Tony Award-winning The Outsiders Arrives in Houston

Jaydon Nget grew up doing mixed martial arts which as he found out made him perfect for theater and other live performances.

Now he’s one of the large cast bringing the four-time Tony Award-winning musical The Outsiders to Broadway at the Hobby Center. Based on the iconic novel by S.E. Hinton which in turn was based on a memorable movie, the musical is set in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1967.

It’s the Greasers versus the Socs. The Socs come from families with money while the Greasers, headed up by Ponyboy Curtis and best friend Johnny Cade, do not. The play is set at a crucial time in Tulsa’s history, Nget says,. “Tulsa is a very beautiful, rich and culturally diverse town full of so many wonderful things but specifically at the time in 1967 a lot of things were happening. One was segregation and division between the rich and the poor. “

Nget (national tour of & Juliet) plays Two-Bit, “a character I very much resonated with,” he says.

He describes Two-Bit as: ”chaotic /good. He’s the resident prankster; he’s one of the older greasers in the chosen family.  First and foremost, I think that he is a protector. He’s described as the best fighter in the group.  He’s just a rowdy, funny kid.  I used to be a rowdy kid when I was younger. But I am also an older brother of two little sisters so I very much feel that protective sense that Two-Bit has.

“And I also grew up doing mixed martial arts and sports,” he says. “He’s a very much go with the flow person and I am also like that. So I feel it’s very easy to step into Two-Bit’s shoes.”

What Nget didn’t have until the summer before his senior year in a Houston area high school  was any involvement in theater.  “I did not know what I wanted to do as a career. Coming  from a family with immigrant grandparents, my family struggled with money. I had a lot of great expectations.” He however belatedly “caught the theater bug and I decided to audition for colleges and I was fortunate to get a wonderful scholarship to Baylor University and booked my first national tour [Paw Patrol Live] my sophomore year of college.”

The Outsiders features a book by Tony Award nominee Adam Rapp with Tony Award winner Justin Levine, music and lyrics by Tony Award nominees Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay & Zach Chance) and Justin Levine, music supervision, orchestration & arrangements by Justin Levine, choreography by Tony Award nominees Rick Kuperman & Jeff Kuperman and is directed by Tony Award winner Danya Taymor.

The cast is “a very strong ensemble cast of 26 actors,” Nget says. He is especially proud, he says, that he represents Asian Americans on stage.

Asked why he thinks The Outsiders has lasted so long, Nget says: “I think it’s lasted so long because it’s so relevant to any time line from when it was first released tas the novel to the movie and to now.  I think it just ties generations. I feel people can find something of themselves through each of these characters.

“It’s a beautiful message of how there is an outsider in all of us and a sense of wanting to belong. To find that light even in the darkest times. That you’re never alone.”

Performances are scheduled for November 18-23 at Tues – Fri at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday, and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 713-315-7625 or visit broadwayatthehobbycenter.com or thehobbycenter.org. $55- $265.

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