BROADWAY REVIEW: S.E. Hinton’s gang classic ‘The Outsiders’ doesn’t cut it as stage show

This new Broadway musical is not all I had hoped. The show loses its narrative thread in a second act where the requisite narrative tension dissipates instead of intensifying, and the show, which lacks the humor of the structurally similar “Newsies,” gets stuck in an overly introspective and melancholic loop. It’s understandable why — the source novel is proudly reflective and ruminative, but musicals invariably have to be fueled by action, emotional change and resolvable determination.