Rain, smoke, flashing lights, choreography, fighting, friendship and romance. The Outsiders has it all.
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Set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1967, this coming-of-age tale began as the bestselling novel by S.E. Hinton, published that same year. It was later adapted into a 1983 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola before making its way to the stage, where it premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in 2023 and transferred to Broadway in 2024. Directed by Danya Taymor, the musical won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Lighting Design of a Musical and Best Sound Design of a Musical. And it’s now back in San Diego at the Civic Theatre through Sunday, November 8, as part of its first national tour.
The story follows Ponyboy Curtis, an almost-15-year-old teenager growing up with his two brothers. Darrel, the oldest, is doing his best to keep food on the table and look after his younger brothers following the death of their parents, while Sodapop, the middle brother, seems to live in his own world. They are Greasers, Eastsiders, boys born on the wrong side of the tracks.
Ponyboy finds himself drawn to Cherry Valance, a Soc, short for Social, who is part of the privileged Westside crowd: clean-cut, wearing cashmere and seemingly worlds apart from the Greasers. She’s dating Bob Sheldon, played by Gabriel White Marín, the popular guy who also happens to be one of the people constantly bullying them.
Ponyboy and Cherry, played by Emma Hearn, strike up a conversation at the movie theatre (Ponyboy loves the movies). It’s an innocent encounter, but enough to give the Socs another excuse to go after the Greasers.
When Bob and his friends go after Ponyboy, fueled by jealousy and pent-up rivalry, Johnny Cade, Ponyboy’s best friend, steps in to defend him. But the encounter takes a terrible turn, and its aftermath changes everything.
The performers bring tremendous energy and strong vocals to the stage. Ponyboy, played by Christian Arredondo, has a tender innocence, capturing the vulnerability of a 14-year-old boy who is growing up right in front of our eyes. Johnny, played by Bonale Fambrini, has a quiet but powerful presence. His performance has emotional depth and precise tenderness, capturing the trauma he carries without ever losing the heart and loyalty he has for his friends.
Then there’s Dally, played ferociously and intensely by Anthony Garcia. Fresh out of county lockup, he’s a New Yorker, a lone wolf, always on the move, as he puts it. He makes a plan to keep his “little brothers” safe and helps them run away. While Dally has good intentions and a good heart, his deeply flawed ways of dealing with his emotions become a catalyst for further tragedy.
These boys, many from broken homes, carry intense and misdirected feelings that eventually turn into violence and rivalry. They are constantly defending themselves, protecting their turf and what they believe is theirs. Even the Socs, despite their privilege, are dealing with troubled family lives and substance abuse. They desperately want to leave the environments they’ve grown up in but can’t seem to find a way out. In their desperation to find their place in the world, they continue defending their identities and perpetuating the violence — a never-ending cycle.
Although the story is familiar, it is told through stunning visual imagery and high-tech production that makes you think, “Yes, this is how a Broadway show should look.”
The production’s physical world is just as impressive, with scenography by AMP, featuring designer Tatiana Kahvegian. Water, gravel, smoke and rain make the stage feel lived-in. The set shifts between what feels like a barn, a playground and a car shop, with pieces repurposed to serve different functions. Projections by Hana S. Kim create an expansive sky, shifting through colors, nighttime and stars. The lighting by Brian MacDevitt adds tension to the story, but it’s at its best during the fighting scenes. The deep, bass-heavy sound design by Cody Spencer adds another immersive layer to the production. The choreography by Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman is one of the production’s greatest strengths. There is so much movement, blocking and stamina required of these performers, and they deliver.
I found the show a little long in certain sections, and the roles written for women are underdeveloped, as they are mainly used as plot points in the men’s story. Cherry’s character offers a glimpse of the possibility of connection across the divide, but doesn’t get much room to develop beyond that. The music by Jamestown Revival and Justin Levine can feel repetitive at times, but it’s cohesive and has some great songs, such as “Great Expectations” and “Stay Gold.” Ultimately, it is the show’s visual ambition and the physicality of the cast that make for a remarkable theatrical experience.
At its heart, though, The Outsiders is about something much bigger than the rivalry between two groups of boys.
The adults in the story are either dead, absent or struggling with substance abuse. One can’t help but wonder: If these kids had better examples, if they had adults who cared for them and showed them another way, would things have ended differently?
It’s beautiful to see the bromance, the loyalty and the protectiveness these boys have for one another. They love each other fiercely, but at what cost? What is the war they’re fighting really for?
Those are the questions The Outsiders tackles so well. And perhaps its greatest achievement is the way it asks us to look at these boys with empathy. To see beyond the labels, the rivalries and the violence, and recognize the children underneath it all. Because before they become men, they are boys. But being boys doesn’t make their actions any less consequential. When violence becomes the language they know, they become a danger to themselves, to one another and to the world around them.
The Cast of The Outsiders -The Rumble 2. Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman.
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Lucía Serrano is a bilingual, binational theatre and live entertainment publicist with experience in marketing, social media management, and advertising. She has over six years of experience in… (read more about this author)
