#or how Jason and Dan and Victor all play soda

[made-my-peace-with-all-the-bad]

Oh nothing! Just the fact that Brent!Darrel will hold out his hands like he’s approaching a scared animal after he slaps Ponyboy. Just the fact that Dan!Darrel looks at his hand like he can’t believe he actually just used it to hit his brother. Just the fact that Victor!Darrel covers his hand with his other one and rubs it has the guilt hits him immediately.

[brokenlovesong]

The JPC Darrel analysis I promised

Alright guys same deal as the last with just as much chaos. Sorry this took three years

Anyways. JPC DARREL LETS GET INTO IT

So he plays the youngest Darrel, no doubt. He’s tall but much smaller both physically and the way he portrays himself on stage. Using this he really plays into it. He’s a much less angry Darrel, more tied than anything else.

I think runs in the family reprise is where his version of Darrel really shines. He plays it very differently from Brent, Victor, or even Dan. He’s just so tired of it all. He doesn’t even start yelling until the end once pony has pushed him to his brink. When he sits down during the “you don’t tell me when you’re coming home lately” line it’s much less confrontational. He’s trying to stay calm and reason with his brother. It’s not until the “tired of lifting you up” part that he’s finally losing control and breaking. That’s the first time I think I genuinely saw him angry and even then he’s consciously trying to reign himself in but pony keeps pushing. And dude he YELLS “You have no idea what I give up for you” and because he didnt spend the song nearly as angry as like Brent does, that scared me so much because he just snapped.

I wanna talk about the scene between Darrel and dally because that scene was done in a way I’ve never seen it before by both Jpc and Josh Boone. Jpc is a much less physically intimidating Darrel. Especially compared to Josh Boone. That was taken into account by both of them which I have to give so much praise for because they did such a wonderful job. Darrel went in thinking he could push dally into revealing. He clearly had no intent to fight him. He was taunting him. But let me tell you dally knew how to play Darrel like a fiddle. He knew exactly what buttons to push in a way Darrel couldn’t. While he normally yells half that scene, dally didn’t raise his voice ONCE. He was even SMILING at the end because he wanted Darrel to swing at him. Dally loves fights and he knows he could easily win against jpc Darrel. So he played him. Decided to see how far he could push because if Darrel swung he could easily take him. Absolutely fantastic scene and lemme tell you Josh Boone calmly speaking the last bit of the scene with a smile? ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING

Now throwing in the towel. So jpc flubbed the first part and bro I’ve never been more stressed (probably not as stressed as him tho LMAO) but he managed to keep it together which I give him so much credit for. He took his anxiety and stress and used that as a focus for his acting the rest of the scene. Other actors usually play this scene as very defeated. But he was much more anxious about pony and what’s to come next. And tbh this is the most in it I’ve ever seen Jason. Now I love Jason but I have found his acting style to be more passive then I’d like in some scenes (JUST MY OPINION PLEASE DONT ATTACK ME) I think because of what happened to jpc not only was he soda trying to comfort Darrel, I saw Jason trying to comfort jpc and it made the scene so much more beautiful and strong.

Overall, jpc Darrel is wonderful. My only main issue is that I felt like he read too similar in age to Brody as ponyboy and frankly Jason read older than him. Nothing to do with his acting. Jpc is an incredible actor. But I just feel like with the cast the way they are, while he reads as Darrel’s actual age, much of the cast reads older than their characters and so this does affect how he’s seen.

I did see him as soda too, with Dan darry, and I thought he was literally like who I envisioned soda to be when I read the book. Like he gave such soda energy it was incredible

[totoroboiii]

Also let’s talk about how today at the “are all your boys’ girly fings off?” Cole showed himself taking off his ring, wiggled his fingers, and did this little spin thing while he very obviously put it back on?

And JPC’s Paul is so much less “serious”, if you will, than I’d imagine Dan Berry’s to be. His Paul was so full of youth and it was really great to see.

ALEX’s OPT UPS DURING GGAH AND LITTLE BROTHER OH MY GOD WAHHHH

Trevor is absolutely fantastic, and so is Emma, so is Victor (who’s Darry was so good and you could tell that he really plays the side of Darry that has accepted his role as caretaker, even if it means being hard and lowkey a little mean), Sky was amazing, Daryl was so fun, Jason was so good and his Soda’s crash out at the end felt like it was so real, EVERYONE was so breath taking

The rumble was great, and the movement of set pieces to bring them to life was fantastic, I really loved the picture that’s created from Buck Merril’s into RRB was so so cool.

Just about cried during intermission b cause it was so good, Little Brother, and Stay Gold and ultimately ended up crying at the Finale because of the overarching message throughout the show.

Overall it was so fantastic and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it ugh

[cherry-rose-sunset]

4, 5, & 6 for the outsiders asks! <3

4. AH OKAY SO ITS HARD TO PICK JUST ONE. I LOVE THEM ALL BUT— the reason i got into the show was because of jason. i watched grease: rotpl literally as it premiered and like had such a hatred for buddy aldridge (i am women’s rights supporter first, human second) but actually ended up falling in love with his character by the end of the series. his arc was my second favorite in the entire show, it was crazy. so i always say that Jason was my first “love” because without him being in the show, i wouldn’t have known about it. BUT ALSO if i hadn’t gotten into the show i never would have known about my current fav: Brent Comer. am i biased because darry is my favorite? maybe. but!! brent is so passionate about darrel and the show i could listen to him talk about it in interviews for hours. the memes he posts on his story never fail to crack me up and having met him, he such a genuinely sweet person and so funny. like his story of almost quitting theatre before outsiders came along is so similar to mine and i have such an admiration (professional) for him. anyways live laugh love brent comer.

5. i’d say my fav understudy/swing is a tie between victor!soda/victor!darrel and anna!ace. victor’s portrayal of both of the older curtis’s is so well done. the way his soda is so physically affectionate and is that smiley-trying to keep everyone happy middle sibling that soda is? is just. PERFECTION. and his darrel?? he’s firm but you can tell how much he cares for his brothers even if it doesn’t always come out in the way that he intended. i also love his vocals so much too UGH. Now onto miss anna. i have yet to see anna live/recorded but to me, her playing Ace is so important to me representation-wise. anna is a short hispanic girl like myself and seeing myself represented through a character like ace fills me with so much joy. i yearn to see her as ace so much.

6. i have been lucky enough to see the show twice and it was amazing both times!! (1/09 and 1/11) my first show, i was sat front row with my best friends and we were dressed up as the soc girlies and i was miss cherry. i’ll never forget the first time brody looked me dead in the eye, smiled, and then proceeded to kick EPDM in my face (during tulsa ‘67), jason also making insane eye contact with me at the end of tulsa ‘67, hearing brent’s voice crack in the final curtis brother scene, and lastly that feeling when brody came over and handed me the book. it was such an insane, out of body experience that i wouldn’t trade for the world. i still get chills thinking about it and shake my head because there’s no way that happened. but it did. my second show was also just as memorable when i was in the ponyboy seat. i was dressed as ace, and dan berry winked at me during bows and then addressed me as ace at the stage door. that stage door experience the second night was insane. Brent, jason, emma, melody, dan, barton, rj, cole, renni, daryl, and sky!!! i felt like the luckiest person and got to give most of my gifts out which was super fun.

woooo i rambled. anyways i need a trip back to the jacobs STAT.

[lesbian-ponyboy-curtis]

okay SO.

this is just my interpretation from a Victor!Soda boot, I have not yet actually seen him in the role.

Victor's Soda is tired. Where Jason's Soda uses his charms to cover his sadness, Victor's Soda is exhausted. Everything he does almost feels like muscle memory (at the beginning of the show + during Runs in the Family reprise). Like any version of Soda, he knows every single detail of what triggers and sets off his family members. But with Victor's Soda, it's clearly starting to wear on him, not to mention he's dealing with his own shit after what happened with Sandy, so add that to his pile of responsibilities (Victor's "I'm tired, Ponyboy" actually broke my soul). He still has a good sense of humor, but it's a bit more sarcastic that Jason's, if that makes any sense??? When Jason's Soda has the breakdown, it's almost surprise, because he's been hiding his sadness so well (which makes it extra heartbreaking). But with Victor? It was like it was always visibly simmering in him, it just hadn't exploded yet. He also has this awkward physicality in him that I absolutely love. He's still a flirt obviously but the swagger isn't there. During Runs in the Family reprise, I also noticed how his first priority was calming Ponyboy. For one thing, Darry is yelling at him (both of them), but he can see Pony's gonna blow up too, and he knows that'll be bad for all of them because it'll set Darry off more. And when he stands between Pony and Darry in that scene, his physicality changes. He's more solid, standing his ground to keep the peace. Immediately after the breakdown, he's playing with his hands, not sure what to do with them, fidgeting with them to soothe himself. The look on his face when Darry said "I love you" to Ponyboy had me outright CRYING. I also noticed that Soda's lack of booksmarts wasn't played up as much, at least not as a joke. It's still part of him, but it's not as much of a joke. There were a few line deliveries centered around that where he didn't get as many laughs and I actually liked it that way. His humor is a little more dry, whereas Jason!Soda plays it up as a coping mechanism.

I'm very much a Soda girlie at heart (probably because I relate to him so much oops), and I'm so desperate to see/hear Dan and JPC's iterations of him as well. (yes this is a plea for Dan and/or JPC audios/boots if and when they exist)

i have a lot of thoughts on Victor!Soda and I need to share them with someone (or maybe i'll just post it and scream into the void idk)