The touring broadway production of the musical “The Outsiders” debuted last week in Tulsa. It is based on the coming of age novel by S.E. Hinton set in 1967 in Tulsa. Hinton started writing the book at age 15 as a high school student in Tulsa and it was published when she was 17 years old in 1967. The book was subsequently made into a movie in 1983 by Francis Ford Coppola and a cast that included future stars: Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, Ralph Macchio, Matt Dillon, and Rob Lowe.

Heather and I had been waiting months to see musical. The day before the production I took a bad spill on a hike on Turkey Mountain hurting my new fake knee and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it or not, but hey, I did. Heather had to drop my off at the theater and then go park the car herself. I wasn’t going to miss it. (Turns out the fake knee is fine, things are just going to be sore for a while.)

The production was great. The producers did a great job of translating the book to the stage. The music was wonderful, the story moved along. One thing that was unexpected was the special effects. They were very clever in how that they staged various fight scenes. Above is a clip from the “Rumble Scene.”

The movie was shot on scene in Tulsa and there are scores of movie scenes. Above is Will Rogers High School where the book was set and where S.E. Hinton was a student.

Many of the scenes have geocaches nearby. This an old gas station in Sperry, OK on one of my favorite biking routes. A fellow geocacher volunteers there and installed a geocache at the back of the gas station.

A Rexall drug store across the street from the gas station was also a filming site.

The Admiral Twin Drive In featured in the movie is still in business.

The house featured in The Outsiders is in a not good neighborhood in Tulsa. The house was in danger of being lost when Danny Boy O’Connor bought it, restored it, and made it into the Outsiders House Museum. It is very cool and is open Fridays through Sundays.

The Circle Theater shown in the movie is still open with a slightly different name, Circle Cinema. It also has a geocache nearby.

As you can tell, I kind of like all things Outsiders. Check out the touring production website to figure out when it is coming to your town and get some tickets. It’s coming back to Tulsa in December 2027 and Heather and I will be there.