He begins to type. We shouldnt. I cant wait to see Hello Dolly. I cannot wait to just delve into that beautiful history of a musical, but the new theater that is exciting to me is being created by young people who have something very interesting to say about the way theyre seeing the world. Were here talking with Stacey Mindich and Steven Levenson, the producer and book writer of Dear Evan Hansen, the hit musical about a high school student with social anxiety disorder and social media problems. New York, NY, Linda Ray I have mixed feelings about filming shows, because you lose something. SL: Its really a credit to our director, Michael Grief, and our designers Dave Korins, and Peter Nigrini was our video designer. Weve talked a lot about the show itself, but lets talk about doing theater now. Then your other extra characters are also very interesting, like the girl who SL: Alana, who is our voice of social media in a lot of ways. At its core, Dear Evan Hansen is about the increasing temptations, and heartbreaking costs, of self-deception. Theres something about this story. So feeling like I was telling you earlier that Dave is working on a VR version of Othello. Im thrilled Othellos going to get to people, so Im not adverse to that idea. I do think you should get some of it a little bit online, because I think certain parts of it are really resonant in this age, and really talk about things in a really fair way. EVAN. You do feel in this thing. The novelization of Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul's six-time Tony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen is compelling and deeply emotional. I think theater is going forward in the kinds of stories we can tell. Where else do you actually have to put your phone away? Offended by the "girly" clothes worn by his daughter's elementary school art teacher, one parent has taken aim at . SL: Thats the thing. It just continues. Heres whats actually happening. Chloe? And then she would be like, No, its Zoe. If you like this, be sure to subscribe to Recode Decode on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, TuneIn or Stitcher. The authors adapted the novel from the original Broadway musical of the same name, which they also wrote. By Nils Skudra. There is no thing. But I think whats interesting is the fresh trends of whats happening now, because eight years ago, Facebook was not as big as it is [now]. I can tell you, because Im a super old person, it was so great not to know anything or have a phone around. We were just talking about that idea. SL: Evan, if you track his journey, if you look at the granular level, the first time that the parents come to Evan and say, This letter, we found this letter with our son, the first thing he says is he didnt write it. Evan Hansen, a young man beset by social-anxiety disorder, is ordered by his therapist to write self-addressed motivational letters to himself in order to improve his disposition and communication skills. Book writer Steven Levenson on the power of moral tension---In some ways, "You Will Be Found" is just a moving song. I think it goes back to this authenticity. Its a beautiful song that Benj and Justin have written. SL: No. SL: No. I can only tell you the funny story that we all just do things too quickly, and we make silly mistakes all the time. A letter that was never meant to be seen, a lie that was never . CPAC used to be a barometer. They look happy as ever. I dont know how old you are, but it was mind-blowing, and I went a dozen times. But they want to continue the relationship. Then also, the hashtag, my favorite expression is hashtagavism, that we get these hashtags. That song is about isolation and about being on the outside looking in, which a lot of musicals are about really, but this one had a really big element of what social media does to us, and that was a very big plot point in the play. SL: Yes, and she actually We always try to be careful thats shes never a villain. SL: Sorry, I dont think its retro. It was actually really meaningful. The musical opened on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre in December 2016, after the show's world premiere at the Arena Stage in . Are you private? My son had one with a bad video, and it went up. Theres been some shows that have been real touchdowns, like Hamilton and some others that have been really Theres a new, I cant remember the latest one, but theres a bunch that Maybe its The Grand Hotel, one that seems fantastic in some ways. At the behest of his therapist, Evan, an anxiety-ridden 17-year-old high schooler, writes a pop-psychology pep talk in the form of a . Talk about the other characters, the mothers, both parents. Thats all there is. The power ballad that closes act one of Dear Evan Hansen, it marks the moment when Evan, a socially anxious teenager, delivers a heartfelt speech about a friend, Connor, who has recently met with tragedy.Shaking with emotion, Evan recalls a time that Connor helped him, and he . I dont believe Michael Grief is on social media at all, and I only joined the world of social media, and Im now slightly addicted not in posting but in SM: I love Instagram, but I only joined it because of this show, because I literally had them telling me every day, You wont understand your own children and the way they live and the way theyre liked if you dont participate in some way. This conversation has been going on, and my notes on the show sometimes have questioned this backdrop. SL: Its a very weird net of thing where people are really, really responding to that idea of you will be found, which is actually when Evan is saying it in the musical, its not true. I was looking at the social media on the show. I think shes a very important character for some reason, being a mom to SM: Very, very, because she is the one that he comes home to in the end and discovers his, I hope spoiler alerts are okay, but discovers he has something that he didnt realize before. jennyjenrose. I wouldnt want a device on my head or my eyes to take me away from that. After Evan's parents' divorce, his father moves to Colorado to start a new family, and his mom works constantly and never has time for Evan. I think whats interesting about the fake news is clearly, facts dont work to dispel it. Dear Evan Hansen takes on challenging subjectsdeath, grief, class, mental illness, social media, social anxietywith unapologetic trust in the power of contemporary pop music to tell complex stories onstage. DEAR EVAN HANSEN Stripe Collection Navy Pocket Tee Regular price $30.00 USD Regular price $40.00 USD Sale price $30.00 USD Unit price / per . In fact, he didnt, but they presumed that Evan was his only friend. Stephen Chbosky's adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen, based on the Broadway show of the same name, features a beautiful soundtrack.The 2021 movie cut several songs from the Broadway show and added a few new ones, but overall, the musical's tone is not affected by these changes. It was fascinating to have all that going on at once. I do feel like people are hungering for something that is ephemeral and something thats just here and now, because everything else is permanent and online. Or something like a Snapchat, of course the filters would be tasteless, like, Hey, lets make everyones face funny.. I think that was really what I took away from it, and its interesting that Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook did a 6,000-word essay about this, essentially saying that the solution to an over-Facebook of the world is more Facebook. Jared is often the voice of the audience, pointing out what were thinking, so he serves a really interesting and useful purpose. He plays off of Evan. SL: I was struck immediately by this whole concept of the voyeurism and exhibitionism of grief, which was really what I think Benj was so interested in. Its not scalable. SM: Well, its good to hear you say that. It feels like the forms are changing but the ideas underneath them are not. Well, its also become a war zone too, I mean, at the same time like a hellscape, like sometimes this was a SL: Yes. Technology is the oxygen of the world now. Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing and changing us. It is a conversation starter. Just, uh, you knowbe true to yourself. That process has taken us a long time. SM: I think if we want people to relate to the show, then the idea really is that I always said, If every mother in that audience doesnt ultimately want to hug Evan, then were not doing the right thing. We want everyone to essentially be kind and feel a warmth about our show. They want to continue the story, and they want to embellish the story. I heard this interesting statistic the other week, which feels related somehow, that young people are buying more books. SM: Think about this, Steven, if they do a revival of this show in 25 years, they could do it in a retro way with no projections. Okay. Its great to talk to you. It is. It's a testament to the songwriting prowess of La La Land duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul that Dear Evan Hansen has gotten anywhere. Its not scalable, as they say. On his journey to be found, he discovers the consequences of risking it all for the chance to . Sometimes when you say I love you to your child, it means 10 things. We havent really made a big deal about it right now, but our key art shows Evans torso with his arm in the cast. Obviously, your star is well known from Pitch Perfect.. A battle over freedom of expression at a Concord, N.H., elementary school. 4. I was just talking to him about the phenomenon of Hamilton and what its like, and as he pointed out, Hamilton ultimately is just the show thats going to happen at 8pm tonight. He finds a family with them. Absolutely. Dear Evan Hansen. It could have happened 100 years in the future. I think thats how the world feels to someone like Evan. I think thats what Evan taps into is, even though what he says isnt true, theres something that feels true about it. The musical premiered in July 2015 in Washington, DC, debuted on Broadway in 2016, and later won six Tony Awards in . Each of you take one and talk about what they mean and what youre trying to do. Is it this one square mile abroad or whatever? How long have you been developing it, Stacey? . He is somebody in a world of connections who is completely disconnected and desperate to connect, and also terrifying to connect too. Explain to me how long a show takes to get through? Theres just nowhere except the theater where you really do. Film adaptation of the Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical about Evan Hansen, a high school senior with Social Anxiety disorder and his journey of self-discovery and acceptance following the suicide of a fellow classmate. Despite its Broadway credentials, "Dear Evan Hansen" hits screens faced with an inherent tension: Can its songs and cast, led by Ben Platt reprising his Tony-winning role, overcome the . We found that we gathered fans very, very quickly, and they stayed with us, and so one of our approaches in, not really selling tickets, but in keeping our own community alive was really to talk directly to the fans, to always give them something first, because we believe that they are part of the reason why we were able to go from Arena to Second Stage, and Second Stage to Broadway. Thats right, and when she gets it, boy, its interesting. On our stage at the end of Act One, in our Act One finale called You Will Be Found, the projections which basically is the internet goes viral. He has a single mom who is trying her best, but not perhaps succeeding. SL: Yeah, it begins with the boy in his room with his computer, and before the orchard, it ends with him finally face to face with his mother, no screens between them, really having to tell each other the truth. You talked about it at the beginning, but your show has benefited from that too. Sorry to tell you, but theyre coming. What do you think of things like that? . I saw the early versions of it. Well, you do the I-wish-you-were-dead-but-not-really thing. He has social anxiety, which shapes his personality throughout the musical. You cant keep doing that. There is haptic touch. View in iTunes. You got involved with this, and what were you thinking, Steven? It means, Do your homework, brush your teeth. When we announce a new block of tickets on sale, we give the fans a two-hour heads up, because as you said, it is hard to sell tickets, and that hurts us in some ways. But also confident that's important and . We didnt have Uber. It was really just meant to surrealistically portray the way we are all brushed. The musical follows Evan Hansen, a high school senior with social anxiety, "who invents an important role for himself in a tragedy that he did not earn".. Sometimes, lessons were learned, and youre like, Oh.. But also. But also confident; thats super important. Dear Evan Hansen explores the meaning of family, particularly found family, as the teenage characters find new sources of familial support and acceptance. SM: It did, but for me, immediately, when you tell me that there is a boy who is in trouble, me being who I am at this part of my life, I immediately said, Well then, there has to be a mom. It within moments became a multi-generational piece. Snowballs, and then social media is the key snowball, or as it amplifies and creates the situation that improves his life, and also makes the horrible situation worse. What do you think of what he did, because hes a fictional character but hes not? START. Rent was one of those choices, and Angels in America I would say, probably, are two shows that the conversation had to continue after. I hope that the show makes people more present hopefully with the people that they are in the room with. Talk about how you got to Dear Evan Hansen which, by the way, I dont want to call it the Hamilton of this season, but it kind of is. SM: It is the beauty of the show, I think, and the reason why people do want to talk about it when they leave the theater, that you can interpret it the way you want to. Within a couple of months, we found Steven, who had the right voice to create a musical that the three of them really wanted to be as authentic as possible. SL: Yes. SL: Partly because we see the shows so many times, so we get really granular, and its like, Oh, thats not quite right.. I hope that people who have felt like Evan and who have felt like everybody else is having a wonderful life except for them. SL: We always wanted to thread that needle. Anyone familiar with Broadway in the last five years will have heard of "Dear Evan Hansen," the pop-musical sensation that swept the Tony Awards in 2017. He is in a total of 11 musical numbers. I recommend it. Whats been interesting to me is there is something about these characters in this world that, especially young people, really want to engage with. Today is going to be an amazing day and heres why: because, uh, because today all you have to do is just be yourself. . After one of these missives is stolen by a classmate who subsequently takes his own life, the deceased's parents believe it to be a genuine . Thats why I think its a character. Theyre like, Whats that? Im like, Oh, okay, let me just break it down for you. It was fascinating. But the idea that we need to get Theres no more offline communities, and were not connected offline anymore. What happened in your play is the online frenzy created an offline community of the families and everything else. That was me in high school. Maybe they didnt tell the lie. Laura Baronet. SL: I actually have in my mind the minimalist version of the show with no projections and no SM: The words, the score, and the actions. With Ben Platt, Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever, Amy Adams. Dear Evan Hansen. - The third letter in "Sincerely, Me". Be yourself! Approachable. Getting back to how you do theater, do you feel good about theater now that people ? Ben Platt plays the title role, reprising the performance that he originated on stage six years earlier. The new single "Found/Tonight," arranged by Alex . If Dear Evan Hansen addresses these problems and anxieties, it also explores, presciently, how easily experience can be faked online and how persuasive those fakes can be. I hope more people will listen to this and come. Evan is in high school and suffers from anxiety. Dear Evan Hansen (2021) centers on Evan Hansen (Ben Platt), a high school student with social anxiety disorder whose letter to himself, one that was not meant to be seen by others, lands into the wrong hands of fellow classmate, Connor Murphy (Colton Ryan), who, as a result, commits suicide. It turns out to be false, or an advertising or a marketing thing. I do think youre right about books. Thats all I mean. SM: Its actually so much simpler then that. That problem, its the plot point. It is an awful, awful thing he does. Google Pay. The unfortunate thing about my kids is both their parents are highly technically literate, and so they cant fool us or anything. Its quite extraordinary. I was so happy to be in that room telling the story about people rising above the lies and finding unity together. Thats the surface story. But also be confident. He is, within his opening monologue, portrayed beautifully and poignantly as somebody who is literally on the outside looking in as you can imagine on social media, but also in life. Dear Evan Hansen soundtrack from 2016, composed by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul. So you heard TikToks being banned. producer and book writer of the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen.. Being as authentic as possible, realistic, organic, the way that you can depict things on the stage, the projections we have on our show are not something you would have seen in a show even two or three years ago. Then there are those moments where it goes quiet, which is those are generally the emotional moments in the show. But the lies are precisely what happened. In 2020, the Oscars stage saw a "swirling cyclone" of Swarovski Crystals thanks to Jason Sherwood, production designer for the 92nd Academy Awards. SM: But its a great symbol of the need for community because she uses knowingly, unknowingly, the experience of Connors death and Evans decision to create the Connor Project, to create a community and a role and a life for herself. It was so fascinating because it was so old and so relevant at the same time, so you felt the age of it because it felt old, like what youre talking about. Thats what was strong about this, was it? Spoilers for the show and a trigger warning for discussion of ableism and suicide after the jump. You see it outside the theater, I have stood at a matinee and seen the people leaving get back online to buy more tickets.
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