Rising young actor/singer-songwriter Jason Schmidt is currently making his mark on the Broadway stage in the newly crowned Tony-award winning Best Musical The Outsiders. Schmidt plays Sodapop, the beloved S.E. Hinton character first made famous by Rob Lowe in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 film (and subsequent 2005 Complete Novel version which added 22 minutes to the running time, including many Sodapop scenes initially left on the cutting room floor).
And while Schmidt’s Soda pays homage to Lowe’s work, he makes the sweet, supportive character his own onstage. Soda is often caught in the crossfire between his younger sib Ponyboy (Brody Grant) and his older bro, Darrel (Brent Comer). In the stage show (as in the revised film version) Soda represents the heart and soul of The Outsiders, certainly of the family. Schmidt also provides a few doses of much needed comic relief from the tense story of teen Greasers who live on the wrong side of the Tulsa tracks trying to get along in a world of Socs, their affluent rivals, in 1967. It’s a story about fighting to be your true self in a society that demands conformity and capitulation.
Directed by surprise Tony-winner Danya Taymor, The Outsiders boasts a book by Adam Rapp, music and lyrics by Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay & Zach Chance) with Justin Levine as co-bookwriter/music/lyrics, orchestrations and arrangements.
Schmidt was most recently seen as Buddy in Paramount+’s Grease: Rise Of The Pink Ladies, a prequel to the beloved movie musical, Grease.
As a singer-songwriter he is regularly releasing music, and most recently dropped the single “My Ego Loves You,” available now on Spotify, Apple Music, and other media platforms. (https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/jasonschmidt/my-ego-loves-you)
For tickets to The Outsiders, visit https://outsidersmusical.com/
Schmidt’s Instagram: www.instagram.com/jason.s.schmidt
Awards Daily had the pleasure of a Zoom chat with the talented and charismatic actor, shortly after the show’s surprise Tony win.
