Justin Levine interview: ‘The Outsiders’ composer and writer

“I was completely shocked,” shares Justin Levine about how he felt on the morning of Tony Awards nominations when he heard his name called not once or twice but three times for his work on the new musical “The Outsiders.” The multi-hyphenate earned recognition for his contributions to the book by Adam Rapp, his and Jamestown Revival’s score and his and Matt Hinkley’s orchestrations. He and the Jamestown Revival guys Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance watched the announcement together and were “running around like maniacs” in celebration. Watch our exclusive video interview above.

Levine calls the musical “the most collaborative process” he’s ever experienced, though the nature of that collaboration changed often. As he explains, “Sometimes it felt like a relay race… but then a lot of times it felt like a Ouija board where all of our hands were on it and it’s just moving and we’re all just collectively both moving and following one another.”

WATCH our exclusive video interview with Tony nominee Danya Taymor, ‘The Outsiders’ director

Levine, who won a Tony Award in 2020 for his orchestrations for “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” contributed to the book by Rapp, who is a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He knew Rapp’s plays very well and approached their work together in a way that would ensure that he wouldn’t “dilute Adam’s distinct voice.” Rapp is also a novelist, which is a facet of his background that Levine found especially useful as the duo adapted the famous S. E. Hinton book of the same name to the stage. The novel is written in first person from the perspective of Ponyboy, which means as a reader “you’re living inside the head of the person.” For the musical, the librettists had to figure out “when was it important and helpful for Ponyboy to be able to speak to us directly.”

Levine and his collaborators all made a trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma – where the novel, film, and musical are all set – prior to Broadway rehearsals. The musician had been to Tulsa in the past and shares that he is “a big fan of Leon Russell, who’s probably the most famous popular artist to have come out of Tulsa.” The locale certainly influenced his and Jamestown Revival’s approach to the score with its “Tulsa sound.” He describes, “It’s American music, which is rooted in world music, so there are elements of folk from various places, bluegrass, soul music, there are all sorts of different things we’re pulling from.”

WATCH our exclusive video interview with Tony nominee Sky Lakota-Lynch, ‘The Outsiders’

One of the most memorable songs in the score from both a songwriting and orchestrating perspective is “Great Expectations,” in which Ponyboy (Brody Grant) reflects on how the Charles Dickens’ novel of the same name resonates with his own life experience. Levine explains that for the beginning of the song and scene, the team really wanted “to have the stillness of going to bed and of those nagging thoughts that keep us awake.” As the character starts to “piece his world together” in his mind, though, the song and orchestra explode into a gorgeous, soaring, “big chorus” with the entire ensemble. The Tony nominee credits Taymor for how she staged the song and performer Grant and his “incredible voice” for how well it comes across.

Another standout moment is the penultimate number, “Stay Gold,” which the character Johnny Cade (Sky Lakota-Lynch), who has passed away, sings to Ponyboy via a letter he has written to his friend. The song is orchestrated with such incredible restraint, relying on the acoustic guitar and the harmonies between the two characters. Levine calls this stripped-down approach a “conscious choice” that was dictated by the scene itself, because “the moment tells you what it demands.” The composer also notes how it is influenced by Americana music, explaining, “It’s often about how little there is there, it’s more minimal, it’s not maximalism.” As for his favorite songs in the score, the Tony nominee says it changes often, but he cites “Stay Gold,” “Death’s at My Door” and the opening number, “Tulsa ’67,” as standouts.