Sometimes when you say I love you to your child, it means 10 things. We dont really live in that world anymore. You see it outside the theater, I have stood at a matinee and seen the people leaving get back online to buy more tickets. Thats all there is. 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. SM: Its so universal, because I think we all feel that way. 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." In 2020, the Oscars stage saw a "swirling cyclone" of Swarovski Crystals thanks to Jason Sherwood, production designer for the 92nd Academy Awards. The most iconic track from the musical remained, while some of the new songs are used to flesh out supporting characters. When youre trying to get to what Evan does, it is an awful thing he does. Evan is in high school and suffers from anxiety. I like to insult him, but hes a genius on Twitter. Because she wants to use it for that, she wants to use it for advantage. Why dont we start with you, Stacey? He'll hold on and he'll keep going. SM: We dont have a current plan to do that. 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 think what took so long from launch to the Music Box Theatre was actually eight years but it was crafting of what we call our underlying rights. The Broadway hit-turned-film Dear Evan Hansen ' s ending created some controversy and a flurry of questions. Its great to talk to you. Thats to me, I think, the difficulty they had is they didnt like him. We have parents who come with each other on their theater date night, and they come back and they bring their kids. Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing and changing us. He is in a total of 11 musical numbers. Why do you think this resonated? Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all. Please consider making a one-time contribution to Vox today. SL: Exactly, yes, the paradox of a world where we are incredibly interconnected and yet isolation feels at an unprecedented level. Theyre like, Whats that? Im like, Oh, okay, let me just break it down for you. It was fascinating. Do you imagine a future where that doesnt have to be what we do, like tape it and make it? It was actually really meaningful. He'll just hold on. Its a musical about a high school student with social anxiety disorder and social media problems. Now its all about Trump. . Its just assaultive. An interesting thing is he started with Rent in a lot of ways. Terms in this set (21) Dear Evan Hansen, Today is going to be a amazing day and here's why. 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. Jared pretends to be the guy whos got it all figured out, but all of these characters are lost and alone in different ways. Theres something about this story. SL: Partly because we see the shows so many times, so we get really granular, and its like, Oh, thats not quite right.. 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. 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. Theres a moment where he says those were private, those letters, and she has no idea what he even means by that. Whereas if you adapt a musical into a film, or adapt it into a TV series or a VR, then it becomes that. SM: But in 25 years, they may have all been over and done with that panic. Heres whats actually happening. If you would like to give a public performance of this monologue, please obtain authorization from the appropriate licensor. Dear Evan Hansen. 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). SL: And loneliness, and so we immediately thought in a dramatic sense, Who would be the person who is unable to connect? Your show, which you cant get tickets to or someone in Kansas cant see it, some lonely teenager, its a very different thing that you could instead of reaching How many people fit in your theater every night? When you do that, you can make silly mistakes that give you a laugh, and horrible mistakes that ruin your life. Well, I had to explain the telephone to one of my kids recently, like a payphone because they saw a payphone. 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 . It sounds crazy, but theres all kinds of things that werent happening in that time period. Okay. 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. This sends Evan on a journey of self-discovery and . I was so happy to be in that room telling the story about people rising above the lies and finding unity together. SL: Yes, Rent was very big for all three of us. I dont know how old you are, but it was mind-blowing, and I went a dozen times. They have filled our theaters in broad groups. I was just talking to him about the phenomenon of Hamilton and what its like, and as he pointed out, Hamilton ultimately is just the show thats going to happen at 8pm tonight. By Nils Skudra. "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'. 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. Each of you take one and talk about what they mean and what youre trying to do. Its quite extraordinary. SM: What about all the angry people whod tweet? 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. SL: Its incredible that that has been happening and happened around the show. 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. Steven, youve hit the meme exactly at the right moment, which is Did you think about that before? I used to tell my kids to take it off the dinner table, but sometimes I have to have it at the dinner table. But would you have plans to do that, to have a digital version of it after? Dear Evan Hansen explores the meaning of family, particularly found family, as the teenage characters find new sources of familial support and acceptance. Whats happened is theres dozens of shows. 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. Phone numbers were never meant to protect or identify us, but we use them to do that all the time. Just weaponize. I was like, Aww.. We call the social media aspect of the show either the backdrop of our show or the ninth character sometimes. You know what I mean? I think that we do like to say that the story could have happened in ancient Greece. They mistakenly believe that it is a letter that Connor meant to write to Evan. You can find more episodes of Recode Decode anywhere you listen to a podcast. But also confident; that's super important. We were just talking about that idea. Yeah, I often called it, Twitter, a hellscape. Well, something, and thats your weapon. I think people are hungering to feel a part of a community, and to be sitting in an audience with other people. Everyone seemed to have a SL: Yes, exactly, everybody wanted to star in the tragedy of the day. My very last question which I ask everybody, and maybe here well do it a little differently. What happened in your play is the online frenzy created an offline community of the families and everything else. He goes back to school. It gets the people on an analog. We have an ad campaign. 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. He finds a family with them. It was really just meant to surrealistically portray the way we are all brushed. Sometimes, people will say, Is it a show about death? I always say, Its absolutely not. Do you not put stuff online? Absolutely. SM: Heidi Hansen, yeah, Evan's mom. Thats right, and when she gets it, boy, its interesting. 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. 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 got to be something else. Oh very much, so no matter what you do People bringing, its like an old Seinfeld episode, remember? We have friends calling friends. Its the experience, sitting there in that theater in that one place with that one performance. Then it was so relevant to today at the same time. I brought my son, whos 15. Right, and not even then because you start looking up things. Again, it just gives credit to Stevens real knack for credible, authentic characters, because I think that is so true of so many men. YouTube seems to be. You dont know theyre happy. Then a week later, two of them divorced. Then the next few days, it changed. The "Dear Evan Hansen" Trailer Just Dropped, Featuring A Very 27-Year-Old Ben Platt. CW: This article references suicide.Please refer to the end of the article for on- and off-campus resources. Evan was the beginning of our story. Youll have it. 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 dont think it was the tech. Cynthia Murphy, who is the other mom, Connor Murphys mom, is equally as relatable, and I think it takes us part of her journey to really come to understand her and her fortitude, because she goes through the grief, the absolute horror, the last thing that any mother or father ever, ever, ever wants to go through, and yet shes so admirable because she keeps finding ways to lift herself up and to keep life going. It was a smart way to talk about hard things. SL: Exactly. How did this become a phenomenon? Dear Evan Hansen is a novel published in 2018. Its not scalable. They were holding back the stuff. SL: There is something about Hamilton being a prime example of, there is something so old-fashioned about it, and yet something that is drawing people to it that I think has to do with seeing actors right there in front of you, seeing them sweat, seeing them spit, feeling like you were having this visceral experience in this room, and theres something quite special and intimate about that. This show is really depicting the way we live in America now, the way we are at our breakfast tables with our families. Explain to me how long a show takes to get through? Youll have it in your eyes. SL: It does feel like there is something, especially with younger people wanting something unique and something you can touch. Hes the most awkward 17-year-old ever, Im going to have to tell you. That problem, its the plot point. SM: I think the power of live theater is very potent, especially with a tale like this. 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.. Evan actually tells the truth for a long time, but the family doesnt want to believe it. 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. 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. Technology is the oxygen of the world now. I hope youre okay. This has been really fascinating. Directed by Stephen Chbosky, this powerful film . '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 . Evan and Connor both feel like their families don't listen to them. SM: If you dont, somebody might throw it at you, but you have to. Some have argued, for example, that the film's message is toxic. 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.