***Note this is NOT a spoiler-free analysis of the show! You’ve been warned.Â
Since reading the book in middle school, The Outsiders has held a special place in my heart. I remember gushing about the book to my best friend and my sister, and we were all eager to discuss every chapter in class. The nostalgia of these moments of obsession is what drove me to run to see the show and its original cast. It was a full-circle moment, and the sentiment for this piece of literature has only grown after seeing this show with the people I started this journey with.
While not shying away from taking creative liberties, this musical’s adaptation felt genuine to the original story and its themes of class struggle, masculine brotherhood and heroism and how stereotypes distort personal identity. At the same time, the musical felt refreshingly different in which aspects it chose to give the limelight, such as Ponyboy and Darry’s mirrored struggles with expectations, as well as its shifted approach away from the violent nature of Dallas, but I will get to that point later.Â
When examining the overall discography and coordination, I fell in love not just with the intense spectacle of flashing lights and music onstage, but also with the emotions that swelled with the weight of everything left unsaid. Every song, in its beauty and tragedy, felt in tune with every aspect of the stage, and I could really feel the weight of each scene being felt by the audience. I loved the soulful, Americana route that the music took. It felt sweet and homely, while also leaving room for the loud and heated scenes like the rumble.
Getting to the actual content of the musical, I found the new ending to be complex and tragic in a whole new way. In the original story, Dallas Winston, in his anger and despair at the loss of his friend Johnny, went on one final rampage to ultimately provoke police into purposefully shooting and killing him. This scene’s tragedy fully encompasses not just Dally’s anguish at losing his closest friend, but also reveals the inner loneliness and confusion of troubled boys like him. Despite being known to be violent and rash, Dally’s friends knew him to be compassionate and loyal, a side that nobody else was able to see. In this ending, such a violent and sad ending made sense for his character, so to experience the new ending while watching the show, I was utterly shocked and conflicted at first. In the musical, instead of dying from a suicide by cops, Dally sings about the cowardice and helplessness he feels at how others view the Greasers, and in his final act, he believes the most honorable thing to do, instead of running away like he always has, is to plant his feet into the ground and face the town’s train head-on. When reflecting on the significance of the train, not just as a physical barrier between the Greasers and Socs, but as a metaphorical barrier that traps the Greasers in their own poverty and violence. I believe the producer’s choice to shift away from the anger felt in the story towards an ending that humanizes the despair these boys felt makes the story a lot more complex and authentic. This buildup of emotion is hurdled further and further until this breaking point in the show, and Ponyboy himself finally breaks down and cannot find the beauty in the world that he previously sang about. Watching as his brothers pleaded with him to see that he was loved and that they had his back left the entire audience sobbing, and I think that shows just how successful this show was at touching the hearts of those who view it.Â