Absolutely. That was me in high school. Maybe they didnt tell the lie. Sometimes, people will say, Is it a show about death? I always say, Its absolutely not. Snowballs, and then social media is the key snowball, or as it amplifies and creates the situation that improves his life, and also makes the horrible situation worse. Its super hard for them to do anything good online. Above photo: VOX teen reviewer Sydney with her mom Lisa at the April 28, 2019 performance of "Dear Evan Hansen" at Atlanta's Fox Theatre. But I think whats interesting is the fresh trends of whats happening now, because eight years ago, Facebook was not as big as it is [now]. He has just done incredible work, and its so exhaustive and so detailed. My lesson here that will change my life forever was that this kind of word of mouth, you cannot manufacture. 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. Its just assaultive. You did a super effective job at depicting how something takes off virally, and you used the set design where the information is just cascading and flooding down the picture of how it feels like your phone is. 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 musical premiered in July 2015 in Washington, DC, debuted on Broadway in 2016, and later won six Tony Awards in . That is something as Stacey said that is organic and then we cant control. 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. 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. 3. It must be seen to be believed." ADAM FELDMAN, TIME OUT NEW YORK. 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. Do you want to take a little plug, Steven? A little perseverance and a little uphill climb." I believe this quote can relate to many things. 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 . Whereas if you adapt a musical into a film, or adapt it into a TV series or a VR, then it becomes that. The school said, Well, we dont want to be punitive. I said, No, we want to be punitive. He has social anxiety, which shapes his personality throughout the musical. Your director Michael did Rent. I remember when Rent came out. Just, uh, you knowbe true to yourself. Yes, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ben Platt finally teamed up for the inevitable back-to-back Best Musical mash-up of Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen. Ben Platt, playing an anxious teenager . 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. I have been for so many years, and people come up to me and say, Im Evan. But also be confident. Then, in the darkness, a laptop snaps open. Evan was the beginning of our story. Texting is even Theres not a thought that doesnt go down. SNAP boosts kept millions out of poverty during Covid. ap micro unit 3 id's. 45 terms. 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. Okay. 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: Yes, and theyve gotten to that point that a lot of parents get to with their troubled child, where your affection for them has begun to even go away or you dont know what to do. 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. So no hiding. I cant wait to see Hello Dolly. I cannot wait to just delve into that beautiful history of a musical, but the new theater that is exciting to me is being created by young people who have something very interesting to say about the way theyre seeing the world. It sounds crazy, but theres all kinds of things that werent happening in that time period. Youll have it. 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." No, I get it, but you have to feel the panic of social media. That is cool. 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. How did this become a phenomenon? Available on Cinemax, Prime Video, iTunes, HBO Max, Hulu. Ive seen so much stuff that is very earnest about the show in the way that the stuff about Connors arent. Do you know what I mean, like thats what we got. SM: That was never meant to be literal, because we hope the show will live for many years, and these things may become dinosaurs. This has been a bad year. We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and What happens? She just goes about it perhaps the wrong way. DEAR EVAN HANSEN Stripe Collection Polo . Stacey and Steven, welcome to Recode Decode. Like its central character, Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel is a bit of a lovable misfit: a rare instance of a hit Broadway musical being adapted for the page. Just weaponize. Why do people, especially our age, feel the need to broadcast their sadness and their mourning? Now its all about Trump. The authors adapted the novel from the original Broadway musical of the same name, which they also wrote. 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. When you do that, you can make silly mistakes that give you a laugh, and horrible mistakes that ruin your life. 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. When you were like that before, you didnt see it, and now you see the entire thing and what everybody else is doing. It was a smart way to talk about hard things. 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. You see how this kind of thing can actually happen. I know Hamilton didnt put things online, like a ton of stuff. Hashtag youre not alone. I wouldnt want to lose that. That meant that we would have to find some way to communicate the ubiquity of technology as it is in our lives into this story. Thank you so much for making it. 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. Then also how connection isnt connecting. To get to the point, do you feel like when I say retro, Im talking about the ideas? Well, you do the I-wish-you-were-dead-but-not-really thing. Hamilton absolutely is similar, and I also think that there is something in a world where everything is digital. Be yourself! I hope youre okay. We actually do. Explain to me how long a show takes to get through? After one of these missives is stolen by a classmate who subsequently takes his own life, the deceased's parents believe it to be a genuine . The musical opened on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre in December 2016, after the show's world premiere at the Arena Stage in . You have to up the game. Dear Evan Hansen poster. But the lies are precisely what happened. Dear Evan Hansen. I can only tell you the funny story that we all just do things too quickly, and we make silly mistakes all the time. You just ended up arguing about it, and then you went home. We can overcome vaccine hesitancy. Then also, the hashtag, my favorite expression is hashtagavism, that we get these hashtags. Hes the most awkward 17-year-old ever, Im going to have to tell you. People always say to me, Just take an hour. 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. 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 know how old you are, but it was mind-blowing, and I went a dozen times. Section 230, the internet law the Supreme Court could change, explained. Exploring grief, mental health struggles and the dangers of social media, the musical was embraced by young people for its honest . Yes, she is. Shes a true survivor. Keep going until he sees the sun." 3. will2btenor 6 yr. ago. Perhaps the story of Evan Hansen could fit into that format, but I feel like what we have, the musical Dear Evan Hansen, is just that. 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. The next thing I want you to talk about is where theater is going. 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. Book sales are going up, and Kindle and eBooks are really being bought by middle-aged people. Because how you market the shows has changed, the way you sell tickets has changed. Dear Evan Hansen. It means, Do your homework, brush your teeth. Then the next few days, it changed. SL: Thats the thing. Are you private? . The more interesting thing was to explore, even when its fake, which it is by definition, can it reach something real in us? It is a conversation starter. But they want to continue the relationship. Shes always trying to help people. Its also a very traditional show, if you think about it. 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 . At the behest of his therapist, Evan, an anxiety-ridden 17-year-old high schooler, writes a pop-psychology pep talk in the form of a . Why dont we start with you, Stacey? They want to continue the story, and they want to embellish the story. Suddenly, sharply, nothing. Connor is his classmate and lives lavishly with his parents and sister. Silence. SL: But I will say thats the substitute of our musical. He plays off of Evan. 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. Now theyre gone. Evan attempts to find the acceptance and love he has been lacking in his life. A fresh, intricately plotted book by Steven . SM: No, as a matter of fact, we spend a lot of our time trying to get bootleg tapes of it off of YouTube. 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. I think she is an incredible depiction of contemporary motherhood, whether you're a single mom or not, busy, under pressure, trying . YouTube is the beginning. Dear Evan Hansen takes on challenging subjectsdeath, grief, class, mental illness, social media, social anxietywith unapologetic trust in the power of contemporary pop music to tell complex stories onstage. Were going to talk about, the musical, that and more, but first lets about a little bit of your background, each of you. 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. 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. "Even if you've always been that barely-in-the-background kind of guy, you still matter." - Val Emmich, 'Dear Evan Hansen'. But would you have plans to do that, to have a digital version of it after? Not all of them hit. I was a journalist first. We are all looking and seeing how much fun everything else is thats happening. Im going to keep pushing this because you got to see something in the new VR. I like to insult him, but hes a genius on Twitter. 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. They have a son, Connor, who has been trouble for a very long time. Whats it like to create theater in this age, in this age of digital? You are instructed to turn your phone off, and so it is an hour or two hours where you get into a story in a way that you cant anymore when youre watching television or even in a movie theater, because you can be rude like that in the movie theater. You can read some of the highlights from the interview at that link, or listen to it in the audio player below. SL: Yes. You go to 10,000 rather at once, and its people sitting in the theater, and then 10,000 others. Do you not put stuff online? Dear Evan Hansen: The Movie By Stephen Levenson, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul Adapted for film by Jack Gorzynski *note: a / means that the line was cut off by the next line. Likewise, the character whose death triggers the events of the musical, Connor Murphy, can be viewed both as a redeemable character or a villain. Again, it just gives credit to Stevens real knack for credible, authentic characters, because I think that is so true of so many men. People have said to me, theyre sure he has Aspergers or something else. My very last question which I ask everybody, and maybe here well do it a little differently. He'll hold on and he'll keep going. Its certainly done that for me. And interesting. Ive met Alana a hundred times. 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. The gauzy white glow of the screen illuminates the face of Evan Hansen, sitting at a desk with a hard cast on. DEAR EVAN HANSEN Stripe Collection Navy Pocket Tee Regular price $30.00 USD Regular price $40.00 USD Sale price $30.00 USD Unit price / per . It was written by Val Emmich, Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul. SL: Sorry, I dont think its retro. Dear Evan Hansen Monologue. You dont actively participate in the world, but thats how you comment. SL: Exactly, yes, the paradox of a world where we are incredibly interconnected and yet isolation feels at an unprecedented level. I see that with even the show This is Us on NBC. The unfortunate thing about my kids is both their parents are highly technically literate, and so they cant fool us or anything. I talk to a lot of entrepreneurs, and I always say, Whats the mistake you made that you could have corrected or that you learned from? I dont mean a learning moment, but its something youd advise people to pay attention to. Thats the part of the story thats interesting to us. Offended by the "girly" clothes worn by his daughter's elementary school art teacher, one parent has taken aim at . Thats what was strong about this, was it? Were all paying for that. 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: Exactly. 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? Chloe? SM: The father is an interesting nut to crack, because he at first doesnt emote about his pain. New York, NY, Linda Ray SM: Waving Through a Window is the telephone song from Bye Bye Birdie, without a doubt. 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. SL: Never send an email when youre angry has been the best lesson. 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. 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. He is in a total of 11 musical numbers. It was mind-blowing to see Rent at that time. 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. 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. 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. Theres something about this story. I had someone who is a millennial who was saying, Oh look, Im not as happy as my friends. Im like, Theyre not happy. Then it was so relevant to today at the same time. I want to finish up on what do you hope where to go, where it happens, because you definitely, youre very current. 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. Despite its Broadway credentials, "Dear Evan Hansen" hits screens faced with an inherent tension: Can its songs and cast, led by Ben Platt reprising his Tony-winning role, overcome the . Is that retro like, Hey, lets put on our cashmere sweaters from the 50s, or not? If Dear Evan Hansen addresses these problems and anxieties, it also explores, presciently, how easily experience can be faked online and how persuasive those fakes can be. I dont think it was the tech. TikTok isnt really limiting kids time on its app. As Steven said earlier, they write to us in droves. It's also come under fire for an irresponsible portrayal of mental health . Jared is often the voice of the audience, pointing out what were thinking, so he serves a really interesting and useful purpose. Its like somebody without skin. Right. SM: Theyre an important part of the fabric of the whole thing. By Nils Skudra. 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. Heres whats actually happening. 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. 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. Were on Apple Podcast, Google Play Music, TuneIn, Stitcher, SoundCloud and more, or just visit recode.net/podcasts for more. Social media used to be free. Is it this one square mile abroad or whatever? Broadway - July 30, 2017. When I first heard the song Anybody Have a Map? which was our third or fourth opening number to the show. Why its so hard to get answers on long Covid. 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. You can find more episodes of Recode Decode anywhere you listen to a podcast. Im in my 50s. Yeah, I often called it, Twitter, a hellscape. Theres not a night where I dont shed a tear sometimes at a song, Im surprised, that never made me cry before. SL: Totally, and she also represents someone who doesnt believe in privacy. Because today, all you have to do is be yourself. They might after hearing this. Jared is also our truth teller. Rent was one of those choices, and Angels in America I would say, probably, are two shows that the conversation had to continue after. Where else do you have to shut it off? 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. SM: It is, although I must say, to me, Hamilton is a movement, a phenomenon, something that is SM: It is. I will email my husband, Chinese for dinner? His name is Eric, but a different Eric will email me back, and say, Sure, Chinese works for me. We just do things in a haze. "It takes a little patience, takes a little time. SM: Its so universal, because I think we all feel that way. 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. SM: If you dont, somebody might throw it at you, but you have to. There is haptic touch. Evan, in an effort to assuage their terrible grief, finds himself inadvertently claiming that he was his friend. 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. Tickets are $69.50-$229.50. Can I please speak to ?. Its really interactive. Ben Platt in "Dear Evan Hansen." "Dear Evan Hansen" has been criticized because Ben Platt is a 27-year-old playing a student. 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. The only thing I knew about Dear Evan Hansen before this point was that the main character had a broken arm. SL: Its really a credit to our director, Michael Grief, and our designers Dave Korins, and Peter Nigrini was our video designer. Sep 23, 2019 - Explore Abby Gallegos's board "Monologues" on Pinterest. SL: It does feel like there is something, especially with younger people wanting something unique and something you can touch. SM: Terrible, terrible, but no, were in a tiny theater really, and we very much want people to come and see us. SM: She is also lonely. Doesnt this acquaint? Zoe is a survivor, really. Im only mentioning VR because its different than film or television. 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 . I hope that the show makes people more present hopefully with the people that they are in the room with. 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. 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. Do see it, and see that beneath the faade, were all searching for the same things. I think thats how the world feels to someone like Evan. 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.. Stacey and Steven, thanks for coming by. Its never a bad idea to wait. A battle over freedom of expression at a Concord, N.H., elementary school. I was looking at the social media on the show. 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. Will you support Voxs explanatory journalism? It becomes a way of bringing people together, of making everyone feel less alone, and yet its all premised on this lie. Heres a clip from the show. We didnt have Uber. A particularly exciting addition to the Dear Evan Hansen cast announced per Variety is Amy Adams. Dear Evan Hansen soundtrack from 2016, composed by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul. 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. He goes back to school. I think each one really leads the theater world to be a beauty, to do more and to be more honest. Put your phone away. Dear Evan Hansen is a novel published in 2018. Evan Hansen is the main character in the musical Dear Evan Hansen. It is. 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. 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. Its great to talk to you. Good to know. SL: From the beginning, we decided we wanted this to be a contemporary musical. You can also contribute via, Full transcript: Broadways Dear Evan Hansen Producer Stacey Mindich and book writer Steven Levenson on Recode Decode, This story is part of a group of stories called, 9 questions about the threats to ban TikTok, answered. Letter #6: Evan Hansen. Were sounding old. It's easy to see why they cut it down for length and time and also to make it vague enough that Connor could've written it just as easily as Evan. Please consider making a one-time contribution to Vox today. Sometimes when you say I love you to your child, it means 10 things. 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. SL: Its incredible that that has been happening and happened around the show. 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. They mistakenly believe that it is a letter that Connor meant to write to Evan. Thats all I mean. I hope it goes on forever. Watching the big lie of Dear Evan Hansen spiral out of control is a tense . At its core, Dear Evan Hansen is about the increasing temptations, and heartbreaking costs, of self-deception. Scene 1: We start on a black screen. 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. 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. Where else do you actually have to put your phone away? This has been really fascinating.