If he were following a standard trajectory, Nolan White would be in his sophomore year studying musical theater at the University of Michigan.
Instead, the 20-year-old is on the road as part of the first national tour of the Tony Award-winning “The Outsiders: A New Musical,” playing the lead as narrator Ponyboy Curtis.
“It was pretty spontaneous,” says White, who grew up in Nashville. “My mom sent me a link to the open call for auditions, and I was like: ‘No way, that’s crazy. I don’t have time to do that. I have class and everything.’ But it turned out to be on a weekend when I was free, so I flew to New York and waited in a long line outside of an audition studio…