She is surrounded by friends, but really, she doesnt have many. I was so happy to be in that room telling the story about people rising above the lies and finding unity together. SM: That was never meant to be literal, because we hope the show will live for many years, and these things may become dinosaurs. SL: Yes. I hope it goes on forever. No, I get it, but you have to feel the panic of social media. Whats the worst social media thing youve done? You dont know theyre happy. Then a week later, two of them divorced. Were all feeling the same insecurities. 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. When I was talking to Jeffrey Seller, and he said that he thought that online had so much to do, the conversation thats just continued on and on and on about this show. 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. Now its all about Trump. Theres a line in the show about how he didnt even cry at the funeral so that when he does crack at the end of Act One, its an incredibly potent, emotional moment. 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. I used to tell my kids to take it off the dinner table, but sometimes I have to have it at the dinner table. 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 . Sometimes when you say I love you to your child, it means 10 things. Thats what I really appreciate is it wasnt an attack. He is counseled by his therapist in order to build himself up to write a letter to himself, that self-help letter, Dear Evan Hansen. He'll hold on and he'll keep going. He'll just hold on. 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. SL: It is, but that idea that these shows, all they are is the next performance. How long does it ? If you like this, be sure to subscribe to Recode Decode on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, TuneIn or Stitcher. Hamilton absolutely is similar, and I also think that there is something in a world where everything is digital. Of course he is the ringleader of that and the instigator, but there is some complicity. with monologues . SL: Thats a really good question. 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). 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. 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. Sep 23, 2019 - Explore Abby Gallegos's board "Monologues" on Pinterest. 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. Have they had their social media horror shows yet or 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. Thats been the lesson Ive learned. Why dont we start with you, Stacey? Is it this one square mile abroad or whatever? Because today, all you have to do is be yourself. This time, this time he won't let go. Start: Today is going to be an amazing d Dear Evan Hansen: How do you feel like you can work into that, because he sells fake news? Essentially, what ends up happening is theres Evan Hansen on the one hand and there is another boy, named Connor Murphy, who has his own complicated relationship with his parents and his own inner turmoil. Were going to talk about, the musical, that and more, but first lets about a little bit of your background, each of you. SL: Exactly. New York, NY, Ages 12-17: Camp Broadway Ensemble @ Carnegie Hall 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. Heres a clip from the show. Dear Evan Hansen, the smash-hit, Tony winning 2015 musical, was, depending on your outlook, a poignant depiction of the mental health perils of high school, or an unrelentingly . Monologues are presented on StageAgent for educational purposes only. Teens can still click right on through the new screen time limit. SM: The comic Jared Kleinman, who together with Alana are also, theyre our great chorus. And intellig but, just be yourself!! SL: Even though the show isnt explicitly this, it feels like its from Evans point of view, I think, in a lot of ways. You see how this kind of thing can actually happen. I think people are hungering to feel a part of a community, and to be sitting in an audience with other people. This is in the song "Sincerely, Me". You cant keep doing that. TikTok isnt really limiting kids time on its app. That was me in high school. Maybe they didnt tell the lie. Why do people, especially our age, feel the need to broadcast their sadness and their mourning? his left arm, facing the screen, alone. Jared is also our truth teller. 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. SL: Everyone in the show is doing things for the right reason. Where do you see theater going? 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. We give them a heads up. Thats the big, like, thats number one: be yourself. You dont see his head, but you see a sea of faces surrounding him. SM: The whole business of theater is about putting butts in seats. That is cool. I recommend it. Its a wonderful show. All monologues are property and copyright of their owners. It becomes something else. SM: It is, although I must say, to me, Hamilton is a movement, a phenomenon, something that is SM: It is. EVAN: (don't forget to TALK FAST) Dear Evan Hansen, Today is going to be an amazing day and here's why Because, Because today um all you have to do Music sales now go through individual songs, although, I think, probably cast like theater sale whole much better. 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. I wouldnt want a device on my head or my eyes to take me away from that. Are you private? 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. At its core, Dear Evan Hansen is about the increasing temptations, and heartbreaking costs, of self-deception. 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. It was at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C..It opened on Broadway in December 2016 at the Music Box Theatre.It won six awards at the 71st Tony Awards.Two of them were the Best Musical and . A letter that was never meant to be seen, a lie that was never . 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." YouTube is the beginning. We didnt have to buy the rights to a book to make this. START. 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. But also confident; thats super important. Millions turn to Vox to educate themselves, their family, and their friends about whats happening in the world around them, and to learn about things that spark their curiosity. You can read some of the highlights from the interview at that link, or listen to it in the audio player below. Then it was so relevant to today at the same time. It went from off Broadway, and then you developed it over time, and added to it. Giving a speech at Connor's memorial assembly, Evan soon shoots to fame, the Connor Project growing after his speech is put online, many people empathizing with Evan's words. This is Evan's mom. SL: Sarah Ruhl, the playwright, had a play called Dead Mans Cell Phone, where she had a line where she said, The only two places that are safe from cellphones now are theaters and churches.. Dear Evan Hansen. Its super hard for them to do anything good online. SL: Theres going to be a moment when those feel like dinosaurs. Everybody is super happy. You just ended up arguing about it, and then you went home. 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. Its also a very traditional show, if you think about it. Not anymore. It just continues. They were holding back the stuff. SL: Partly because we see the shows so many times, so we get really granular, and its like, Oh, thats not quite right.. We have a contact list from our website of multiple thousands and thousands and thousands of people that most shows dont have. Spoilers for the show and a trigger warning for discussion of ableism and suicide after the jump. This one took a long time because it was not based on a book or a movie, or anything at all except perhaps a moment that Benj Pasek had in high school, except for the fact that Steven Levenson turned that all around. - The second letter in "Sincerely, Me". He begins to type. 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. 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. 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. 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? SL: It does feel like there is something, especially with younger people wanting something unique and something you can touch. And the father? Its quite extraordinary. It feels like somewhere, thats the solution to the fake news is to reach people in their core. 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. We actually do. "You Will Be Found" is the tenth and final song in Act One of Dear Evan Hansen. Listen to Dear Evan Hansen (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, Ben Platt & Kaitlyn Dever on Apple Music. SM: You found out on Monday morning at the locker, but you didnt in real time experience that live-action pain. SL: They must be cyclical, but it feels like there are a few things going on, but one of them being the pervasive irony and sarcasm, for lack of a better word. You go to 10,000 rather at once, and its people sitting in the theater, and then 10,000 others. Dear Evan Hansen soundtrack from 2016, composed by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul. I guess, every Steven Sondheim movie, you feel bad for everybody in it at I mean musical. SL: He is Evans family friend in quotes, which according to Jared means theyre not really friends. Universal Pictures. Well, I had to explain the telephone to one of my kids recently, like a payphone because they saw a payphone. Jared is often the voice of the audience, pointing out what were thinking, so he serves a really interesting and useful purpose. But also confident; that's super important. Evan Hansen. 'Dear Evan Hansen' adaptation is 'a total misfire,' 'one of the worst movie-musicals ever made,' critics say Published Fri, Sep 10 2021 2:05 PM EDT Updated Fri, Sep 10 2021 2:38 PM EDT Sarah . The plot of Dear Evan Hansen begins with a letter, unsurprisingly given the title. When you think about that, its an interesting question whether you do do that. Kara Swisher: Hi, Im Kara Swisher, executive editor of Recode. . SM: Thats angry old men shaking their fists at the internet. A little perseverance and a little uphill climb." I believe this quote can relate to many things. 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. That was really where we began, was with that phenomenon, and I think what the three of us all found interesting was instead of parodying that or satirizing that, trying to look at what is underneath that impulse, and why do people feel the need to connect in that way, whats propelling that on a human level. Guide written by. What did you use that for?, SM: I had to explain to one of my sons how to actually call someones home, because theyre so used to calling someone directly. It led to offline, which was interesting. You talked about it at the beginning, but your show has benefited from that too. For more information visit saltlakecity.broadway.com. The ensemble cast also includes Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Nik Dodani . Weve talked a lot about the show itself, but lets talk about doing theater now. Evan is in high school and suffers from anxiety. Filled with a murderer's row of talented musical actors all chewing into meaty roles while singing their hearts out, Dear Evan Hansen is an ode to sincerity . SM: Theyre an important part of the fabric of the whole thing. What do you think of things like that? Theres always an outsider, and theres often a story with a moral tale that has a lie, and then the truth comes out, and the catharsis of that, and the redemption and the forgiveness is what makes audiences feel very good. 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. 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. Like, she would introduce herself and then youd be like, Sorry, I didnt hear you. Youre also not trying to do lesson learning. And intellig but, just be yourself!! Dear Evan Hansen, Today's going to be an amazing day and here's why: because because today, . 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. Its got to be something else. SL: Totally, and she also represents someone who doesnt believe in privacy. Thats not going to work. Explain to me how long a show takes to get through? Today in the red chairs are Stacey Mindich and Steven Levenson, the producer and book writer of Dear Evan Hansen. Its a musical about a high school student with social anxiety disorder struggling to connect with people around him, including his crush, Zoe, and her social outcast brother Connor. Everything has done that. Chloe? And then she would be like, No, its Zoe. Of course, they still owe one to common, be entertained. Stacey and Steven, welcome to Recode Decode. Its also a lot about the impact of the internet on teens and everyone. SL: And loneliness, and so we immediately thought in a dramatic sense, Who would be the person who is unable to connect? The eponymous Evan has been tasked by his therapist with writing pep talk letters to himself to help him visualize success: "Dear Evan Hansen, Today is going to be a great day." SM: We dont have a current plan to do that. The pillar of internet free speech seems to be everyones target. Hashtag youre not alone. To get to the point, do you feel like when I say retro, Im talking about the ideas? The story alone is so icky, so offensive, so profoundly manipulative and fraudulent, that it really never should have gotten a single Tony (or six), much less a film adaptation. He has social anxiety, which shapes his personality throughout the musical. If you haven't seen it, let me attempt to briefly summarize the show's somewhat unbelievable plot. We have people from the age Well, we werent able to take people, I think, under the age of 18, but these people are from the age of 18 to the age of 80, from all over the country and actually all over the world, and theyre in our show. Google Pay. Hes the most awkward 17-year-old ever, Im going to have to tell you. 23. I think thats how the world feels to someone like Evan. Its the hardest ticket to get right now. 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. SL: Larry and Cynthia and Zoe, who is their daughter and Connors sister, are all really And Evan Hansen probably more who really SL: Yes exactly. You see it outside the theater, I have stood at a matinee and seen the people leaving get back online to buy more tickets. She has a lot of wisdom from all of those years of pain and family therapy, a jaundiced view of the world. SM: I have to tell you that I literally went on Instagram to post about a month ago, and I was getting 21 likes here there basically from people who know me really well, and then one day, Laura Dreyfuss whos in our show liked one of my pictures, and I understood everything. They have their 28th anniversary revivals of that. We have an ad campaign. SL: Its really a credit to our director, Michael Grief, and our designers Dave Korins, and Peter Nigrini was our video designer. Found the image online but it's shown in the book Dear Evan Hansen: Through the Window. Snapchat didnt exist really. 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. SM: Again, thats good to hear. I had Jeffrey Sellers and Richard Hamilton on, and Ive been fascinated with theater my whole life. How long have you been developing it, Stacey? They purposely didnt. 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. That is an event. SL: Yes, Rent was very big for all three of us. I saw it recently, and its about isolation. SM: No, as a matter of fact, we spend a lot of our time trying to get bootleg tapes of it off of YouTube. Everyone seemed to have a SL: Yes, exactly, everybody wanted to star in the tragedy of the day. Easy to talk to. Summary. SM: Heidi Hansen, yeah, Evan's mom. I think that we do like to say that the story could have happened in ancient Greece. 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. Also, don't worry if . Universal. I talked about mistakes. I hope that people who have felt like Evan and who have felt like everybody else is having a wonderful life except for them. 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. As a producer whos had some successes and a lot of what I call glorious failures SM: My last musical that I lead produced was The Bridges of Madison County.. SM: Well, its good to hear you say that. I think it did happen with Hamilton for sure. With its Broadway debut, "Dear Evan Hansen" took the world by storm, going on to win the 2017 Tony Award for Best Musical. Dear Evan Hansen:It turns out, this wa. 2 sentence. Nobody in this world wants or rather, everybody wants to believe the story that he tells. I dont have time, but I will catch you later. I think Steven in less words than more actually captures that in Heidi. Its not scalable. Available on Cinemax, Prime Video, iTunes, HBO Max, Hulu. This election, fake news everywhere kind of thing, and now the president just uses it as a catch phrase. SM: Shows have changed so much. SL: No. 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. It is an awful, awful thing he does. Shes always trying to help people. SM: The father is an interesting nut to crack, because he at first doesnt emote about his pain. I hope youre okay. Sorry to tell you, but theyre coming. SM: But in 25 years, they may have all been over and done with that panic. CW: This article references suicide.Please refer to the end of the article for on- and off-campus resources.