SONG/SCENE BREAKDOWN - ACT TWO
- act 2 opens immediately with this song
- KWP who plays bob also plays the cop who is singing
- the cop is standing at the front of the stage and has a flashlight, he shines it around the audience like he’s looking for someone
- the company (minus pony, johnny + dally) are all lined up behind the cop
- after “lying there on the ground,” paul and cherry step up out of line and talk to the cop. paul tells the cop it was pony and johnny who killed bob, cherry refuses to speak
- after “they killed him with a switchblade knife,” darrel and soda step up out of line, the cop is interrogating them, cop tries to bait them into giving up info about dally
- ^ leads into “put out a quarter bring dallas in”, the company leaves the stage and dally comes on, standing by the car. he sings his verse and it ends with the cop handcuffing him
- before cherry’s part starts, it cuts to pony and johnny who are sitting at the top of the wooden structure on stage (supposed to be the church) and they make up the plan to dye pony’s hair
- cherry is wearing bob’s letterman. all the socs are on stage and cherry and paul sing their parts.
- “the two of us just stayed behind” refers to cherry and marcia
- “anyone from the east side” section is accompanied by two-bit coming on stage and getting jumped by the socs. they punch him, pin him down, and burn a cigarette on his face
- the song/scene ends with the socs having flashlights like they are now the ones looking to deal with the issue
- pony is sitting alone at the top of the church, johnny has left to get water
- johnny comes in while pony is singing, he then joins in and does his part
- they are sitting on the elevated structure with their feet hanging off the edge
- has a great lead-in scene between darrel and dally.
- essentially the same as the performance done on the today show!
- has a very funny lead-in scene between johnny and pony, dally comes in and catches up with them, gives pony the letter
- pony is sitting on a box in the middle of the stage and soda is standing in the back of the stage to sing
- soda comes up stage and starts singing directly to pony, leans in for “sincerely soda” and “say hey to johnny for us”
- darrel comes out as well and is leaning against the car to sing the final line
- leads into johnny deciding they have to return to tulsa and dally has a phenomenal monologue, this is where the church starts to burn down
- two-bit is standing on the tire holding a newspaper in front of his face
- while he is singing the first verse explaining what happened, pony and johnny are recreating the scene on stage
- there is a giant sheet that is used to project images of them saving the kids from the fire, super smart way to show what happened
- two-bit gives the paper to soda. darry, steve, ace, two-bit and soda are the only ones performing this song. soda also jumps off the hood of the car at one point
- great dance number, so fun, and ends with them all looking at the newspaper
- starts with dally and pony standing by johnny’s hospital bed. cherry shows up and dally leaves
- cherry asks to talk to pony outside and he says he’s not leaving the hospital room. he sits on the floor by johnny’s bed and the song begins
- while cherry sings, the socs and greasers begin to appear on opposite sides of the stage, each getting ready for the rumble
- immediately transitions into “trouble”
- super quick but great way to lead into the rumble
- soda jumps over darrel’s head at one point and it always amazes me bc brent comer is so fckin tall that i have no clue how jason does it
- two-bit and soda are practicing their punches, same with ace, steve, and dally
- pony is standing on the car when darry asks him to let him fight on his behalf
- all the greasers surround the car and pony yells “do it for johnny”
- ends with the socs and greasers meeting in the middle and paul and darry confront each other which is the first punch thrown of the rumble
- immediately after the rumble when the greasers go into johnny’s hospital room and he dies (while holding pony’s hand) after some dialogue -> some super sweet moments including soda calling him “buddy” :’(
- while dally starts to sing the greasers are all comforting each other. pony is on the ground by johnny’s bed and soda is trying to hug him. ace and steve are hugging. two-bit is also sitting by the bed and darrel is standing in the back
- while dally sings the first “little brother” the greasers all lift johnny’s bed (a wood plank) up like a coffin and carry it out. they prop it up against the back of the stage and each take their turns touching it (it acts as a tombstone)
- they all leave the stage and dally continues on. pony is standing atop the metal structure on the side of the stage watching this all play out
- during the second chorus dally punches out wooden walls that back the stage. the company is on the ground beneath the structure and mimic his movements (truly a beautifully choreographed moment)
- ^ this can kind of be seen in the 45 second clip the official instagram posted recently of the song!!!
- before the ending of the song begins (“there’s only one way out…etc”) pony narrates what’s going on, setting up dally’s death
- dally stands at the front of the stage, finishing the song and almost screaming the last note as he gets hit by the train
- pony then goes on for some heartbreaking dialogue including the mention of how they buried dally 27 steps from where johnny was buried
- beautiful and heartbreaking scene between the brothers before this song happens. cherry comes in and drops of johnny’s clothes and talks to pony. she tells him there’s an envelope for him in johnny’s jacket pocket.
- pony ignores the letter and just hugs johnny’s clothes against his face. soda takes the letter and starts reading it, darry is sitting at the table crying. pony takes the letter from soda after the first few lines and the song begins
- johnny comes out and stands next to pony while he is reading the letter
- for the final verse they duet on, they sit on top of the car together and pony is writing in his notebook
- after this ends, pony sits at the table with his brothers
- the brothers are all sitting at the table. darry asks to read pony’s writing and that’s where the audio track on the album starts. darry reads more than just “when I stepped out…etc.”
- pony stand up and walks to the front of the stage to sing. as he goes on, darry passes the book to soda and he takes his turn reading it
- when pony sings abt dally, dally is seen walking in the shadows on the elevated structure on the stage.
- the greasers come on stage while pony sings about dally and the greasers. the socs come out as well.
- when he says “i thought for a long time….” he takes out a copy of the novel from a tire on stage and lifts it up on beat to “this is tulsa 1967” and hands the book to someone in the front row
- the company copies what they did in “tulsa ‘67” with the walking and running around stage.
- when pony sings about johnny, johnny is standing on the top of the car with the greasers surrounding him and a gold light shining down.
- ends with pony at center stage and the company staggered around
tangentwithtanner
jbbartram-illu
jacobvanloon
annaxmalina
theartofmadeline
