Tag Archives: Musicals

“The Outsiders” the Musical, debuts in Tulsa

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.

Alan Heather Outsiders

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.

La La Land with Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone

The whole family went out to see La La Land Friday night. Talk about a great movie! It is like an old fashioned musical with a bittersweet note. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling do really well together in this movie. She is a struggling actress working as barista in a movie lot coffee store and Ryan plays a jazz pianist trying to make a living while staying true to his craft. They meet, they are a little bristly with each other and then they fall in love and they struggle to stay there as they through life together. Like I said it is bittersweet and in the meantime there is lots of singing and dancing. The costuming is beautiful and the dialog is sharp.

This is a feelgood movie deluxe and one of the best ones I have seen in a long time. I give it five stars out of five, or four out of four or just whatever scale you want to use this comes out at the top.

Logan in Footloose

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Logan’s school put on another musical this year, Footloose about a small town in Oklahoma that bans dancing in the city limits and the kids fight city hall and win. It is based on actual events in Elmore City, Oklahoma in 1980. Read about it here.

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Logan as a parishoner during a sermon. The beige and beige on beige look was what I had in the 80’s until I met Heather and she introduced me to color.

Logan had a small part but he worked hard at it. So did his mother from shopping at Goodwill for 1980’s era clothes (why didn’t she check my closet?) to being at almost all the rehearsals and all the performances.

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He is a town council member here. He “forgot” to tuck his shirt in before going onstage. I thought Heather was going to have a coronary. She texted him to tuck his pants in before he came back out. Yeah for cell phones. Of course playing on it may have caused the problem in the first place.

The teacher that directs the kids is very demanding but has a big heart. The kids really respond. This production had kids down to sixth grade participating.

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Logan had a small part and he made the most of it and gave it is all.

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Those of us who are parents know what it is like when you see your kid doing something and enjoying it.

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This is his air guitar technique. We hadn’t seen that before.

This is his last high school production so we’ll see what the future holds for Logan. Will he be in any more productions? If he wants to hard enough he will.

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But I will worry about that later, right now I’m enjoying his joy on the stage.

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It was fun!

Oklahoma! at Tulsa’s Clark Theater

Clarkies singing Oklahoma

We have been very busy lately, really busy. We weren’t too busy though to attend Clark Youth Theater’s performance of “Oklahoma!” the Rogers and Hammerstein Musical. It was fun and it was good. If you live in Oklahoma you should know the title song by heart because it is not only one of the great tunes of musical theater, it is also Oklahoma’s state song.

The musical is about optimism and hope, love, and good versus evil. it has it’s fun parts and it has it’s dark parts. The kids did a great job putting it on.  Logan wasn’t in it but he auditioned for and got a part in Clark’s Best Christmas Pageant Ever which is going to play several times in December.

In the meantime, if you live in the Tulsa area go see Clark’s Oklahoma! If you miss it, goodness forbid, go see Augustine Christine Academy’s production which I think is going to be in November. Or you know, you could go see both productions.

Or what the heck watch the movie version above?

I have seen Oklahoma! on stage only three times I think. The first time in Jackson, Wyoming back in the late 60’s. The last time maybe fifteen years ago here in Tulsa in an outdoor theater where they brought real horses on stage. It was cool,

Have you ever seen Oklahoma! live?