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Today is so exciting just to see all these theater artists here that I respect, that
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I love to be one of them and among them, just makes me feel amazing
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And then this nomination in particular, that it's for a musical, that it's for this story
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that is so important that I find very healing and important for audiences means so much
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to me. And the fact that it's a musical, that's like the first thing I did as a kid in the
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theater, and then I went away from doing musicals, and so the fact that it's for this
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form, this very American form, means so much to me. Tell me what the book meant to you first
0:39
Well, I never read the book as a kid. So the musical came to me, Adam Rapp told me about it after he saw a play I directed
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called Passover, and I read the script, and then I read the book, and I read the book in one sitting
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And I cried my eyes out, and I felt so connected to Ponyboy and also to Susie Hinton and her
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gaze on these characters and its authenticity, the fact that it felt juvenile and young and real
1:02
And I wanted to bring that feeling to the stage and make sure that we kept the musical
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really authentic to the grit, the honesty, the brutality, and the tenderness of the book
1:14
It's a stunning musical. Thank you. All across the board, everything about this musical is
1:19
What unlocked it for you? I think what unlocked it was partially my collaboration with Rick and Jeff Cooperman
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the choreographers. I think that the way the three of us work is the collaboration of a lifetime
1:32
I know that it's just the first of many for us, but I think what unlocked is when I discovered
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that the design of it wanted to be through the bodies and the way these young people move together and the way that violence is expressed in the piece
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We didn't want to make it hyper-realistic. We wanted to make it expressive and emotional and deeply sensual
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And I think that really unlocked the storytelling for us
