“Review: A hypnotic new musical adaptation of ‘The Outsiders’ stays gold.

The violence is made real, even when it’s stylized in the kinetic battle scene in the second act. The choreography by Rick and Jeff Kuperman becomes more flamboyantly muscular as bodies are pummeled in a storm that is literal as well as unapologetically metaphoric.”

“Now comes the superior “Outsiders” the musical, which opened in its world premiere Saturday at La Jolla Playhouse. It successfully blends the best of the book and the movie in a richly detailed story for teen and adult audiences. It reveals its characters thoughts through song lyrics that feel authentic to the book, while still delivering a cinematic- style visual punch, with muscular choreography and, yes, a dazzling rumble in the rain.

Choreographers Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman have created a blend of highly athletic dance and fight choreography that reaches its zenith in the thrilling rain battle, performed with synchronized and percussive slow-motion punches, streaks of lightning and flying sprays of black cork particle “dirt” that lines the stage floor. The scene powerfully reflects Ponyboy’s growing realization of the brutality and futility of violence.”

“The choreography by Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman, is physical and visceral, with all of the barely restrained energy and frustration that fuels these characters coming out in their movement...

The rumble between the two groups is an outstanding piece, combining dance and fight choreography... to create a moment that you will be talking about well after you have left the theatre.”

“No one sings during the rumble scene in “The Outsiders,” a new musical at La Jolla Playhouse adapted from S.E. Hinton’s 1967 novel of teenage alienation and Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 film version... Instead, young bodies, about 20 of them, supply their own percussive music, falling to the cork-covered floor, groaning into their mikes, as stage rain soaks them through.

This violence is for show, of course. Those kicks and punches don’t actually connect. But the brawl, at least at first, is not aestheticized. It’s a fistfight, not a dance — brutal, futile, wet, raw and sad.

... the choreographers Rick and Jeff Kuperman, manag[e] some striking and playful images...

For the hopeless, for the loveless, for the misunderstood, which is all of us, Greaser and Soc, young and old, “The Outsiders” offers the promise of harmony.”

“Rick and Jeff Kuperman provide standout choreography, including a rumble with a visually stunning rain sequence late in Act II that will almost certainly take your breath away.”