Offended by the "girly" clothes worn by his daughter's elementary school art teacher, one parent has taken aim at . SL: It feels like what all those fake news things are hitting on is a true emotion that people are feeling. Or something like a Snapchat, of course the filters would be tasteless, like, Hey, lets make everyones face funny.. 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. 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. 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. It means, Do your homework, brush your teeth. Of course he is the ringleader of that and the instigator, but there is some complicity. It will be its own thing. To get to the point, do you feel like when I say retro, Im talking about the ideas? Letter #5: Connor Murphy to Evan Hansen. The next thing I want you to talk about is where theater is going. See more ideas about monologues, acting monologues, dear even hansen. You see how this kind of thing can actually happen. SL: Yes, Rent was very big for all three of us. Thats why people get frustrated. You may know me as the director of the hit off- off- off-Broadway musical, Dear Mark Zuckerberg, but in my spare time I talk tech, and youre listening to Recode Decode, a podcast about tech and medias key players, big ideas in how theyre changing the world we live in. Weve gone through quite a few in the years, and it really is basically the two mothers in the morning dealing with their respective families not so well, and then feeling at a loss. SM: Well, its good to hear you say 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 hope it goes on forever. Sometimes when you say I love you to your child, it means 10 things. Thats something that I do think is new to social media. Evan attempts to find the acceptance and love he has been lacking in his life. It turns out, this wa Ages 12-17: Camp Broadway Ensemble @ Carnegie Hall. They have their 28th anniversary revivals of that. Its not scalable, as they say. jennyjenrose. 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. There is nothing else. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all. Thats why I think its a character. Where else do you have to shut it off? A particularly exciting addition to the Dear Evan Hansen cast announced per Variety is Amy Adams. Its never a bad idea to wait. 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. 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. Ben Platt plays the title role, reprising the performance that he originated on stage six years earlier. SL: Yes, and she actually We always try to be careful thats shes never a villain. 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. Dear Evan Hansen, Today's going to be an amazing day and here's why: because because today, . Its super hard for them to do anything good online. SM: But in 25 years, they may have all been over and done with that panic. Be yourself! 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. On the advice of his therapist, he pens supportive letters to himself: "Dear Evan Hansen, Today is going to be an amazing day, and here's why. 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." Right. SL: But I will say thats the substitute of our musical. A speech Evan writes about Connor then goes viral. SL: Everyone in the show is doing things for the right reason. They were holding back the stuff. I dont know how old you are, but it was mind-blowing, and I went a dozen times. Dear Evan Hansen:It turns out, this wa. Its music, however, is fairly affecting. Getting back to how you do theater, do you feel good about theater now that people ? Of course, they still owe one to common, be entertained. Do you want to take a little plug, Steven? 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. Audition season's in full swing, so I thought I'd share a clip from my self-tape for the Dear Evan Hansen national tour! SL: It does feel like there is something, especially with younger people wanting something unique and something you can touch. He lacks friends. 2 sentence. SL: Theres going to be a moment when those feel like dinosaurs. It was interesting because the schools are trying to struggle with these things too once things become apparent. You know what I mean? Each of you take one and talk about what they mean and what youre trying to do. SL: There are always people who thought he suffered too much for what he did, so it ultimately comes down to me to some of the Theres a song, Words Fail, that Evan sings. Watching the big lie of Dear Evan Hansen spiral out of control is a tense . SL: No, Alana is She is desperate to keep a bright smile on and to show everybody how great she is. September 21, 2021. Thats not going to work. Ive met Alana a hundred times. 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. And especially with the pain. Its really interactive. The Broadway hit-turned-film Dear Evan Hansen ' s ending created some controversy and a flurry of questions. It feels very much like a phone going up. I just saw it in San Francisco. Dear, Evan Hansen. Theres just nowhere except the theater where you really do. Please consider making a one-time contribution to Vox today. Monologues. You will never regret having slept on it. I think that is the beauty of Stevens writing. Today is going to be a good day, and here's why; because today, no matter what else you are you. Heres a clip from the show. SL: Sorry, I dont think its retro. SM: Waving Through a Window is the telephone song from Bye Bye Birdie, without a doubt. Its a wonderful show. People always say to me, Just take an hour. They look happy as ever. Available on Cinemax, Prime Video, iTunes, HBO Max, Hulu. Some of them are very funny, but a lot of them are very earnest and horrible in some way, and thats what you do. 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. It was interesting, too, because the show opened on Broadway right after the election. Snapchat didnt exist really. What do you hope to accomplish, each of you? SL: Thats been a constant negotiation with how specific do we want the technology. I started producing about 12 years ago, and had a real passion to find young authors, and pair them with some of the veteran directors of our industry. 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. Thats been the lesson Ive learned. SL: It feels like there must be a middle ground, because I do feel like ultimately what is going to separate theater from everything else is not the content. It turns out to be false, or an advertising or a marketing thing. Then we brought in the great director, Michael Grief, whos done Rent and Next to Normal. He also brought in his own interpretations. I hope more people will listen to this and come. 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. He has social anxiety, which shapes his personality throughout the musical. But would you have plans to do that, to have a digital version of it after? SM: Thats angry old men shaking their fists at the internet. Sorry to tell you, but theyre coming. You know what I mean? 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. The teens are doing revenge porn like Evan. 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. This time, this time he won't let go. New York, NY, Ages 12-17: Camp Broadway Ensemble @ Carnegie Hall The gauzy white glow of the screen illuminates the face of Evan Hansen, sitting at a desk with a hard cast on. I look at Rent being really a grandfather to Dear Evan Hansen happening. When youre trying to get to what Evan does, it is an awful thing he does. But also confident; thats super important. You go to 10,000 rather at once, and its people sitting in the theater, and then 10,000 others. It gets the people on an analog. Platt is certainly not the first adult to play a teenager onscreen, nor is he the first to look his age while . It must be seen to be believed." ADAM FELDMAN, TIME OUT NEW YORK. SL: Thats the thing. Why do people, especially our age, feel the need to broadcast their sadness and their mourning? We happen to have the same director also, but Rent paved the way for skipping some in between, and Next to Normal paved the way for Fun Home. Fun Home, I remember the season of Fun Home was just starting, and I was watching it so closely because I knew if they could tell that story, then there was so much hope that we could tell our story. Oh my God. Why its so hard to get answers on long Covid. DEAR EVAN HANSEN Stripe Collection Polo . SM: Terrible, terrible, but no, were in a tiny theater really, and we very much want people to come and see us. Stacey, why dont you go through the story so people get a sense of what happens. 21 terms. You do feel in this thing. The 13 most cringeworthy moments in 'Dear Evan Hansen' from the lack of chemistry between Evan and Zoe to the odd portrayal of mental health. What happens? Youre also not trying to do lesson learning. It is the need to leave the show, and call. The school said, Well, we dont want to be punitive. I said, No, we want to be punitive. Final Scene and Finale by Dear Evan Hansen OBC - Karaoke Lyrics on Smule. Dear Evan Hansen. 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. But the lies are precisely what happened. I heard this interesting statistic the other week, which feels related somehow, that young people are buying more books. SM: It really is the intimacy of it. Shes a true survivor. Stacey, why dont you start talking about that idea of how you create an analog experience of just one place and mostly New York City or wherever to reach audiences, especially young ones? '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 . Dear Evan Hansen soundtrack from 2016, composed by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul. Over the last several years, people have grown a little tired of that I think, and theres a real hunger for art thats sincere and that is heart-filled. Im in my 50s. SL: Exactly. Explain to me how long a show takes to get through? SL: Exactly. I recommend it. DEAR EVAN HANSEN, the winner of six 2017 Tony Awards including Best Musical and the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. The lies start piling up, especially when Evan has to explain his absence to his single mother Heidi (Julianne Moore). Not all of them hit. 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. We havent really made a big deal about it right now, but our key art shows Evans torso with his arm in the cast. Then also how connection isnt connecting. It just continues. In the beginning of the ad campaign, those faces were actually stock faces that we bought. SM: It is, although I must say, to me, Hamilton is a movement, a phenomenon, something that is SM: It is. SM: What about all the angry people whod tweet? What do you think of what he did, because hes a fictional character but hes not? You can read some of the highlights from the interview at that link, or listen to it in the audio player below. 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? I think people are hungering to feel a part of a community, and to be sitting in an audience with other people. I dont know if theyve discovered it yet. 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. At that time when people are going less and less analog and experience everything online, theres been some real cultural touchdown shows now. I do think youre right about books. 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. 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. Whats happened is theres dozens of shows. I think shes a really funny, dark person. Dear Evan Hansen Monologue. 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 . We call the social media aspect of the show either the backdrop of our show or the ninth character sometimes. The first performance was in July 2015. Ive seen so much stuff that is very earnest about the show in the way that the stuff about Connors arent. They dont ever have to say to the mother, Hi, its Danny. They didnt know that Connor had any friends. Thats the surface story. SM: The song literally says you are not alone.. SM: Again, thats good to hear. Im only mentioning VR because its different than film or television. Whats important now when youre doing that as youre moving to Broadway? "Even when the dark comes crashing through, when you need a friend to carry you and when you are broken on the ground, you will be found." -You Will Be Found, 'Dear Evan Hansen'. SM: Heidi Hansen, yeah, Evan's mom. It could have happened 100 years in the future. But once she gets on the blog, she blossoms. Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing and changing us. Yeah, but also, it is the agony of social media, and now you can see it. Youll have it in your eyes. He begins to type. Texting is even Theres not a thought that doesnt go down. Everybody is super happy. Do see it, and see that beneath the faade, were all searching for the same 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. 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. Released by Atlantic Records in 2017 containing music from Dear Evan Hansen (2016). You feel like youre there. Evan Hansen is the main character in the musical Dear Evan Hansen. Keep going until he sees the sun." 3. will2btenor 6 yr. ago. SM: Its so universal, because I think we all feel that way. I like to insult him, but hes a genius on Twitter. Then once she gets the letters, she uses them like shes almost a journalist, like, I got the memo, or something like that. SL: Exactly, yes, the paradox of a world where we are incredibly interconnected and yet isolation feels at an unprecedented level. 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. Connor is his classmate and lives lavishly with his parents and sister. Theres something about this story. Were sounding old. Letter #6: Evan Hansen. We shouldnt. As part of BTPM (Buffalo Toronto Public Media), their beat is primarily Buffalo theater, but . Do you imagine a future where that doesnt have to be what we do, like tape it and make it? Youll have it. Because how you market the shows has changed, the way you sell tickets has changed. We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and And the father? So, I dont even know why Im bringing it up because its not going to happen because itsbut, like, all you have to do is just be yourself!! Book writer Steven Levenson on the power of moral tension---In some ways, "You Will Be Found" is just a moving song. 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. Your director Michael did Rent. I remember when Rent came out. I think she is an incredible depiction of contemporary motherhood, whether you're a single mom or not, busy, under pressure, trying . It's also come under fire for an irresponsible portrayal of mental health . But yet he goes along with it, he goes along with the lie. 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: We dont have a current plan to do that. That process has taken us a long time. Evan, in an effort to assuage their terrible grief, finds himself inadvertently claiming that he was his friend. I have mixed feelings about filming shows, because you lose something. Do you feel like you should have Evan online? Where else do you actually have to put your phone away? Absolutely. Sign up today to unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists. One of our founding members Tom Stevenson gives his rendition of this modern monologue taken from the hit musical Dear Evan Hansen. 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. We are all looking and seeing how much fun everything else is thats happening. SM: Were struggling and learning. It feels like people want Is theater retro? Where do you see theater going? They mistakenly believe that it is a letter that Connor meant to write to Evan. 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. Everything has done that. I think theater is going forward in the kinds of stories we can tell. It didn't make it into the show, it's the note that Evan was originally gonna write to himself. The only thing I knew about Dear Evan Hansen before this point was that the main character had a broken arm. 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: Yes. Right. Are you private? 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. Steven, youve hit the meme exactly at the right moment, which is Did you think about that before? That may be something else I would pay money for, but for me SL: But its different. 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. All monologues are property and copyright of their owners. 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. Universal. But also be confident. 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 . They have filled our theaters in broad groups. "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. 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. . Treacly and manipulative, "Dear Evan Hansen . SM: Im still new to social media, so I dont think I can do that. I always say about Alana, if you ask her, she has a million friends. Maybe that does feel retro, but its something that people are missing. 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. 4. He is in a total of 11 musical numbers. Why do you think this resonated? SL: Yes. People are going back to handmade in some ways, and people are really hungering for SL: Exactly. 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. SL: Yes, it improves his life, and what becomes impossible for him to stop is how much it improves other peoples lives. 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. SL: No. Right. Can you talk about each of the characters? Take a phone vacation. Its impossible. Today is going to be an amazing day and heres why: because, uh, because today all you have to do is just be yourself. There is no thing. Its the experience.. All of those people are actually real people too that we asked just among our fan group to send us videos of themselves. We can overcome vaccine hesitancy. Riding the wave . He has just done incredible work, and its so exhaustive and so detailed. Is that retro like, Hey, lets put on our cashmere sweaters from the 50s, or not? 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 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. Then he uses it, the social media, to amplify that awfulness. 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. 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. Its like somebody without skin. They might after hearing this. 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 . SL: That was our initial Just thinking about the story, we knew that that was the easy obvious way of doing social media and of telling the story would be to poke fun at our using this technology to post as something that were not, but we felt like that was obvious. 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. 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.. Absolutely. SM: I just think its an incredible conversation starter, and when you start talking about these things, all kinds of good can come from it, not just in terms of being mindful, and maybe youre too disconnected from the world by being on your phones, but also, we have issue of loneliness, and people bring what theyre going through to the show, so mental illness, suicide prevention. Im like, I told you.. That problem, its the plot point. Why dont we start with you, Stacey? Yeah, you can. 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.