.
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But before we soda pop into our next great adventure,
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like, follow, and subscribe to us on all social media platforms.
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Spoiler warning, if you want to head to Tulsa,
0:20
Oklahoma for yourself without our voices ringing in your head like Johnny Cades
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and Pony Boys, then pause this video and come back when you have.
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Joining us once again is actress extraordinaire who came for the plot
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but stayed for Corbin Drew Ross's abs.
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It's Emily Brown. Thank you for joining us.
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Anytime, truly.
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So just a quick recap of our last episode,
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we went over the story and characters that spoke to us,
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the themes that really stood out to us from the show,
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and why Ross's abs are just probably the best part of the show.
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So A plus from that. We don't even have to give a verdict at this point.
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We're just done with the episode.
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my gosh.
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but truly, Emily, welcome back.
1:00
Thank you so much for being here with us.
1:01
Thank you for having me.
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~
1:04
so we're to talk about the music and RJ,
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you always start us off with our music.
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You are a music guy. You are extraordinary.
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You are definitely the huge junkman to everybody else's Sutton Foster from
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the music man. zoomed in on Emily.
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She said, she's like dancing. So we're going into it.
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But RJ, I have a feeling that this is not,
1:26
well, first off, this is not your typical musical music.
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I'm wondering if you enjoy it.
1:33
No, I'm wondering if you if this speaks to you in a way because it just is not.
1:38
It's not typical,
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you
1:40
it's not what you would see. You know,
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this is really from Jamestown Revival.
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It's very southern, it's very bluesy.
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Do you like this music?
1:50
Yes, generally speaking.
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I hear
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a butt coming.
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I mean, there's nothing about it that I dislike.
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It's just like not my favorite.
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Like I would not listen to this album on repeat.
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I would listen to it in tandem or like I would listen to it obviously when
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I'm watching the show because it's so storytelling-esque.
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But I've tried. I've tried to listen to just the album.
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I probably have listened to it like once or twice just to get to know
2:22
the story more.
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but it's not like I'm not like bopping down the highway with it playing.
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So what RJ just told us is that he said,
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and I quote, he would listen to it when he's at the musical.
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But if he had the option, apparently,
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You
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listen to
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watch the show without the music,
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he would take that over it.
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You would take it?
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Is that what you're hearing, Emily?
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is visually stunning enough that I could do that.
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True. I'm not going to argue with that.
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Okay, that's fair, honestly. It's gorgeous.
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That's not, that's not, it's
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a gorgeous show. Emily, you came into the show,
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you were expecting the outsiders.
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Did the music give you the outsiders?
3:01
I think so. Before seeing the show,
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I... Sometimes I do these things with musicals that have been really hyped
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up and I don't listen to the music before.
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And that's what I did with The Outsiders.
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And so I had heard Tulsa 67, like the clips of it,
3:16
The Big Hook before, because that's everywhere.
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And so when that like opened the show with a bang,
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I was ready. But I liked it in general.
3:25
There's... I don't think I would listen to...
3:29
the album front to back, but there are a couple songs that
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I definitely have favorited on my Spotify.
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You know, I love that you said that about going into a show like blind,
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~ because I also think that's one of the best ways to experience a show.
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Like if you're like, if you're getting prepared for it,
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you should just sometimes go in without knowing anything,
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because I think that gives you the full kind of picture of it.
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~ This is harkening back to my younger days,
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but I remember when Hamilton was getting big and you could have the two set disc,
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you know, because there's so many songs.
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He
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My
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ex at the time was like, we have to know every single song before we can
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go in to see the show. And so I had,
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we had the album memorized. And I do think that that just,
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maybe that's a show that it was okay to know that because there's so many words,
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but I do think that it kind of takes away from like the,
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like you're putting the pieces together,
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but like, that's how this works in here.
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That's how the song goes in, especially with a show like this one that was very
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Right.
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narratively heavy.
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Mass spoilers ahead, truly.
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Truly. RJ, you prefer going in blind or you prefer knowing a little
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bit before you go in?
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Depends on the show. only, so recently I've done this thing where I listen
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to the album one time before I see the show,
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if I've never seen it before. Particularly if accents are involved or if
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I know that it is a high speed show.
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Like recently I'm thinking Kinky Boots,
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I'm thinking Operation Mincemeat ~
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because there's too much for me to have to catch.
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Like I wanna be fully immersed in the moment that's happening and
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not worried about like, wait, what are they saying?
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So if I can even just get a little bit of an earworm just used
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to what I'm about to hear, cause usually it's pretty close.
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Obviously, you know, it's not exactly the same,
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but ~ for that reason I would.
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For something like this, like I knew that it was.
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ballad heavy, knew that there wasn't a lot like super strong accents happening.
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So I didn't feel like I needed to prep myself for the experience.
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Which makes sense. Again, like I think that it does depend.
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And I use the example of Hamilton as like a bad example,
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but I do think that's one show that if you have a little bit of knowledge,
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it's easier to appreciate the show because there is so much happening
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in the music that like sometimes if you're trying to be like,
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what word did they just rap? You you're gonna miss some of that.
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But this one, you you have that soulful,
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you have that bluesy feel. Like you don't need to know the show before
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you go and see it. And in fact,
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I think that it might...
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ruins some of it if you don't see it live,
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you know what mean? Like that feel,
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it's got such a specific feel that is so tied into the structure of the show.
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yeah, like if you don't know, great expectations is about to happen
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and then it happens to you. Like I was like gripping my chair.
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was a moment that I was happy I did not know was coming.
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Yeah, no, absolutely. And speaking of,
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you talk about a good song there,
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but like Emily, what songs from this show really stood out to you as you,
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as we're kind of, you know, you can talk about act one,
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you can talk about act two, you can talk about the whole show,
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whatever you feel
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like, what's speaking
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yeah,
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to you?
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you got it. Well, hey, I told you what songs I favorite on my Spotify.
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So we'll just go through that.
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Tulsa 67's on there. Great, absolute
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Hell yeah.
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banger. Stuck in my head. Do I know the words?
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No, but notes are coming out. ~ Great Expectations is fantastic.
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Talk about like perfect synergy between like vocals,
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performance, and tech. I just thought it enhanced everything that was going on and.
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~
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Even the night that we were there,
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they were having like some audio trouble,
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like at the beginning when the big harmonies first hit and I was like,
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no, please don't let this be the whole thing.
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And then they like tweaked it so fast and I was like fully immersed
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in whatever's going on. ~ I could talk to you all night is precious.
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That one has a special place in my heart now.
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Cause Clay talks
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What?
7:35
about it, cause Clay says it.
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reminds him of us. And so was like,
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okay, well, now I'm gonna cry whenever I hear that song.
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~ And
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Ha
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little brother at the end. ~ it's just,
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it's too much. It's so good.
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We're gonna break
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down some of these, but I have a question for both of you.
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And RJ, we're gonna get your favorites as well,
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even though we already heard from you last time,
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we don't really know. But I was talking with somebody who saw the show.
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Specifically, they brought up Great Expectations.
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And what's interesting to me is that I actually appreciate that song,
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and I don't love ballads. I'm not a ballad person,
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I don't love slow songs. I'm one like,
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need the energy, otherwise I'm gonna fall asleep.
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~ But someone mentioned how...
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that song they felt stalled the show completely.
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Like that's the song they're just like,
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and it doesn't really pick up energy all the way to the end of Act One.
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You're kind of just slowly slugging through it.
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It's kind of boring from that point on.
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~ I'm gonna Emily collect her thoughts real quick,
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but RJ, I'm start with you. What do you
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Okay, interesting.
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think of that? Like, do you think that that song slows down the trajectory
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of Act One?
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Uh, I don't know if I'd be that dramatic.
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I mean, it obviously,
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You dramatic?
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because, you know, we, head into run run brother,
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which is not at all. Uh,
8:53
but I mean, I also, but I,
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I love, I could talk to you all night.
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So I'm going to be biased towards that.
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RJ, I love how said that leads into Run,
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Run, Brother. That's literally like five songs away from each other.
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I know, but I mean, like, it's a slow climb.
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feel like, like we have,
9:12
Mm-hmm.
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I could talk to you all night,
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Arguably, I understand the idea of,
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okay, we had Friday at the drive-in,
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which is kind of like mid it's,
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it's not like super high energy,
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but it's not ballad. And then we drop into a ballad and then we have a reprise,
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which like reprises are just reprises.
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Like, I don't know that it feeds the energy either way.
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~
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Yes, far away from Tulsa, you've got like Duet.
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I don't know, I just, don't think...
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It didn't like bore me through the end of Act 1,
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so...
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I will say this about the song.
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I think that I did not appreciate it as much when we saw it on Broadway.
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I think that I was, again, I didn't know the songs at that point,
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so I was still trying to digest them as we're going.
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But I think that this is actually one of most important songs to
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the story because Great Expectations is one of the motifs that keeps coming back
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in the show. There's moments where you'll just hear the melody.
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You'll hear them seeing Great Expectations in the background of another song.
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And I feel like this is the song that really talks about the hopes of wanting
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to get out of the situation.
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And that without it, the show doesn't have the same poignancy as at the end.
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It doesn't have as much of an emotional punch without the idea
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of you're dreaming about getting out and then you're realizing that
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for lot of people, they don't get out.
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And that's, I'll off my soapbox for now and I'll give it to Emily.
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that's kind of how I'm feeling with this of just like,
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somebody said it slowed it down.
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I was like, it does slow down the show,
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but I think it's needed before you get back up into the energy that
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is basically the end of act one into act two.
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Yeah, I was gonna say something very similar.
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think at that point, Act One needs to slow down.
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~ And I think if they kept climbing,
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then ~ Run, Run, Brother would just feel like any other song.
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I think it would be drowned out.
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And so I think that steady climb is really important.
11:05
Because yeah, mean, Friday at the Drive-In's just like an establishing song.
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And you kind of need that, because you're also remembering their kids
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on a Friday night. What else are they gonna do,
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you know? And so...
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to get to that climax of, my gosh,
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like, I mean, you mentioned before five songs later,
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but think about how much has happened in those five songs.
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I don't think it slows down at all.
11:30
No, it definitely, you're correct.
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I think that it's just interesting that how different people
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can see different things. And I think that this also is a show that maybe takes
11:41
multiple views to really appreciate everything that goes on because like,
11:44
yeah, you start off with a banger.
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Tulsa 67 is probably one of my favorite songs.
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And I love that motif that also keeps showing up in it because it just,
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it hits me like a ton of bricks.
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~ Runs in the Family, I think that's another great.
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very important song. I feel like all these songs are super important that like
12:00
if you took out great expectations,
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you're right. We're just building,
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building, building. And then Run,
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Run, Brother, you're not going to have the defying gravity moment that everybody's
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looking for. know, like you need to have a moment to breathe with these characters
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and to really understand them.
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And for you to appreciate what Ponyboy is losing in a lot of this,
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you know, he's losing his chance with Cherry,
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he's losing his family, he's losing the possibility of being what
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he thinks he's going to be. He can't be a writer at that time.
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He can't have something better than
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And so it does accumulate and having that moment and it's really super important.
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RJ,
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what songs really speak to you?
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Because again, I don't remember what you said a year ago.
12:33
No.
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Well, in no shocking way,
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mine and
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Emily gets your shocked
12:41
Face on
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Ready.
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favorites are basically the same.
12:46
Uh,
12:47
What?
12:50
expectations. I could talk to you all night.
12:52
So weirdly act one, feel like
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vote or not vocally, but musically is stronger for me than Act Two.
13:01
Maybe just because I,
13:06
the only song that I'm not as attached to that seemingly everyone else is,
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is Little Brother. I'm not sure why.
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I just, like I see it for what it is and that's great.
13:20
I think, and it's very beautiful.
13:23
It's just like not.
13:25
It is, dare I say, a tad boring for me.
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So, ~ Act One,
13:31
really, where all of my favorites live.
13:34
So clearly it's boring to RJ because he did not cry and that's fine.
13:38
We get it. Like he did not have an emotional reaction to it.
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was, I think, and I'm going to stand on the,
13:43
I'm going to stand on my truth here that the best song from the show though
13:48
is Soda's Letter. And I will never ever not
13:51
Mmm.
13:53
think that that is one of the best songs because I think it's a moment that's
13:57
so much, you get to see so much of the emotional aspect of this family.
14:02
Finally, like you get to see like,
14:04
Yes, Soda Pop is a, ~ he's a greaser.
14:07
He's a man's man, you know, and he's writing this letter to his brother,
14:11
which I'm pretty sure in the book,
14:14
and somebody can correct me if I'm wrong here,
14:16
some, you know, leave it in the comments.
14:17
I'm pretty sure he's borderline illiterate because he gave up schooling really early
14:22
to go and have this job to help support the family.
14:25
~ So it took him all of his energy to write this letter to his brother,
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begging him to come home.
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Begging him like, need you. We're falling apart without you.
14:33
I think from that moment on, I didn't cry.
14:36
I just cried the rest of the show.
14:37
And so I think that's why to me,
14:39
Little Brother feels so good. I cried the most though,
14:42
during the show during Stay Gold,
14:43
when it was Johnny singing. he's,
14:46
you know, it's Johnny's letter and he's kind of telling you what's going on.
14:48
So I feel like that motif of the letter reading is really,
14:51
it really got to me this time.
14:52
~ But Soda's letter is just so good.
14:55
Sorry. I know. I'm an emotional bitch.
14:59
No need to apologize.
15:00
Hmm.
15:01
So it was so good. where I was sitting ~ when he was singing Soda's Letter,
15:07
I didn't see Darryl in the corner.
15:08
And then when people moved, he was kind of revealed to me.
15:11
I was like, this was unintentional,
15:13
but a perfect moment for me to have in the very specific seat that I was sitting in.
15:18
What a great moment for you then.
15:20
I mean, I wish that, you know,
15:22
it was like, I wish people can see like that,
15:25
like experience that, you know what mean?
15:27
Like that is what I think makes the outsider so good is just the,
15:31
well, first off, they're all vocally talented.
15:34
This is a very talented group of people,
15:36
but those moments of just like emotional,
15:38
like emotional gut punch, you know,
15:40
like beautiful. I think that RJ was crying a little bit.
15:44
He just didn't want to admit it,
15:45
but you know.
15:46
We're gonna go with that story,
15:48
you know?
15:49
You
15:49
We were just all three crying and it's totally okay.
15:52
my gosh, Yeah, well, no tears fell from my eyes,
15:57
but they were pooled pretty much the entire time.
16:01
But that, we're not gonna, it was not your fault.
16:02
It was there.
16:06
Am I allowed to get out of soapbox?
16:08
Please.
16:09
All right, hold up.
16:11
Theater etiquette is really important.
16:13
And people ruin shows for people that don't know theater etiquette.
16:18
But the thing about theater etiquette is it's also basic and common decency.
16:24
~ So I had two women behind me having a full conversation about
16:30
the show while watching the show behind me the entire time.
16:34
And so even when I was getting to those emotional moments,
16:37
I was like, my gosh.
16:39
The lady behind me is talking about how she's getting emotional.
16:41
I'm like, shh, don't talk about it.
16:42
Just exist in it. Just be there.
16:44
Right.
16:45
So that was like a little frustrating,
16:47
but it in no way ruined how I felt about the show.
16:52
It ruined how I felt about the women behind me.
16:55
Thank
16:56
I do think
16:56
you.
16:57
it ruins the experience though a little bit.
16:59
Like when you can't be fully engaged in it because of that,
17:04
because somebody's talking, somebody's having a conversation.
17:07
We just experienced this at the Sound of Music and the person next to
17:10
me and her three friends would not stop talking to the whole show.
17:15
Not only were they having commentary on it,
17:16
they were also having conversation about things in their life.
17:20
And that truly does kind of pull you out of enjoying a show to the fullest degree.
17:26
Right, right. And it's much different than like,
17:29
I don't know. Well, you wouldn't do that at the movies either.
17:32
So nevermind. Like this isn't something you can pause.
17:34
Like these are real people and an audience that like paid to,
17:38
why would you pay to go something,
17:39
to go to something and talk? Like go out to dinner.
17:43
Yeah, that's, I don't understand.
17:46
But then like I also don't understand the people who like go to movies
17:48
and are on their phone the whole time.
17:49
You know what I mean? Like there's just,
17:51
if you're gonna go out and do something in the public and especially
17:55
if you're paying for it and if you're paying pretty good money for it,
17:58
if anyone is listening to this,
18:00
please tell us why.
18:03
Hahaha
18:04
Like I am truly actually interested in the reasoning because it doesn't make sense
18:10
to me.
18:11
And it has recently, especially,
18:14
like maybe it's this year, but like almost every show that we've gone to,
18:18
there's been some kind of interaction,
18:20
whether it was with us directly or with people around us where either phones were
18:25
a problem or talking was a problem or whatever drunkenness was a problem ~
18:31
Yeah.
18:32
that I'm just curious, like why is this,
18:35
it's a noticeable increase for people,
18:38
Mm-hmm.
18:39
as people who attend theater.
18:40
Frequently, I would say it's been on the upward trend.
18:45
So I'm very curious why we think that
18:48
Yeah. Even during
18:49
I
18:50
Beauty and the Beast, there was a kid on an iPad,
18:53
like in front of us. I'm like,
18:55
that seat
18:56
When we were.
18:57
cost so much money. And you put a four-year-old in it.
18:59
What are you doing?
19:01
When we were at the Lion King,
19:02
there was somebody who was on their phone in front of us,
19:04
and then a person off to our side reached over and told her to get off of it.
19:09
Like, hey, it's distracting.
19:11
which is like, I don't know, it's like hard.
19:14
Like I'm not a confrontational person.
19:16
~ And I know Clay isn't either,
19:19
but he was braver than me and said something.
19:21
But even then, like the ladies got like kind of sassy,
19:24
where it was like just.
19:25
I... I ju-
19:26
What? Don't put me in
19:27
a weird position either because now I'm thinking about how you think about
19:31
me behind me instead of watching the show.
19:32
It's like, ugh.
19:35
I do think part of it has to do with the shows that are coming here.
19:37
And I think that what's happening is we're getting all these really popular shows
19:41
that are appealing to mass audiences and or like Disney classics that like people
19:45
want to want to go see. But it's not people who love theater.
19:48
It's people who are like, like we are theater people.
19:53
But then there are people that are coming to the theater for the show.
19:57
And I think that's where we're really starting to run into these things.
19:59
Like when we saw Tina Turner and there was
20:01
a drunk woman that just kept getting up to go get more alcohol in between
20:05
the show from the middle of the aisle,
20:07
middle of the aisle. And like it was,
20:08
she was talking to texts on her phone because she was getting so drunk.
20:12
Like there was a lot going on here.
20:15
And I think it's because Tina Turner speaks to a lot of people.
20:18
The musical, Tina Turner, the musical,
20:21
it is no longer just for people who love musicals.
20:24
It is for the people who also love Tina Turner.
20:26
And that is definitely like a cross-section that doesn't always work out.
20:29
~ so we had our soapbox moment,
20:33
but the outsiders
20:35
Still emotional.
20:36
still emotional, but I do want to talk about some of the,
20:39
some of the stage craft that's going on here.
20:41
The outsiders has probably one of the coolest staging I've ever seen.
20:47
I love that they do not rely on digital screens.
20:49
I love that it is very practical.
20:50
They have cars that roll in and out.
20:53
have set jungle gyms that they're climbing on that literally gave RJ.
20:57
a
20:57
heart attack every time they climbed on them and I moved just a little bit.
20:59
~
21:02
Hard same.
21:03
RJ, what did you think about the touring productions set design?
21:07
first of all, this was my first time realizing it's supposed to be a swing set.
21:12
Same. Yes.
21:13
I did not
21:13
catch, I don't know that it was,
21:15
I don't know that it was, I mean,
21:17
it must have been on Broadway,
21:19
but I think because it was built in,
21:21
maybe the swing was more hidden or like higher in the rafters.
21:25
~ And obviously every show makes sure that
21:31
the stage is secure, every single show,
21:33
but.
21:34
Every time they jumped on the poles on the side
21:39
and it started swinging, I was like,
21:42
dear God, please don't fall. Knowing that it would be fine.
21:47
~ incredibly impressive in regards to traveling with this set.
21:53
These special effects when we talk about the water and
21:59
the gravel or whatever the makeshift gravel actually is.
22:02
~
22:05
and the cars, like my mom who went with us after
22:12
we were talking about it and she's like,
22:13
so yeah, so like, did they just like get those cars like every time they come
22:17
to a city, they get different cars?
22:19
I was like, no.
22:20
They, I'm sure they come in pieces,
22:22
but they take it apart and they bring it with them.
22:26
So she was thoroughly impressed ~ because they looked so real
22:30
and so ~ just like immersive.
22:36
You expect like a Fred Flintstone.
22:38
Yeah, like some tiny, cause you know,
22:40
like some shows are, you only get like the front or the side or like,
22:44
Mm-hmm.
22:44
and obviously I'm sure these are just like hollowed out cars,
22:48
but they're still utilized in a way that makes them seem real.
22:54
And the transitions of the stage left car that is used
23:00
as the living room and used as the,
23:02
like in the playground or at the drive-in or,
23:06
you know, all of the things. I think this was.
23:08
An incredibly creative person built this set and it is definitely
23:14
one of the more visually stunning ~ from a practical perspective.
23:21
I think that this is definitely,
23:23
you could tell that they, why they need to have kind of like fan of the opera,
23:26
why they have multiple touring sets and they move them a little bit earlier.
23:30
Cause like there's no way that they could roll this in a night before,
23:33
get like the gravel pits just alone,
23:36
getting all of that set up and then the cars as well.
23:39
And I don't know how those are comparatively to like back to the future.
23:42
But when I got to tour the Fisher theater last year,
23:45
we got to actually take pictures and go up to and be around the.
23:49
the DeLorean that they have staged there.
23:51
And while it's all built together,
23:52
that thing is not hollow on the inside.
23:54
It is a hundred percent a replica of the DeLorean on the inside.
23:58
And so it's quite impressive to think about what they're doing.
24:03
And it makes sense again as to why they have to have this in place so
24:07
far ahead of time. Cause I don't think this is a show you could roll
24:09
in the night before.
24:10
Emily, have a few.
24:10
That's great. I didn't
24:12
know. I'm like learning from you right now.
24:14
But yeah, totally. can't like,
24:17
I'm very much like RJ of like,
24:21
my gosh, my heart stops every time they like climb on something.
24:25
I'm like, there's no harness. Okay,
24:26
it's fine. We're just gonna go.
24:28
Okay. And so that was like cool.
24:30
But it's also really like added another level of realism.
24:34
Like this is what a kid would do.
24:35
They would climb anything they can see.
24:37
I know I see it at recess every day.
24:39
So that was really cool, but that makes sense that
24:45
~ they're layering their dates and transporting different sets,
24:49
because I cannot imagine that set being 100 % safe without time.
24:55
And think about it, we even had the part of the show where one of
24:59
the pieces would fell and almost hit somebody right at the beginning.
25:01
yeah.
25:02
And I was just like, there's aspects to the show where there is a little
25:04
bit of a danger, you know, like climbing up that thing.
25:07
I felt RJ's body stiffen next to me as they,
25:10
every time they climbed up the jungle gym,
25:11
like, cause you could just feel it.
25:14
But RJ, I think this is the first time you said that,
25:17
that I noticed, ~ I didn't realize that the tire was part of the,
25:21
it was a swing. And that's why it was laying there full of water.
25:24
In my head, I thought it was just like some makeshift well that they had.
25:27
It never crossed my mind until he said that.
25:29
was like, that was literally where the tire fell after it fell off the rope
25:32
and it just never went back up because they're poor.
25:35
I mean, perhaps, I mean, obviously all open for interpretation,
25:40
which we love because we can make those assumptions.
25:45
but I know that we were also talking about
25:50
the gravel and I did just confirm
25:54
Yes! Loved it.
25:55
my gosh.
25:57
it is rubber. They are rubber pellets.
25:59
It is not really gravel, which makes sense.
25:59
Okay, they were whipping them at
25:59
That makes sense.
26:01
~
26:02
each other. I was nervous.
26:05
I remember when we saw him on Broadway,
26:06
RJ was literally like, I don't know if that's safe.
26:08
They're going to get it in their eye.
26:10
He was very concerned about their safety.
26:12
Because it looks like gravel from far away.
26:14
It's my boy. Yeah,
26:15
It looks like gravel.
26:17
yeah, it looks good.
26:19
But ~ I truly think that what is inventive about the show is that every piece
26:23
of the stage is used. Like RJ had mentioned,
26:25
the car turning into the bedroom,
26:27
turning into the living room, turning to the,
26:28
like a simple rug being rolled out,
26:30
a table carried out, and all of a sudden you're in their living room.
26:33
I loved the use of the upper area in the back,
26:37
which was a church, but also was Johnny Cakes' home.
26:40
Like everything had a purpose and everything felt so real and rustic.
26:43
And it just matched the vibes of the show so,
26:47
so, so well.
26:49
But I think that one of the most important aspects to talk about the show
26:53
is the choreography, specifically in the couple of fight scenes.
26:57
And think what's interesting, what I love the most about this is there's
27:00
the big fight scene at the end that is always amazing.
27:02
But the slow motion that they used and utilized to have Pony Boy talk
27:08
in the middle of a fight, and then also go then go back to the stunt coordinating.
27:12
At one point I was like, they just kicked Nolan in the face.
27:15
Like it wasn't,
27:16
Yeah.
27:16
but it looks so good.
27:18
The movement of the outsiders is just astounding.
27:21
It's like probably one of the biggest takeaways of the show.
27:23
Would you agree, Emily?
27:25
absolutely, and I think like, when you're involved in theater and then
27:30
you go and see a show, I feel like all you can think of is like,
27:33
okay, I'm gonna try to figure out like how they're doing that
27:35
and how they're getting away with that.
27:36
But that like took me by surprise.
27:39
I thought he wailed him in the face.
27:41
Like, it was so crazy. And the lights played such a huge part in your belief
27:47
of what is going on. So it's not just they're like.
27:51
their fight choreography, which is so tight.
27:53
They're not missing anything. But the lights also making it
27:59
so that you feel like you're watching two guys fight in front of you.
28:03
It was fantastic. And it is hard to do slow motion yourself.
28:10
Well, I guess on your own, you can go at whatever pace you want.
28:13
But when you have an ensemble of people moving slowly,
28:17
at the same pace, it creates the most wild sensation.
28:22
Like if you like, you like sat on the remote and you're like,
28:25
no, I gotta, like it's, it was so crazy.
28:29
It's like so surreal because I think like in the fight scene at the end,
28:32
they're fighting in the rain, which is already impressive.
28:35
Like it's raining at the Fisher Theater,
28:37
which I was kind of wondering how they were going to do that,
28:40
how they were going to pull that off like for a touring production,
28:42
just as impressive as it was in Broadway.
28:44
But then they're like literally slow motion rolling and punching
28:48
and grabbing each other. But like in unison,
28:51
nobody was out of sync. And I was like,
28:53
the amount of like maintenance that they must do,
28:57
like maintenance rehearsals to like continue to have.
28:59
pull that off day after day has to be astounding because not a single person
29:04
was out of sync there. And RJ,
29:06
I don't want to speak for you,
29:07
I was as impressed with this as I was on Broadway.
29:10
Yeah, I would agree. ~ And I'm even just thinking of the delicacies of,
29:15
so we know that the gravel is not real.
29:18
know all these pieces. And yet,
29:21
the effect on their clothing, like the dirt and the grime,
29:26
and we still get that. And so again,
29:28
as Emily mentioned, as someone who's been in theater,
29:30
you think about, do they have makeup in their pockets?
29:34
So when the lights are going out,
29:36
there's just so much happening on
29:39
in the time that we can't see them as much as the time that we can,
29:43
which of course is why the lighting is so important.
29:46
And I love that they incorporate the experience from specifically
29:53
Ponyboy's point of view, because we know we keep dropping in and
29:56
out of that narration of like when he gets knocked out,
29:59
we also get knocked out and our ears are also ringing.
30:03
Like it's just very, very specific.
30:06
And I can't think of another show where
30:09
We get to experience that as an audience and not just watch it happen.
30:13
I think I always, every time I see the show,
30:16
think of like, this is why I won the Tony for lights and does sound design
30:19
and stuff like that. Because like you could not pull the show off with
30:23
the out the visual effects, without the sound effects.
30:26
There's so many key components here that really truly make this a spectacular show.
30:32
So
30:32
with that being said, we're gonna give our final verdicts and we're gonna
30:36
do something special because we have Emily here today.
30:37
So obviously,
30:39
no.
30:40
Emily, we always ask people, will they see this again?
30:42
You can give it a letter grade if you want,
30:44
but we're gonna grade two different things.
30:46
Okay, so we're gonna grade the show and then we're also gonna grade Ross's abs.
30:54
Six out of six.
30:56
~ A++. ~ But truthfully,
30:59
Emily, would you see this show again?
31:02
Absolutely, absolutely. I cannot stop thinking about this show.
31:06
Yeah.
31:07
Yes,
31:08
like I would legitimately was that night.
31:10
Like I need to go see the show again,
31:12
like looking at tickets and like this show is taking the world by storm.
31:16
There was no tickets. like, there's nothing there because everybody's going
31:20
to flock to the show because it is just such a marvel to see.
31:24
yeah. And another thing that like I kind of grade shows on a little bit
31:27
is ~ maybe that's selfish. I don't know,
31:30
but like if I can like see myself in the show ~
31:33
Sure.
31:34
and ~ I don't know if I can and I still
31:38
Okay.
31:38
like loved it. Like you see, there's not many women in the show,
31:43
but when they are in the show,
31:44
they're in heels walking over rubble,
31:47
gravel, doing choreography, climbing on tires.
31:49
And I'm like, ~ my gosh.
31:52
You have fun. I am gonna enjoy the spectacle of watching you do all of this.
31:57
Makes you wonder about the high heels if there's like little tiny like snow shoes
32:00
on them like to keep them. Cause like that
32:02
Honestly.
32:03
that gravel rubber stuff that moves,
32:05
you know.
32:06
And I feel like rubber is even worse to walk on than actual gravel.
32:12
Absolutely.
32:13
power to them.
32:14
RJ, you've seen it twice. Would you see it again?
32:18
Yes is the short answer, which ironically before coming into watching
32:23
it the second time, I am not sure that I would have said yes.
32:27
Like I would not have gone out of my way to see it.
32:29
But I think again, a lot of that played in from me being sick the first time.
32:34
and so just kind of generally being distracted.
32:40
And again, like the music isn't my absolute favorite.
32:43
Like I'm not listening to it on repeat,
32:45
but just for the
32:47
The visual effects alone make this show worth seeing again.
32:53
And this is where listeners, I think that we need a moment of honesty.
32:56
RJ was distracted the first time,
32:58
not because he was sick, but because he was worried that he had a call
33:00
an ambulance for me, because I was literally having an emotional breakdown.
33:04
And now he knew what to expect from part two,
33:06
so.
33:07
It's
33:07
warranted. Warranted.
33:10
But truthfully, I think this is a show that I would go and see multiple times.
33:14
I think I would see this as many times as possible with as many people
33:17
who wanted to go. I do love this show.
33:19
I, oh, it's really hard because when we went to go see this one in New York,
33:24
we also saw Death Becomes Her,
33:25
which is one of my absolute favorite shows.
33:27
Huh, jealous.
33:28
But I think that this might be one of,
33:31
maybe this is my favorite show from this season.
33:33
Like this season of Broadway Detroit,
33:35
I just.
33:36
It had everything I wanted. had songs that reminded me of music I grew up on.
33:40
It had stories that impacted me.
33:43
The plot was beautiful. Six out of six.
33:47
The plot was beautiful. And I do think that this is a show that everybody could
33:52
stand to just see and enjoy. ~ So,
33:56
yeah, it's a plus for me. And that concludes our The Outsiders Discussion.
34:02
Stay tuned for future episodes of the BSB Podcast.
34:05
Before we let you go, Emily, where can the people find you?
34:08
I know this time, Emily underscore Grace 44.
34:11
So go follow Emily, give her some theater love,
34:14
show her why we just need to see more roles like her in it,
34:17
and tell her which characters she should play in The Outsiders.
34:19
my gosh.
34:22
Thank you again for joining us in our box seats until next curtain call.