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I wanted that tradition to continue where you have that collective live experience, where the turntable might stop, or just the experience that real actors are acting on their guts and instincts right in front of you. SL: From the beginning, we decided we wanted this to be a contemporary musical. SL: For some reason, we always talked about the beginning of Bye Bye Birdie. Do you know that musical, and with the telephone chain, and how that is inextricably links to that technology of just an old-fashioned phone? SM: It gives him something fun to do too. People have said to me, theyre sure he has Aspergers or something else. DEAR EVAN HANSEN, the winner of six 2017 Tony Awards including Best Musical and the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. I dont have time, but I will catch you later. I think Steven in less words than more actually captures that in Heidi. SL: Then there are a lot of expressionistic approaches to the internet, which is like fractured images and text. I used to tell my kids to take it off the dinner table, but sometimes I have to have it at the dinner table. Okay. Everybody wants to go. SL: Yes. Thats not going to work. Ben Platt plays the title role, reprising the performance that he originated on stage six years earlier. I first met Stevens colleagues, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and fell in love with their music, and really took them out to lunch one day, came with a whole bunch of ideas from my older-generation head, and within five minutes at the lunch table realized that they would never want to do a musical version of Edith Whartons something -something, but I didnt want to leave without working with them. Hes making up a story, but its a story that actually becomes true for him and for all of these people, so its like there are so many weird layers, and then you start to feel a little dizzy. Dear Evan Hansen poster. "Dear Evan Hansen" is a high school musical, but one in which the loneliness and pain of teen life is front and center, and the sense of isolation intensified in today's social media world. This is fake news, either of you. Essentially, this other boy, Connor Murphy, ends up through a strange series of circumstances taking the letter from Evan, and later offstage, Connor ends up killing himself, and the only thing that his parents find on his person is this letter to Dear Evan Hansen. You talked about it at the beginning, but your show has benefited from that too. When she admits to being afraid of Connor, the moment is brushed aside as she, too, is duped by Evan's fairy-tale portrait of a loving brother. Then last in this section, one of the things thats interesting because you did hit a meme with fake news and things that we think we get so excited about something thats real and genuine. SL: It had been off Broadway last season at Second Stage Theatre, and then it had been in D.C. at the Arena Stage the summer before. One of the things that I think is really striking is despite this awful situation, youre very kind to their characters. Found the image online but it's shown in the book Dear Evan Hansen: Through the Window. Monologues. It was a smart way to talk about hard things. Because she wants to use it for that, she wants to use it for advantage. Stacey, why dont you go through the story so people get a sense of what happens. He finds a family with them. Some of them are still about something fantastical, but theyre so much more rooted in reality. SL: It is, but that idea that these shows, all they are is the next performance. Maybe that does feel retro, but its something that people are missing. Dear Evan Hansen is a musical with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and a book by Steven Levenson. Its an interesting question, because throughout the preview process and throughout the out of town production in off Broadway, there were always a certain number of people whove thought he didnt suffer enough for what he did. Evan has a therapist who asks him to write letters to himself. Right. Im in my 50s. I want to finish up on what do you hope where to go, where it happens, because you definitely, youre very current. We actually do. SM: But for us, what serves our show so well is the intimacy of those 984 plus 16 standing room possibilities. But its very kind to these people who are struggling to each of them in a different way, which I think is an interesting way to do that. If you like this, be sure to subscribe to Recode Decode on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, TuneIn or Stitcher. It feels like people want Is theater retro? Its fascinating. We were just talking about that idea. Section 230, the internet law the Supreme Court could change, explained. The "Dear Evan Hansen" Trailer Just Dropped, Featuring A Very 27-Year-Old Ben Platt. We can overcome vaccine hesitancy. TikTok isnt really limiting kids time on its app. SL: Yes. For more information visit saltlakecity.broadway.com. This time, this time he won't let go. I was a journalist first. Theyre our community, because this show actually started out with a little bit of an ensemble that got cut after our workshop, but Will is the comic relief. Letter #6: Evan Hansen. SL: Yes, and Cynthia is still, I think, struggling and fighting and searching for a way to get through to him, whereas Larry has by the time the show started just written him off, and so has Zoe. Ben Platt, playing an anxious teenager . Do you not do that? Im going to keep pushing this because you got to see something in the new VR. Be yourself! Dear Evan Hansen has struck a chord with audiences and critics everywhere, including The Washington Post who says Dear Evan Hansen is, "Theatrical magic.One of the most remarkable shows in musical theatre history." The New York Times calls it "a breathtaking knockout of a musical."And NBC Nightly News declares the musical, "an anthem resonating on Broadway and beyond." This is in the song "Sincerely, Me". You dont actively participate in the world, but thats how you comment. SL: Sorry, I dont think its retro. Because today all you have to do is be yourself. If youre not that private, thats why you have that many and stuff like that. Listen to Dear Evan Hansen (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, Ben Platt & Kaitlyn Dever on Apple Music. Some have argued, for example, that the film's message is toxic. People always say to me, Just take an hour. All monologues are property and copyright of their owners. When we started talking about this idea and trying to abstract it and think about what was at the heart of it, we started to think about the idea of connection immediately, that all of this had to do with the desire and the need and the hunger to connect. - The fourth letter in "Sincerely, Me" and the final letter of the first act. SL: Thats a really good question. 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. They mistakenly believe that it is a letter that Connor meant to write to Evan. SM: And yet the final scene of our show set in an apple orchard that was planted in Connors honor, and not exactly in a straight-line way, but yet as Evan says at the end of the show, He was memorialized, and there is this moment to step out into the sun. 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. I thought it was going to be an attack on technology, which I dont mind by the way, but it was really smart. His life is compounded by the fact that he has social anxiety, although I think we have found that people look at him and bring their own problems to him. Dear Evan Hansen. 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. I think, from scene to scene, that changes, but I think Michael Greif and I have represented the parental point of view here, and theres a line that A lot of confusion over it, go over the confusion, and what is this, and what does it do, and I dont understand it, and its technical. They put new pictures, theres all these things. SM: I think the power of live theater is very potent, especially with a tale like this. I recommend it. Im sorry, theres just no other way to put it. Ive gone to theater in New York my whole life. 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".. We know that because we hear from them. JustANumberToYou. The school said, Well, we dont want to be punitive. I said, No, we want to be punitive. Watching the big lie of Dear Evan Hansen spiral out of control is a tense . But also. SNAP boosts kept millions out of poverty during Covid. 5 terms. On this episode of Recode Decode, hosted by Kara Swisher, Kara is joined by the producer and book writer of the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen. Stacey Mindich and Steven Levenson talk about how the show reflects on how social media has changed the nature of community, and why it is still important to get people into a space where they can unplug and see live theater. The pillar of internet free speech seems to be everyones target. How do you feel like you can work into that, because he sells fake news? Put your phone away. I think thats how the world feels to someone like Evan. Some of them are very funny, but a lot of them are very earnest and horrible in some way, and thats what you do. Easy to talk to. It was written by Val Emmich, Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul. You had the memories of when you saw it, when you didnt feel acquainted, but you couldnt revive those feelings. The Oscar-nominated actress will return to a musical role for the first time since 2011's The . If you haven't seen the show, it's the story of how a teen's viral lie winds up revealing large, prickly truths to the people involved in the falsehood. On his journey to be found, he discovers the consequences of risking it all for the chance to . Evan, in an effort to assuage their terrible grief, finds himself inadvertently claiming that he was his friend. It feels like somewhere, thats the solution to the fake news is to reach people in their core. The authors adapted the novel from the original Broadway musical of the same name, which they also wrote. Evan Hansen, an awkward, lonely high school senior, struggles with Social Anxiety Disorder. See you, rather. We actually went out to our fans, and we told them exactly how to take a picture of themselves, and send their faces in to us. It is a duet sung by Connor's father and Evan, titled "To Break in A Glove." Though it is literally talking about the correct way to break in a baseball glove, it can also be talking about . Hes told to write these daily affirmations, Dear Evan Hansen, today is going to be a great day, and here is why. That is the beginning of our story, is him writing one of these letters, and its the first day of school. They did obviously make a CD, and theyre selling. 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. Then you Snapchat though, that was interesting of course I noticed that, of course its Snapchat. We give them a heads up. I see that with even the show This is Us on NBC. I hope it goes on forever. Then we brought in the great director, Michael Grief, whos done Rent and Next to Normal. He also brought in his own interpretations. You dont know theyre happy. Then a week later, two of them divorced. The lies start piling up, especially when Evan has to explain his absence to his single mother Heidi (Julianne Moore). Broadway - July 30, 2017. Were all paying for that. Now, that mosaic as we call it in our key art is all 100 percent our fans faces. People bring whatever they have themselves or they know about to him, but hes lonely and isolated. 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. New York, NY, Ages 12-17: Camp Broadway Ensemble @ Carnegie Hall Available on Cinemax, Prime Video, iTunes, HBO Max, Hulu. Its just made me more aware of when Im using technology as a crutch or as a way of avoiding interactions. SM: Well, its good to hear you say that. . SM: Waving Through a Window is the telephone song from Bye Bye Birdie, without a doubt. It was like the most thrilling moment of my social media life that somebody I thought was cool and young liked my picture, so it works. Im not even worried about it though, seriously, because its not like, uh, its not going to be like that one time you had the perfect chance to introduce yourself to Zoe Murphy at the band concert last year that time when you waited afterwards just to talk to her and tell her how good she was and, like, you were going to pretend to be so casual like you didnt even know her name. Absolutely. Do see it, and see that beneath the faade, were all searching for the same things. I start Talkbacks now by saying, Were going to keep our Talkback breath, because I know that you want to go home and hug your children, forgive your mother and perhaps download our CD, because that is the universal thing. Who would find that most difficult? Evan was who we eventually created. Monologues are presented on StageAgent for educational purposes only. Its also a very traditional show, if you think about it. SL: Partly because we see the shows so many times, so we get really granular, and its like, Oh, thats not quite right.. I think theater is going forward in the kinds of stories we can tell. The family needs this story just as much as he does. We didnt have to buy the rights to a book to make this. He'll just hold on. We want some cause for what theyre learning, the things. Can you talk about that idea of do you think he pays enough for what hes done, or does he have to pay? We call the social media aspect of the show either the backdrop of our show or the ninth character sometimes. And the father? START. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all. It turns out, this wa Ages 12-17: Camp Broadway Ensemble @ Carnegie Hall. It's also come under fire for an irresponsible portrayal of mental health . I talked about mistakes. Offended by the "girly" clothes worn by his daughter's elementary school art teacher, one parent has taken aim at . Take a phone vacation. Its impossible. Were talking right now to Stacey Mindich and Steve Levenson, the producer and book writer of the hit show on Broadway, Dear Evan Hansen. When we get back, well talk about where theater is going as we move forward in the digital age. All right, Ill follow you. They werent sweaty until you started worrying that they were sweaty, which made them sweaty, so you put them under the hand dryer in the bathroom. How did you glom on to this idea, because at the center of most shows, its the human heart essentially, but this really does the trends of the day do matter here in terms of whats happening to us is becoming a lack of interconnectedness? We have parents who come with each other on their theater date night, and they come back and they bring their kids. Then at the same time, when you have this going, this fake news and where it leads to, how do we get back to community? Guide written by. We werent going to do a very big thing about it right at this moment, but we did that. I call it sometimes movies are three-text movies or no-text movies, because Im not going to be able to text until Im done with this movie. As part of BTPM (Buffalo Toronto Public Media), their beat is primarily Buffalo theater, but . On Broadway. Were all feeling the same insecurities. I wouldnt want a device on my head or my eyes to take me away from that. SL: Yes, and he looks around as I think many of us do at social media, and sees the world of people who are fluent and who seem to be able to navigate this world of communication that he finds baffling. 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. They purposely didnt. SL: It does feel like there is something, especially with younger people wanting something unique and something you can touch. Someone whos not a parent might look at him and say, He hasnt paid enough, but as a parent, I look at him and think especially because of the Words Fail, he has been absolutely tortured. Its the hardest ticket to get right now. Absolutely. Social media now lets you have People put up that video. 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. I hope its a conversation starter about so many issues, but mostly I hope its a catharsis for the people who come to see it, because its a catharsis for me every night. 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. How about do you feel about this, Steven? He wanted to write something about his generation. SL: No. I saw the early versions of it. Please consider making a one-time contribution to Vox today. You could see as experienced, everyones got to have the heightened sense of experience all the time. Well, its also become a war zone too, I mean, at the same time like a hellscape, like sometimes this was a SL: Yes. 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. Soon social media posts start popping up all around us some with a warming blue glow and . He goes back to school. Only, I think, every other person who comes there feels that they can relate to the eight characters on the stage. Then, in the darkness, a laptop snaps open. You know what I mean? I think that is the beauty of Stevens writing. This has been a bad year. Theyre like, Whats that? Im like, Oh, okay, let me just break it down for you. It was fascinating. I think thats what Evan taps into is, even though what he says isnt true, theres something that feels true about it. Is that true? SM: She is also lonely. SL: Everyone in the show is doing things for the right reason. Riding the wave . By Nils Skudra. 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. Its the hot ticket on Broadway right now. It gets the people on an analog. He'll hold on and he'll keep going. SL: Exactly. Then there are those moments where it goes quiet, which is those are generally the emotional moments in the show. Theres not a night where I dont shed a tear sometimes at a song, Im surprised, that never made me cry before. The national tour of Dear Evan Hansen plays Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7:30 PM, Fridays at 8 PM, Saturdays at 2 PM and 8 PM, and Sundays at 1 PM and 6:30 PM through March 5 at the Eccles Theatre (131 South Main Street, Salt Lake City). The first performance was in July 2015. Are you private? VOX teens experienced a matinee performance of "Dear Evan Hansen" at the Fox Theatre, thanks to the generosity of VOX community partners Most Valuable Kids of Greater Atlanta and Broadway in Atlanta. Its fantastic. Heres a clip from the show. Thats why I think its a character. Dear Evan Hansen. He begins to type. But also confident; that's super important. Dear Evan Hansen soundtrack from 2016, composed by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul. Summary. . He lacks friends. Now Meta and Twitter want your money, too. Treacly and manipulative, "Dear Evan Hansen . Thats why people get frustrated. Ive had people say, Im Heidi, or, My nephew is Evan, My nextdoor neighbor And so he is just one of those absolutely, utterly relatable authentic characters. It is a conversation starter. Hamilton absolutely is similar, and I also think that there is something in a world where everything is digital. They dont ever have to say to the mother, Hi, its Danny. Scene 1: We start on a black screen. Universal. But also confident that's important and . Today is going to be an amazing day and heres why: because, uh, because today all you have to do is just be yourself. Yeah, you can. Good to know. Certainly, if the show continues to do well, its something well entertain, but right now More likely, youll go out and do shows all over the country? I remember going on social media that night, the night of the election, people saying, Get in touch with me if you need somebody to talk to. It was actually genuine. Right now, I was just invited to a showing in San Francisco where we will be wearing VR headsets during the show, and its going to be SM: Thats the Encounter Within Broadway. It was interesting because the schools are trying to struggle with these things too once things become apparent. Or something like a Snapchat, of course the filters would be tasteless, like, Hey, lets make everyones face funny.. . Today is going to be a amazing day and here's why. Dear Evan Hansen, Today's going to be an amazing day and here's why: because because today, . People are going back to handmade in some ways, and people are really hungering for SL: Exactly. You can read some of the highlights from the interview at that link, or listen to it in the audio player below. Thats super interesting. Evan is in high school and suffers from anxiety. Everyones happy on Instagram, and everything is All food is delicious. SL: But I will say thats the substitute of our musical. It was interesting, too, because the show opened on Broadway right after the election. When I first heard the lyrics, I could have sworn that these guys were sitting at my breakfast table, that they had literally just taken notes and written a song about me. SM: Were struggling and learning. Have they had their social media horror shows yet or not? Oh very much, so no matter what you do People bringing, its like an old Seinfeld episode, remember? Exploring grief, mental health struggles and the dangers of social media, the musical was embraced by young people for its honest . Its quite extraordinary. SL: Theres going to be a moment when those feel like dinosaurs. We had bands of teenagers come in the beginning who loved Ben Platt, our star, from the Pitch Perfect movies, but they want to come back with their parents, and talk to their parents afterward. Thats what I really appreciate is it wasnt an attack. The next thing I want you to talk about is where theater is going. This is Evan's mom. Evan was the beginning of our story. Right, and not even then because you start looking up things. He had another one on Snapchat, which is interesting. To make actual connections, no, because you do make actual connections by the end from fake news, which I thought was really, its kind of a mind fog, but it was interesting to me. Book sales are going up, and Kindle and eBooks are really being bought by middle-aged people. Yes, he did a horrible thing, but it has become so apparent for me in knowing the script by heart now that SM: But its all been deeply pleasurable. At that time when people are going less and less analog and experience everything online, theres been some real cultural touchdown shows now. 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. Of course, they still owe one to common, be entertained. What happened in your play is the online frenzy created an offline community of the families and everything else. "My name. In the wake of the election and people feeling all sorts of feelings and trauma, there was Social media actually did become a refuge for a lot of people, and a place to feel. Because how you market the shows has changed, the way you sell tickets has changed. I think that we do like to say that the story could have happened in ancient Greece. Were on Apple Podcast, Google Play Music, TuneIn, Stitcher, SoundCloud and more, or just visit recode.net/podcasts for more. You see it outside the theater, I have stood at a matinee and seen the people leaving get back online to buy more tickets. I want to continue to have that experience that I saw A Chorus Line 28 times, not on VR. Were sounding old. It is. Dear Evan Hansen is a 2021 American coming-of-age musical film directed by Stephen Chbosky from a screenplay by Steven Levenson, based on the stage musical of the same name by Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul. I can only tell you the funny story that we all just do things too quickly, and we make silly mistakes all the time. SM: Its so universal, because I think we all feel that way. Stacey and Steven, welcome to Recode Decode. SM: The extraordinary thing that happened with this show right from our very first production at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., was that people organically found us. That requires a series of readings, workshops and developmental productions outside of Broadway to really see what you have and to learn from audiences and all of that. I saw it recently, and its about isolation. Sometimes when you say I love you to your child, it means 10 things. How did this become a phenomenon? SL: Yeah, Ben Platt who plays Evan Hansen, who weve been discussing. I just did an interview with Alison Bechdel. CAST: Ben Platt (Evan Hansen), Laura Dreyfuss (Zoe Murphy), Michael Lee Brown (u/s Connor Murphy), Will Roland (Jared Kleinman), Kristolyn Lloyd (Alana Beck), Michael Park (Larry Murphy), Jennifer Laura Thompson (Cynthia Murphy) NOTES: Act 1 ends after Sincerely, Me. Thats something that I do think is new to social media. It went from off Broadway, and then you developed it over time, and added to it. Approachable. I have been for so many years, and people come up to me and say, Im Evan. View Dear Evan Hansen opening monologue.docx from AA 1Dear Evan Hansen, Today's going to be an amazing day and here's why: because because today, all you have to do is just be yourself. SL: I think storytelling is going to continue to evolve into different forms and formats. Its difficult to do because Theres always like an Uber joke or a Twitter joke, but thats it. It is the need to leave the show, and call. He has a cast from falling from a tree, and his mother urges him to get people to sign it as a way of making friends. SM: For me, I like to think of it in a less logistical way. Because today, all you have to do is be yourself. Just even the handset was like, Thats interesting. This show is really depicting the way we live in America now, the way we are at our breakfast tables with our families. SL: Absolutely. What do you think of things like that? It goes wild with people holding up signs that say, #youwillbefound, supporting the Connor Project and Evan, and the idea that this boy made a friend and all of that. Texting is even Theres not a thought that doesnt go down. If you go on Instagram, youll see all sorts of drawings and poems and songs. They have a son, Connor, who has been trouble for a very long time. I guess it shows the way people are interacting with culture today. 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. his left arm, facing the screen, alone. That's the big, like, that's number one: be yourself. Go through it just basically to give people an idea of why and how important a role, I guess, it would be Facebook and Twitter and others play in this, this idea of social media plays in this. SL: Yet, watching it now, you dont feel like its old-fashioned, or you feel like the technology is old-fashioned but the emotions are real and the story, you can follow. Of course he is the ringleader of that and the instigator, but there is some complicity. Theres something about this story. Thats to me, I think, the difficulty they had is they didnt like him. How long have you been developing it, Stacey? SM: The comic Jared Kleinman, who together with Alana are also, theyre our great chorus. New York, NY, Accessibility Statement Terms Privacy |StageAgent 2020. Connor is his classmate and lives lavishly with his parents and sister. I think what took so long from launch to the Music Box Theatre was actually eight years but it was crafting of what we call our underlying rights. Dear Evan Hansen. In the beginning of the ad campaign, those faces were actually stock faces that we bought. I love her because shes amazing. At first, you dont want anything to do with that mother, but then you realize that there are people who are like that walking around our world today, and they have picked themselves up and kept going. Dear Evan Hansen Monologue. You will never regret having slept on it.