May 13 was firmly The Outsiders day over at The Today Show! The morning program hosted three live performances from the new musical, as well as a live on-air interview with producer Angelina Jolie.
Led by director Danya Taymor, and set in 1967 Tulsa, Oklahoma, The Outsiders follows Ponyboy Curtis, Johnny Cade, and their chosen family of "outsiders," who are in a fight for survival and a quest for purpose in a world that may never accept them. The musical opened on Broadway April 11 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre.
For ease of viewing, Playbill has gathered all three of the videos together in the following breakdown.
For their first Monday morning performance, the full Greaser company got in on the action, performing "Grease Got a Hold". But before jumping straight into the athletic action, three of the show's Tony nominees came forward to share what the show has meant to them.
The Outsiders received 12 Tony nominations, including nods for Brody Grant, Sky Lakota-Lynch, and Joshua Boone. "It was surreal!," shared Lakota-Lynch when asked about nomination day. "I couldn't believe it. I reread the list like six times, because Steven Skybell is on there too, and I was like 'Is it the right Sky?' But it was the right Sky!"
The Broadway cast stars Grant as Ponyboy, Brent Comer as Darrel, Jason Schmidt as Sodapop, Lakota-Lynch (Dear Evan Hansen) as Johnny, Boone (Skeleton Crew) as Dallas Winston, Emma Pittman (Chicago) as Cherry Valance, Daryl Tofa (Back to the Future) as Two-Bit Mathews, Kevin William Paul as Bob Sheldon, and Dan Berry as Paul.
The ensemble features Barton Cowperthwaite, Tilly Evans-Krueger, RJ Higton, Wonza Johnson, Sean Harrison Jones, Renni Anthony Magee, Sarahgrace Mariani, Melody Rose, Josh Strobl, and Trevor Wayne. Jordan Chin, Milena J. Comeau, Henry Julián Gendron, and Victor Carrillo Tracey round out the company as swings.
The production's second performance, "Throwing In The Towel," features the musical's Curtis brothers, Grant as Ponyboy, Brent Comer as Darrel, and Jason Schmidt as Sodapop.
The song, which sees eldest brother Darrel struggle under the strain of supporting their family following the death of their parents, is one of the highlights of the score by Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance) and Justin Levine. The musical also features a book by Adam Rapp and Levine.
The final performance of the day, "Great Expectations" featuring Grant, followed an in-depth interview with Jolie.
In Jolie's interview, she shared that it was the story's probing teenage spirit that drew her to support the production, stating that "it was written by a 16-year old girl! And she wrote a wonderful article around that time called Teenagers are Real, and she was saying that to say that 'we deal with real things. We deal with real life things as we are coming into our own, and we are facing the real world.'
"I think that now, with so much happening, there is a lot of discussion that needs to be had, and questions that need to be answered. And with this [show], there's a lot that asks the hard questions, while also focusing on finding your true self and your true voice. Trusting yourself and finding your family, fighting for something to believe in... there's a reason that this novel has been around for so long, and I am so proud of this particular group of artists who created this. I think it is very special."
Visit OutsidersMusical.com.
