I think it goes back to this authenticity. You know what I mean? 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. So many shows and movies and everything else, a lot of literature about that, finding connection, or you try to make people feel better about the idea that you can be connected in this interconnected world, where I think nobody has felt lonelier than ever before. 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. 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. Stacey and Steven, thanks for coming by. Then, in the darkness, a laptop snaps open. I think she is an incredible depiction of contemporary motherhood, whether youre a single mom or not, busy, under pressure, trying hard, absolutely love your child, but in the daily rush of things doesnt always get everything right. SM: The song literally says you are not alone.. They look happy as ever. Yes, she is. 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. Summary. Its just made me more aware of when Im using technology as a crutch or as a way of avoiding interactions. I was looking at the social media on the show. Then also, the hashtag, my favorite expression is hashtagavism, that we get these hashtags. It must be seen to be believed." ADAM FELDMAN, TIME OUT NEW YORK. The thing I feel about the relationship between the show and whats happening in the world is, I remember we had rehearsal the day after the election, and showing up to rehearsal, everyone was so depressed. Dear Evan Hansen soundtrack from 2016, composed by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul. 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. Now theyre gone. SM: Were struggling and learning. Heres whats actually happening. Youre also not trying to do lesson learning. The lies start piling up, especially when Evan has to explain his absence to his single mother Heidi (Julianne Moore). 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. When youre trying to get to what Evan does, it is an awful thing he does. Get away from it all. That's the big, like, that's number one: be yourself. Hailey Bieber, Selena Gomez, and the Easter egg-ification of the Hollywood feud, Alex Murdaugh sentenced to two life terms for murdering his wife and son. So you heard TikToks being banned. 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. Its a show about life and how we live it. I think for all of us on that dark day that we came to rehearsal, being in the theater where we all have the license to be the people that we are, the little strange quirky Evan-like people that we all are SM: Its a good place for people. 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. One of our founding members Tom Stevenson gives his rendition of this modern monologue taken from the hit musical Dear Evan Hansen. Monologues. 24. I hope youre okay. 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. Whats it like to create theater in this age, in this age of digital? It was a smart way to talk about hard things. You see it outside the theater, I have stood at a matinee and seen the people leaving get back online to buy more tickets. 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. SM: The father is an interesting nut to crack, because he at first doesnt emote about his pain. Guide written by. Social media now lets you have People put up that video. The family needs this story just as much as he does. They have filled our theaters in broad groups. We felt like we actually hadnt seen a lot of theater doing that. 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. SM: Hes not fictional to me anymore, because not only have I lived with him for so long, but I stand in the back of the theater. Book sales are going up, and Kindle and eBooks are really being bought by middle-aged people. That is cool. This article originally appeared on Recode.net. Because she wants to use it for that, she wants to use it for advantage. 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. I asked them what they wanted to do, and Benj Pasek told me a story that was just the germ of what happened in Dear Evan Hansen, but it was something that happened in his high school life where a senior, they were all in the senior class, and a senior passed away from drugs. SL: Even though the show isnt explicitly this, it feels like its from Evans point of view, I think, in a lot of ways. SM: That was never meant to be literal, because we hope the show will live for many years, and these things may become dinosaurs. 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 . 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. 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. You could see as experienced, everyones got to have the heightened sense of experience all the time. I hope that the show makes people more present hopefully with the people that they are in the room with. Do you not put stuff online? SL: Thats the thing. SL: Yes, Rent was very big for all three of us. Some of them are still about something fantastical, but theyre so much more rooted in reality. 2 sentence. SL: From the beginning, we decided we wanted this to be a contemporary musical. The plot of Dear Evan Hansen begins with a letter, unsurprisingly given the title. Then the next few days, it changed. Google Pay. 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. Thats why I think its a character. Do you not do that? But then they were still sweatyand just, uh, very warm as well. 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. It was actually really meaningful. SL: Thats a really good question. Dear Evan Hansen explores the meaning of family, particularly found family, as the teenage characters find new sources of familial support and acceptance. See more ideas about monologues, acting monologues, dear even hansen. Then once she gets the letters, she uses them like shes almost a journalist, like, I got the memo, or something like that. Is that retro like, Hey, lets put on our cashmere sweaters from the 50s, or not? 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. The breathtaking Broadway phenomenon becomes a soaring cinematic event as Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award winner Ben Platt reprises his role as an anxious, isolated high schooler aching for understanding and belonging amid the chaos and cruelty of the . 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. This is in the song "Sincerely, Me". 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 . To me, having seen the misery and the depths to which this character falls, I feel by the end that he has paid a terrible price, and he has come out on the other side and realized what he has done. Then he uses it, the social media, to amplify that awfulness. Offended by the "girly" clothes worn by his daughter's elementary school art teacher, one parent has taken aim at . And the father? Its music, however, is fairly affecting. Thats to me, I think, the difficulty they had is they didnt like him. Oh my God. I dont know, if you dont live in Silicon Valley, but I, like, oh my God, her. Gain full access to show guides, character breakdowns, auditions, monologues and more! 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. . Its quite enormous in terms of how it gets known. Or something like a Snapchat, of course the filters would be tasteless, like, Hey, lets make everyones face funny.. How about do you feel about this, Steven? 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." Just even the handset was like, Thats interesting. Something we talked about really early on was this was like six years ago, so Facebook and Twitter were really coming into their own, and it felt like whenever there was a natural disaster or a celebrity passed away, there would be the strange public ritual of people going on social media and somehow identifying with the tragedy. 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). Well, something, and thats your weapon. It becomes a way of bringing people together, of making everyone feel less alone, and yet its all premised on this lie. Were going to talk about, the musical, that and more, but first lets about a little bit of your background, each of you. Silence. SL: It feels like what all those fake news things are hitting on is a true emotion that people are feeling. The more interesting thing was to explore, even when its fake, which it is by definition, can it reach something real in us? SM: Sort of, but the thing that youd try so hard to do when youre marketing a show is create a way for word of mouth to happen. You cant keep doing that. She is a child that has grown up out of the spotlight because her brother took up so much of the oxygen. Weve talked a lot about the show itself, but lets talk about doing theater now. I think not just in my family but every family. It was that and Angels in America were very big deals. Well, its also become a war zone too, I mean, at the same time like a hellscape, like sometimes this was a SL: Yes. This show is really depicting the way we live in America now, the way we are at our breakfast tables with our families. SNAP boosts kept millions out of poverty during Covid. SL: Partly because we see the shows so many times, so we get really granular, and its like, Oh, thats not quite right.. Its certainly done that for me. SL: Exactly. SM: Heidi Hansen, yeah, Evan's mom. 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 think its going to be that experience could exist, but it wont be the same. Today is going to be a amazing day and here's why. It gets the people on an analog. Put your phone away. I had someone who is a millennial who was saying, Oh look, Im not as happy as my friends. Im like, Theyre not happy. I dont have time, but I will catch you later. I think Steven in less words than more actually captures that in Heidi. YouTube is the beginning. I said yes. They may have started finding us because Ben Platt was about to come out in the second Pitch Perfect movie, or because Pasek and Paul had a following of millennials who were very adept at social media. Evan has a therapist who asks him to write letters to himself. He plays off of Evan. Treacly and manipulative, "Dear Evan Hansen . SL: Yes. I think thats what Evan taps into is, even though what he says isnt true, theres something that feels true about it. I said Zoe. And youd be like, Oh, see I thought you said Chloe because Im just Im very busy withuh, other stuff right now. But you didnt even end up saying anything to her anyway because you were scared your hands were sweatywhich, they werent, really. SL: Never send an email when youre angry has been the best lesson. Approachable. SM: What about all the angry people whod tweet? Universal. Not all of them hit. . Were all paying for that. The unfortunate thing about my kids is both their parents are highly technically literate, and so they cant fool us or anything. Of course, they still owe one to common, be entertained. Dear Evan Hansen is a musical.The music and lyrics were written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Steven Levenson wrote a book based on the musical). Now, that mosaic as we call it in our key art is all 100 percent our fans faces. I saw the early versions of it. You know what I mean? 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. "Extraordinary. | Smule Social Singing Karaoke app Dear 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. Ben Platt, playing an anxious teenager . 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. I was so happy to be in that room telling the story about people rising above the lies and finding unity together. Ultimately what is going to separate theater from everything else is not the content. Sorry to tell you, but theyre coming. A little perseverance and a little uphill climb." I believe this quote can relate to many things. A letter that was never meant to be seen, a lie that was never . Can you talk about each of the characters? Zoe is a survivor, really. DEAR EVAN HANSEN Stripe Collection Polo . Dear Evan Hansen tells the story of a high school student suffering from extreme social anxiety whose desperate desire for acceptance leads him into a web of lies following the tragic death of a . Steven, youve hit the meme exactly at the right moment, which is Did you think about that before? This time, this time he won't let go. Thats not going to work. SL: And loneliness, and so we immediately thought in a dramatic sense, Who would be the person who is unable to connect? Jared is also our truth teller. DEAR EVAN HANSEN YWBF Mug Regular price $20.00 USD Regular price Sale price $20.00 USD Unit price / per . We have seen kids leave. To get to the point, do you feel like when I say retro, Im talking about the ideas? - The fourth letter in "Sincerely, Me" and the final letter of the first act. There is haptic touch. I was expecting that. You used to pay for social media with your eyeballs. They mistakenly believe that it is a letter that Connor meant to write to Evan. It was fascinating to have all that going on at once. SM: Its actually so much simpler then that. When you were like that before, you didnt see it, and now you see the entire thing and what everybody else is doing. Because today, all you have to do is be yourself. I think that we do like to say that the story could have happened in ancient Greece. Well, I had to explain the telephone to one of my kids recently, like a payphone because they saw a payphone. 21 terms. Were here today on Recode Decode in New York City, and were talking to Stacy Mindich and Steven Levenson, the producer and book writer of Dear Evan Hansen, which is a show I saw. Also, don't worry if . Benj and Justin and I were just talking recently about how when we were in high school, we assumed that everybody was having more fun than we were, but now if youre a high school student, you have proof every day that everybody is happier than you are. But the lies are precisely what happened. What I found interesting maybe you want to talk about is I dont want to get to the idea of where shows are too like whats at the heart of all these shows and these connections is that you dont insult technology. Were all feeling the same insecurities. I wouldnt want to lose that. Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing and changing us. A battle over freedom of expression at a Concord, N.H., elementary school. We werent going to do a very big thing about it right at this moment, but we did that. He'll hold on and he'll keep going. What begins as a little white lie becomes a way of comforting this family. Thats super interesting. JustANumberToYou. 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? By Nils Skudra. He'll just hold on. I was like, Aww.. It could have happened 100 years in the future. Were sounding old. Thats right, and when she gets it, boy, its interesting. When Dear Evan Hansen premiered on Broadway in 2016, it drew near-universal praise from New York's theater critics. SL: It is, but that idea that these shows, all they are is the next performance. 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. I always say about Alana, if you ask her, she has a million friends. You didnt have the answer, which was, I was like, Remember when you didnt have the answer, and you just argue, you get drunk, and that was it? That was the entire thing. As Steven said earlier, they write to us in droves. See you, rather. 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. 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. She has a very bitter sense of humor. And interesting. his left arm, facing the screen, alone. He finds a family with them. SM: It is, although I must say, to me, Hamilton is a movement, a phenomenon, something that is SM: It is. You dont actively participate in the world, but thats how you comment. He has a single mom who is trying her best, but not perhaps succeeding. "You Will Be Found" is the tenth and final song in Act One of Dear Evan Hansen. This election, fake news everywhere kind of thing, and now the president just uses it as a catch phrase. SM: Well, its good to hear you say that.