Tony First-Timers: The Outsiders' Joshua Boone on Relinquishing the 'Desire to Be Recognized'

Joshua Boone wasn’t looking for a Broadway musical when he heard about The Outsiders. After nabbing two NAACP Image Award nominations for his sensitive lead performance in Tyler Perry’s 2022 Netflix feature A Jazzman’s Blues, the actor had his sights firmly set on a Hollywood career. And yet! When Brody Grant mentioned that a musical version of S.E. Hinton’s tale of rival gangs was headed to Broadway, “Immediately I perked up, because that’s the first novel I read in seventh grade,” Boone told Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek on The Broadway Show. Grant’s suggestion that Boone would be right for Dallas Winston, the charismatic leader of the Greasers, further piqued his interest. “I remembered the character, then I got the material and saw [Dally’s] monologue, and I was like, ‘This might be for your boy.” His instinct proved correct: Boone is now a first-time Tony nominee for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

Each of Boone’s four Broadway credits has spotlighted a different aspect of his talent. First up was Holler If Ya Hear Me, the short-lived 2014 Tupac Shakur musical directed by Kenny Leon. Four years later, he played an ambitious TV news executive in Ivo van Hove’s immersive production of Network. In 2022, he received a Drama Desk Award nomination for his supporting performance as an auto worker in Dominique Morriseau’s Skeleton Crew. And now, in The Outsiders, he gets to show off his gorgeous singing voice in two show-stopping numbers, the Act One finale “Run Run Brother” and the heartbreaking Act Two anthem “Little Brother.”

Describing The Outsiders as “a very bold and audacious show,” Boone says those qualities form a through line in the roles he has played on stage. “I just want new,” he says. “I want fresh. I want further. I want more. I want deeper. A decade ago, my last musical closed in a month. And to go from that to Network with Bryan Cranston, which was huge, and then to a critically lauded nonprofit show, Skeleton Crew, and now to this, where you get the merger of all that, feels very good. It feels right.”

Boone strives to elicit those same emotions in Outsiders fans of all ages. “I want people to feel so deeply that when they see people like these characters in real life, they have a heart toward them,” he explains. “That’s all that matters to me in art. I don’t care if it’s comedy, drama, musical, play, film or TV, can you make somebody feel something in a different way? The most beautiful part of the stage door [experience] is seeing older people with the same eyes as the younger people. We have to start elevating the power of art and how it can bring people together. That’s what I want people to feel when they see my work.”

A native of Portsmouth, Virginia, Boone grew up with an older brother and a younger brother and sister, and the family of six moved frequently. “I was quiet as a kid,” he says now. “People thought I was shy, but I just observed and took a lot in. Moving around, you have to learn to speak up and defend yourself. I’m grateful for that being part of my journey, having to relocate, go through new challenges and fight my way through, literally and figuratively.”

A few days after the Tony nominations were announced, Boone delivered the commencement address at his alma mater, Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts. His current success, he says, feels like an opportunity to thank his family and friends for their support. “What parent has a kid who says they want to go out and do film, TV and theater?” he muses. “Parents tense up when they hear that. But to be able to say, ‘That’s my son, and he’s nominated for this [award],’ that brings me the most joy. I want them to have that experience because of all they gave me.” On Tony night, which happens to fall on Father’s Day, Boone’s mother will be his date at Lincoln Center’s David Koch Theater. “Sorry, Pops, I only got one ticket,” he says with a laugh.

Amid the hoopla of awards season, Boone is determined to maintain his perspective. “When it comes to work, I know what it’s about, and who it’s for, and it’s not about me,” he says. “Even as I’m grateful to be here as a Tony nominee, it’s cool that it’s happening when I’ve relinquished the desire to be recognized. The world is crazy right now, so, what can I make people feel to bring us closer together? That’s what it’s about.”

GET TO KNOW THE TONY FIRST-TIMERS
Left to Right: COREY STOLL (Appropriate) | LESLIE RODRIGUEZ KRITZER (Spamalot) | JOSHUA BOONE (The Outsiders) | BETSY AIDEM (Prayer for the French Republic)

Watch the full episode of The Broadway Show with Tamsen Fadal highlighting all four of these first-time Tony nominees, and flip through the complete gallery of photos from our exclusive Broadway.com photo shoot.

The Broadway Show Credits: Directed by Zack R. Smith | Producers: Paul Wontorek and Beth Stevens | Senior Producers: Caitlin Moynihan and Lindsey Sullivan | Videographers: Shaun Copeland, Nick Shakra, and Ryan Windess
Photo Credits: Photography by Emilio Madrid | Photo Assistants: Alan Padilla and Cooper Hammel | Location: Corner Studio
Styling Credits: Styling: Jake Sokoloff | Hair and Make-up: Angella Valentine and Tameeka Lee Walker | Wardrobe: Don Morphy blazer, Tie Bar tie, Eton shirt, Calvin Klein pants, Stacy Adams shoes