Posted 49 minutes agoSubscribe to BuzzFeed Daily NewsletterCaret Down"Outsiders" Star Jason Schmidt Talks Life Lessons From Sodapop Curtis, And Journey Into SongwritingJason Schmidt opens up about playing Sodapop Curtis in Broadway's The Outsiders, and how songwriting became his favorite way to tell stories.by Andrew FirrioloBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink Whether he's belting out a tune on the Broadway stage or headlining a concert, Jason Schmidt knows how to capture an audience. The multi-talented performer has made waves with his acting, recently appearing as Buddy in Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, original music, and his Broadway debut. Andy Henderson / Via The Outsiders To celebrate the release of his new single "7 Stars," I stopped by the Jacobs Theatre to catch up with Jason about portraying Sodapop Curtis in Broadway's The Outsiders, and his journey into songwriting.
Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity. BuzzFeed: I grew up reading The Outsiders, and it's connected with so many people all over the world. What is your own connection to the book?Jason: Growing up, my dad would read to me and my three sisters - he read us The Outsiders, the Percy Jackson books, The Hunger Games, all those. I can still remember images in my head as he read to us, where I pictured the Socs as kind of large and spooky! At the beginning of our show, when the Socs first jump Ponyboy, that scene feels a lot like how I envisioned them as a kid. The Outsiders was also my mom's favorite movie for a long time. She loved Matt Dillon [who played Dally in the film], and so I watched the movie when I was younger as well. Bruce Glikas / Via Getty Images Matt Dillon visits the cast of The Outsiders, Jason to his left. How about your connection specifically to Sodapop?In the show, he's the middleman between Darry [Darrel] and Pony, and I think that's who I am a lot of the time. I'm the people pleaser, I'm making sure everyone is laughing and having a good time, and so I really resonate with that plot line and his arc. When Soda snaps at the end, it comes from having fought the whole show to keep Darrel and Ponyboy in good graces with each other, and it's not working. As soon as I read for Soda, he was a character that I felt was right down the middle for me.
Honestly, he's taught me a lot about the looseness of life. In another S.E. Hinton novel, Tex, she says, "Some people go, some people stay," and he's definitely someone who stays. He loves Tulsa, and he loves his life there. Soda doesn't ask for much. If more comes, that's great. If it doesn't, he goes with the flow. I'm not like that - I'm someone who holds onto life pretty tightly. So that's where he differs from me, and I think I'm learning to let go a bit more and go with the flow. Miller Mobley / Via The Outsiders Jason Schmidt as Sodapop, and Daryl Tofa as Two-Bit. You have a great sense of comedic timing, and Soda has his share of humorous moments in the show. Are any of these moments improvised?Thank you! They're very scripted. Adam Rapp wrote them amazingly. In the early days of the process, there'd be a little improvising here and there, but with planning around a national tour and all that, they want it to be a repeatable show. We've locked into the script as it is for the most part.I'm always playing around with how a line lands and the timing of it. It's funny - at this point, I probably have four or five versions of every line that I know work well. Some nights, I'll try a different version. But if I'm tired or something, I'm gonna go with the tried and true delivery (laughs). For the most part, I try to listen and be responsive to the other actors in the scene.I think that humor is such an important part of the show because it's so dark. A lot of sad stuff happens, and there's not a lot of comedy. It's nice to get the audience to laugh a little bit, like before "Runs in the Family (Reprise)" where Pony and Darrel get in a fight. I love playing a role that brings the humor and lightens it up for a moment. Matthew Murphy / Via The Outsiders Brody Grant as Ponyboy, Jason Schmidt as Sodapop, and Brent Comer as Darrel, performing "Runs in the Family (Reprise)." While Soda adds humor to the show, he also has a really emotional scene at the end of Act 2. Is it difficult to get into that more emotional headspace?Not really, to be honest. Beneath the comedy, Soda is using it as a defense mechanism, and he's using it to cut through the emotional moments that his brothers are dealing with. So while he's very comedic, there's always an undertone of reality. Soda is not the most book-smart, but he is very emotionally intelligent; he really understands other people, where they're at, and what they need. That keeps me kind of locked into the reality of the show, which makes it pretty easy to slip in. I also think the writing is incredible, so it just leads me right along. Matthew Murphy / Via The Outsiders Jason Schmidt as Sodapop and Brody Grant as Ponyb