--- title: "Inside The Outsiders: From Tulsa to Tony Award — Notes from the Wings" description: "Sue Gilad on producing The Outsiders — adapting S.E. Hinton's beloved novel into the 2024 Tony Award winner for Best Musical." lang: en json-ld: | [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Suzanne Gilad", "alternateName": "Sue Gilad", "jobTitle": "Broadway Producer, Author, Editor, Speaker", "description": "Grammy and five-time Tony Award–winning Broadway producer, published author, professional editor, and arts-education advocate.", "award": [ "Grammy Award", "Tony Award for Best Musical (5x)", "30 Tony Award wins across productions" ] }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Article", "headline": "Inside The Outsiders: From Tulsa to Tony Award", "description": "Sue Gilad on producing The Outsiders — adapting S.E. 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Hinton's original 1967 novel, while honoring the visual legacy the Francis Ford Coppola film brought to the story for many fans." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "What awards has The Outsiders musical won?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "The Outsiders won the 2024 Tony Award for Best Musical, among other recognitions during its Broadway run." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Who produced The Outsiders on Broadway?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "The Outsiders was produced by a team including Sue Gilad and Larry Rogowsky through In Fine Company." } } ] } ] --- [Suzanne Gilad ](/) [About ](/about)[Producer ](/producer)[Author & Editor ](/author-editor)[Speaking ](/speaking)[Philanthropy ](/philanthropy)[Notes ](/notes)[Glossary ](/glossary)[Contact ](/contact) [Notes from the Wings](/notes)/ Producer # Inside The Outsiders: From Tulsa to Tony Award How a 1967 coming-of-age novel about teenage greasers in Tulsa became the 2024 Tony Award winner for Best Musical. By Sue Gilad June 12, 2026 7 min read ![Silhouettes of young performers in leather jackets on a dramatically lit Broadway stage.](/notes/post-2-outsiders.jpg) Share [](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsuzannegilad.lovable.app%2Fnotes%2Finside-the-outsiders-from-tulsa-to-tony-award)[](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Inside%20The%20Outsiders%3A%20From%20Tulsa%20to%20Tony%20Award&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsuzannegilad.lovable.app%2Fnotes%2Finside-the-outsiders-from-tulsa-to-tony-award) S.E. Hinton wrote The Outsiders when she was sixteen years old. Six decades later, the story of Ponyboy Curtis and his found family of greasers became one of the most acclaimed new musicals on Broadway, winning the 2024 Tony Award for Best Musical. Producing The Outsiders meant honoring a story that several generations of readers had grown up loving, while finding a theatrical language strong enough to do it justice. That tension, between fidelity to a beloved source and the demands of live theatre, is at the center of almost every adaptation I've worked on through In Fine Company. ## Why this story, why now Every production starts with the same question: why does this story need to exist on a stage, right now, for this audience? The Outsiders answered that question for me immediately. It's a story about class, identity, and the families we choose, themes that have only become more relevant since 1967, not less. Teenagers today are navigating the same questions of belonging that Ponyboy and the Greasers faced, even if the specifics have changed. ## From page to stage Adapting a beloved novel comes with real risk. Readers have lived inside their own version of the story for decades. Get the tone wrong, and you alienate the people who love it most. Play it too safe, and you give audiences nothing they couldn't get from rereading the book. The creative team built a production that trusted the emotional core of Hinton's novel while finding theatrical moments, particularly in the staging of the rumble scenes and the relationships between the Greasers, that could only exist on stage. That's the standard I hold every adaptation to: it has to earn its place as a piece of theatre, not just a faithful retelling. > Every adaptation has to earn its place as a piece of theatre, not just a faithful retelling. Sue Gilad ### What It Takes to Bring a Beloved Book to Broadway 1. 01 Secure the right creative team The book's themes need collaborators who understand them on a personal level, not just a professional one. 2. 02 Protect the emotional truth, not just the plot Audiences forgive plot compression. They don't forgive a production that loses the feeling of the original. 3. 03 Find what only theatre can do A stage adaptation has to offer something a film or a book cannot: live presence, physical staging, the immediacy of bodies in space. 4. 04 Trust the workshop process Readings and out-of-town tryouts exist to surface what isn't working before it reaches Broadway audiences. Use them honestly. ## Recognition The Outsiders won the 2024 Tony Award for Best Musical, a recognition that reflected not just the production's craft but the audience response it generated night after night. It remains one of the productions I'm proudest to have brought to the stage through In Fine Company. Frequently asked ## Questions about this piece ### Is The Outsiders musical based on the book or the 1983 film? ### What awards has The Outsiders musical won? ### Who produced The Outsiders on Broadway? SG Written by Sue Gilad Grammy & five-time Tony Award–winning Broadway producer, author, editor, and arts-education advocate. [More about Sue](/about) · [Contact the office](/contact). Related reading ## More notes from the wings [ ![Open manuscript with red editing marks beside a vintage Broadway playbill and a brass pocket watch.](/notes/post-1-books-broadway.jpg) Author & Editor ### What 1,200 Books Taught Me About Producing Broadway Twenty-five years editing manuscripts and twenty-five years producing Broadway shows aren't two separate careers. They're the same instinct, applied twice. June 15, 2026· 6 min read ](/notes/what-1200-books-taught-me-about-producing-broadway)[ ![Split composition of opulent red Moulin Rouge curtains with a chandelier and a weathered Cuban guitar against painted wood.](/notes/post-6-moulin-buena-vista.jpg) Producer ### From Moulin Rouge! to Buena Vista Social Club: Choosing Stories Worth Telling A look at what connects two productions that, on the surface, have almost nothing in common. May 28, 2026· 6 min read ](/notes/from-moulin-rouge-to-buena-vista-social-club)[ Producer ### Mediating Creative Conflict in Theater: The Producer Role Mediating creative conflict in theater requires a producer to act as a buffer and bridge. Learn how to resolve disputes between directors, writers, and stars during the high-pressure rehearsal process. August 26, 2026· 8 min read ](/notes/mediating-creative-conflict-in-theater) [← Back to all notes](/notes) Suzanne Gilad Grammy & five-time Tony Award–winning Broadway producer, author, editor, speaker, and arts-education advocate. Explore - [About](/about) - [Broadway Work](/producer) - [Author & Editor](/author-editor) - [Speaking](/speaking) - [Philanthropy](/philanthropy) - [Notes from the Wings](/notes) - [Theater Glossary](/glossary) - [Contact](/contact) Scholarships - Suzanne Gilad Grant - Sue Gilad & Larry Rogowsky Theatre Scholarship Get in touch © 2026 Suzanne Gilad. All rights reserved. Bringing extraordinary stories to life — on stage and on the page.