'The Outsiders' helps star and Tony nominee Brody Grant keep learning

“There are things that are hard to teach (in school) when you go to the city,” he explains, “and that’s how to live and operate as an adult. Doing eight shows a week, for example, is a really, really big challenge. When you’re in high school, you’re doing eight shows total, sometimes split between weekends. So you certainly learn longevity.”

Playing Ponyboy, the 14-year-old focus of S.E. Hinton’s novel (and now musical), Grant soaks in the Broadway lessons almost nightly. He starts the show before the lights go up, sitting on a giant tire on stage. There, Ponyboy is writing in a notebook and Grant is, too.

“It’s a process I take seriously,” he offers. “I always write the first line of the book…and then I write a noun and a verb and those launch me into the show and keep it fresh and different.”

That notebook includes poems, prayers, wishes and observations but it also serves as a chronicle of the Michigan native’s time in one of the year’s biggest shows. Nominated for a Tony for Best Actor in a Musical, Grant says the writing is important because it helps the character express himself and, in turn, give the actor a way in.

“It’s actually a very vulnerable thing,” Grant says. “It’s even a bit scary. Even though people can’t really read it, this is me…this is who I am. It’s not just Ponyboy. So, it’s a really nice way to peel off the Band-Aid nerves.”

Once those opening lines spill out, Grant is off and running, rarely leaving the stage during the show. Before the curtain falls, Ponyboy faces all sorts of turmoil, cuts and dyes his hair, survives a rumble and deals with death. Hinton says it resonates with younger readers (and now, theatergoers) because it speaks directly to them “and not just as a fantasy.”

“I don’t even know I’m not 14,” the twenty-something Grant says. “I don’t feel far enough away from it to have forgotten about my own experience.”

Grant says much of the story validates his feelings. Growing up in Michigan and Georgia, “it was just a lot of dirt roads.” Likewise, “The Outsiders,” circa 1967, has dirt roads. When actors kick the stage, a cloud of dust emerges. Made of a rubber-like substance, it doesn’t throw the actors but “has a good grip. We can dance and we can move…even when it rains.”

Because so many performers in the show are newcomers to Broadway, the theater feels like a classroom. “I’m just learning how to do better,” Grant says. “I have my classmates, the creative team, the crew, the house management – everyone there to lean on. The beautiful thing about being part of this show is that it is a collaborative effort. We’re all working to make something happen. We all have a common goal and that’s to tell this really amazing story.”

Grant has asked Hinton to be his date for the Tonys. “She really, really deserves to be there,” he says. “She’s an amazing woman who has been an amazing resource to speak to about the time that the book is written about. Hopefully, that works out.”

Meanwhile, Grant’s mom has been cheering him on from the sidelines. A first-grade teacher, she brought a group of her peers to see the show and was the first to call him about the Tony nomination. “She woke me up, but she was really, really excited.”

Now, Grant is eager to see where “The Outsiders” road leads. “It’s a joy to be a part of something like this, where something like that is possible on stage,” he says. “It’s a real dream come true. The material pushed me to become a better singer, a better mover and a better performer overall. It’s a blessing to be a part of something like this.”

“The Outsiders” is at the Jacobs Theatre in New York City. It’s nominated for 12 Tony Awards.