BroadwayCon: DEAR EVAN HANSEN Panel (BroadwayCon 2017) - Full Panel

[Music] we are about to fasten our seatbelts for some true amazingness because I am bringing up here the cast and creative team of dear Evan Hansen I know you are all as psyched as I am I have been counting down the minutes so let's bring them up to the stage I'm gonna get where I can see their beautiful faces let's please welcome Rachel Bay Jones [Music] and our other beautiful mother in our show Jennifer Laura Thompson woo-woo-woo we also have Michael Feist gay Michael Krystal and Lloyd will Roland and please welcome Michael Park [Applause] welcome welcome please continue your fabulous applause for Laura Dreyfus and the man we are all completely obsessed with please join me in hashtagging Ben Platt is a unicorn mr. Ben Platt then we are so lucky to have members are our creative team the man at the helm Michael greif [Applause] we also have book writer extraordinaire Steven Levinson and please welcome to the stage two people that I am so proud I am so proud and happy for and so honored that I could even begin to call them friends the amazing the magical Golden Globe winners and Oscar nominees well thank you so much for coming and have a great day that was like so much amazingness we might as well just call it right there oh thank you so much for being here so early on a Sunday and on the day of your eighth show this week so thank you so much for spending your time with us at Broadway con alright where in the world to begin there are so many questions but I think that if if I just from being here from hearing from listeners of Sirius XM all over the country and from just what's going on with people here in New York who have seen your beautiful show I think one of the most frequently spoken questions that I've heard is how in the world does Ben Platt do that kind of an emotional performance eight times a week [Applause] so I'm just starting just starting right in on your bed sorry Julie you know I mean that's an excellent question I think that there's a combination of things first of all we have the most incredible cast on Broadway in my opinion and all all seven of the people to my right are incredibly dropped in every single night and very consistent and I think we all believe very much in this piece and in this story and we want to give ourselves to it and so to be surrounded by people that are so dropped in and so sort of honestly giving of themselves makes it very easy to get to the same place every night and then of course in a more practical sense because this is Broadway con there's a few sort of physical things obviously to just maintain as far as physical therapy and voice lessons and things to put into place so that the focus doesn't need to be on sort of technically making the sounds eight times a week and can be really on just telling the story and sort of emotionally arriving eight times a week but it's you know one day at a time as it were we have two shows today so it's cudoce today - no shame well then extra extra thanks for being here of course so yeah I hear I hear the smattering I hear this mattering do you feel spent at the end like does that really take a lot out of you to deliver on that level of emotion yeah certainly I mean I think that I don't to give anything away about the show but it certainly ends in a redemptive place and so there's a lot of hope hopefully that the audience leaves with and so I think we all really appreciate that we don't leave sort of all the way down on the dumps and we kind of leave with this sort of positive message and I think that's really helpful in in in being the people that are telling the story eight times a week that at least we can always sort of end on a higher note but of course there are days where it's a little tougher to shake off or physically it's just a bit sort of pound down but like on a to show day but but the audience's reception and the warmth that we receive and how affecting the show seems to be to people always kind of lifts us right back up all right mr. Pathak and mr. Paul [Music] you know the journey of this show is one that I know is very close to your heart it comes from even a certain amount of experience in your own life Benj people have probably heard about that but just give people a little idea of your germ of the idea for the story and how that blossomed into your idea for to turn it into a full-fledged musical hey bro Akon what's up uh Justin and I met in college but when I was in high school there was a student oh go blue Yelich okay go blue okay I loved it when I was in high school there was a student at my school who passed away and I wasn't really close to this kid but I remember once this school community found out that he had died a lot of people who had never known him began to mourn in a really public way and I remember that I wanted to be a part of a tragedy that I wasn't a part of and wanted to be connected to this kid after his death in a way that I didn't really earn a place to do so and when I got to college and Justin and I started to write songs together and eventually songs became musicals we thought about what ideas we would want to explore and you can talk about yet so this story was obviously really interesting and I think at the same time we grew up we were 9/11 happened when we were in high school and I think we also talked a lot about our generation and maybe other generations to having this need to whenever something bad would happen or there was a tragedy um now it's sort of as like a celebrity death or something big like that there is sort of this natural sense that we all want to be part of it whether now it's on social media at that time people were writing their college essay application essays about you know how 9/11 changed my life and or and you know whether that was completely true or not there was this odd but sincere and deep need for people to try to connect over these moments and feel like they were part of a community and so we we thought during college we wanted to write a show that sort of touched on some of those themes and I think we we thought about it in a more sort of negative light and as we started writing the show we realized that wasn't going to be a musical but we needed to explore a character who had that genuine need and was really feeling lost and and isolated and lonely and that all developed also as we started writing with the incredible Steven Levinson who wrote the book for the show and when we we talked to Steven about all these ideas we said we want to write we have a bunch of crazy themes basically and then Steven was like that all sounds great that's a lot let me process that and also let's let's think about the story and the character that all of this can sort of hinge on and can all these ideas can wrap around and that's when we started working with Steven on the show and Steven did a brilliant job he's going to talk about how brilliant that was Steven did do a brilliant job I would love to hear your thoughts on bringing you know page to stage as we say well you know when I think when we started talking about this idea we knew that we wanted to write something about connection and it seemed most interesting to explore that from the perspective of a character who was incapable of connecting and so that was sort of our way in story-wise was to try to think of who would be the least likely person to be able to connect in a world that is so interconnected and so I think that the germ of the idea really did begin with this character of Evan and then you know his journey kind of shaped the rest of the rest of the story for us I would love to open this up to the parents in our show one of the things that I think is so super impactful about dear Evan Hanson is that so many different people can relate to it where they are if you're a kid you can relate to it you're struggling teenager you can relate to it if you're someone my age you can relate to it because you think back of on your own experiences of maybe feeling like an outsider and a lot of parents I know who are bringing their kids can relate to this story or maybe they're even just on their own pair until date night so for any of our parents in the show what's your experience of being on stage with this very emotional and impactful story yeah this sorry am i on yeah hi guys yeah I think what Stephen was talking about when he was discussing connection I think that's been the most incredible thing about this experience for me both while I'm on stage feeling the the the connection with the audience as the as the mother going through what the mother goes through and the mother and son relationship the parent-child relationship feeling that so many of the audience members are with us completely at that moment and and then seeing after the show how many kids are bringing their parents you know and I say kids loosely I mean like I'm a kid I would bring my mom to see this you know but people are coming back with their with their parents people want to call their mom after the show you know and moms are bringing their their kids and that's been a really beautiful thing yeah hi I'm Jennifer Lloyd time soon nice just asking for it just says but what I love about this this script and the score and the lyrics it's it's a thrill for me as a parent to convey what my truth is and what I pull out of the story is that mothers and I'm not speaking not against fathers but as mother as a mother we never ever give up and and we're always wholeheartedly supporting our children and and most parents focus on their failures which is the worst worst idea of what parenting can be what you should celebrate your your triumphs but we spend a lot of our time focusing on our failures and this show has actually given me hope to to forgive myself as a parent and allows other parents who relate to that sort of situation that they can forgive themselves and it opens up a conversation with the children that I think is so important it's made me a better parent and I'm really lucky to be able to tell story every night with this incredible group yeah I kind of agree with everything that Jen just said and Rachel too I say this countless times that but to a certain extent no I have 36 minutes to talk about this I'm going to take all the time III say this account was made me a better parent the failures and the achievements that that he experiences informed me as a parent and opened many avenues to to communicate with my kids and Jen's right never stop trying to communicate with your kids because adolescence sucks it really does it's awful and you so you're getting so much information bad information from your peer group talk to your parents reach out to your parents reach out to your uncles your aunts and grandparents find someone who's been there before to help you and then that's in it and this this show has kind of opened my eyes to never stop with my children and thank you for that beautifully said Laura you have a equally complex role in the show to play because you're sort of sandwiched between all of these all of these people that are feeling all of these things you got this one on one side you got your brother on the other side you've got your parents in addition and your school stuff and everything that's going on that must be a lot as an actor to dig into along with the beautiful music that you get to sing would you you know give us some insight into how you're dealing with your relationships in the show yeah I think what's what's really awesome is that my character is a victim of circumstance but she doesn't ever allow herself to be a victim and she kind of fights against it throughout the entire show and she's like everyone in the show so incredibly imperfect which makes it very exciting and fun and full of depth and you know she's a to be a strong woman and a weak woman at the same time which is really kind of special I don't I love it I think that I've had so many people come up to me who have said things that they have had a complicated relationship with their brother or sister and it was never resolved and they feel like through watching this journey they have been able to kind of what Jen said forgive themselves and and kind of you know see see something positive come out of it and know that not everything is perfect life isn't perfect and and I think the best thing about theater is that it teaches empathy and I think that we we kind of have that gift every night so for me it's very rewarding to feel like I'm telling this story of this girl who who has just you know really horrible things happen to her but she doesn't allow it to define her and her happiness yeah that's beautiful that's really beautiful because you do have a sense of uplift from her at the end of the show she never leave she you never lose your smile and you still have a grace about you even though you've been through all of these things in the show that even by the end it seems to well I want to applaud all of you because the show has an audaciousness I think in a way that it doesn't need to have a happy ending and yet you leave with an uplift right like that is so impactful I feel so let's hear from our our other cast members will crystalline Mike I would love to hear your thoughts as well because what we seem to be kind of theming in on here is the complexity of these of these people and I feel like if any of you are like me you feel like you know these people because we've known people like them in our lives and you're bringing such a realness to them where we can really relate to people in our own lives that we've known that have been like the besties or the guy who gave us a rough time or the dare we say overachieving friend so what are what are your thoughts on bring your roles to life with with all of this wonderful depth I love these kinds of questions no I really do so one of my favorite things about the way that the show is constructed is that you have these these eight people on the stage and and each of these characters shares very similar flaws I think that all of them are trying to communicate and trying to reach out to people in their lives and they're all sort of really bad at it and and it manifests in different ways and and you know I think there's some you know especially in the in the way that it's directed and choreographed by Tanny there's a lot of visual parallels and drawn between Connor and Evan as boys who are in dealing with similar issues but sort of acting out in very different ways and you know one is sort of Conor sort of pushing and and you know lashing out and Evan is sort of retreating and hiding and I think that you know the parents are also struggling to communicate and I think that Jared Nolan are are are also just like seeking connection and and seeking a way to reach out to someone else and and and failing miserably at it and and that is is what I think sets us up to have eight believable people in this incredible situation great great well said Mike do you enjoy playing a bad guy and I mean that you know I know it is a thing because you know there is this you know yeah you know you look at Connor immediately on stage and he's all black and he's got long hair and you put him in a box and that's what we do and it's it's unfortunate you know at times and I think that's literally like his like that's the world in which he lives in is that people put him in a box and so therefore he puts other people in the box and that's his way of surviving and that's why he keeps everyone at bay and the minute he allows anyone to see who he is then he loses and that's why there's that scene with Evan where there is an attempt on both ends to reach out and communicate with one another and they just can't because of who they are they just simply cannot and so um there is that you know misconception of Connor and I don't mind it because then I get to do things like this and educate people they you know wouldn't say he's a bad guy no absolutely I'd say he's lost yeah yeah and I sort of baited you for that as well because well because I think that you know he like the other characters in the show is is not actually bad I think he's just lost as you said and misunderstood ly misunderstood and one of the things that I've learned from some wonderful actors is that you know if we think about it in life not everyone is all bad or all good you know they are a complete complex combination of all of those things and it's just what they're grappling with to come across and I think that again so many people can relate to that character because maybe they know that character but maybe they are that character so yeah it's a job well done and I know it's not an easy one okay no but I think that's the great thing about the writing is that you know all of these characters are that way and I think in each of these people's flaws we all have those same flaws that's beautiful especially with times being the way that they are I've been finding a lot inside of this play and inside of this experience in the way that all of these characters are so flawed and so easily misunderstood it's been an interesting analysis I think for us to to reach that out into the world right now as we're trying to understand each other absolutely absolutely glad you brought that up I well I need to get to Michael greif the amazing Michael greif [Applause] who brought this vision to the stage it is I would love to hear your your thoughts and feelings on interpreting the story that Stephen and Benj and Justin delivered to you and these incredible actors and your process in in in what it meant to stage this piece with such high emotion going on Thanks hi everyone well first I want to say what a great pleasure it is to actually meet great material you know about five years ago I actually met Benj and Justin and Stephen for the first time our wonderful producer Stacy mintage invited me to become a potential part of this process and and they shared beginnings of what would be the first act of dear Evan Hansen with me and already it was so clear and so easy to see physically what the world could be what the relationship would be between the the present characters in the play and the virtual community that's also a very big part of the play and it was incredibly easy to see what each you know fantastic actor could bring to these beautifully complicated written roles soon after our meeting we got to spend a couple of weeks together in Los Angeles which was fantastic really really really hammering through I'd never been with I've never been through with a group of writers such an extraordinary extensive period of actually talking about what each scene could be and what each song could be for each scene what each song in each scene might be about so it was a really rigorous and extensive process that I got to go through with these guys so that by the time we were actually ready to share the piece I think we all had a really good idea of who might be best to inhabit these roles and and for our very first reading of this play then suggest that Ben Platt be a part of this my Park was a part of this Jennifer Laura Thompson and Rachel Bay Jones were a part of it so about four years ago and they were all smart enough to figure out that this is great material that I really need to be I need to remain a part of so you know I know they turned down a whole lot of work to continue being with this and and because they were with us it gave the these fantastic writers the opportunity to really continue developing with these guys in mind with these you know as these characters came into focus it's always a huge pleasure and joy for me once I have a sense of what the text and the story is to be able to share that with designers once again Stacy helped me and the writers invite an extraordinary design team Pete in a greeny with projections Dave corns with sets Emilie Rebholz with costumes Jaffe Weidman with lights Nevin Steinberg with sound we got the incredible Alec slacker more and Danny mefferd to be a part of our lives you know so and and everyone who joined up recognized that we had the unbelievable good fortune of telling a really great a really important but a really absorbing and complicated story and every step of the way we had a fantastic developmental process in which we first did a workshop in New York City and I think will is referring to the first time we actually staged the play and we actually all got the wonderful notions of what it felt like for both the oven and the Connor character to sort of be shadows of one another it's you know that when when we first got on our feet we got to see the power of that we did a workshop we did a production in DC we did a production at second stage in New York and then here we are at the music box in each time I want you to know that these writers that Justin and banj and Stephen each time they learn such an incredible amount from from from what each production what each audience had given us and just refined refined refined so we all had the extraordinary pleasure of coming back to the material with a real knowledge of what the story was who the characters were but always with these spectacular subtle small refinements that ultimately made a huge difference to how we could tell the story so it was a great great process and and I think we all owe so much to the constant rigorous work of this writing team it's amazing as we sit here to think about the gestation period which you've mentioned has been several years and yet it feels so of the moment doesn't it this show is so right now was there were there things that you know in a four or five year period that you tweaked or adjusted certainly the social media aspect of the staging is you know where we are right now and but you know did that change a lot or maybe just a little in that period of time our world has changed a lot in that period of time yeah a little yeah I mean that's the kind of refinements I mean I mean just you know a spectacular understanding of what was completely current and what already had you know began to recede you know there was a real understanding of that so it always felt we were working on something current and the other thing is they were also really brilliant to always find a poetic a transformative a literary a dramatic and and not a completely hyper realistic approach to what the social media was doing was always about the interaction between these characters and that world and that's timeless we never wanted to be beholden I know we were always concerned that we never wanted to be beholden to the the transformations of technology that happened so quickly we wanted to tell a story that that involved social media absolutely but we never wanted to be too specific in terms of you know apps and that kind of widgets widgets etc because ultimately what you realize when when you when you're as old as we are and have been with these this is like they kind of are all the same like there is a sameness to them that that is sort of disguised by the flashy marketing but but then ultimately it's about these different means of trying to communicate I think like everybody's saying they're all just they're all essentially the same kind of desperate cry for you know attention raise your hand if you were totally geeking out that you were gonna get to work with Michael greif from like the rent days and next normal what about you Mike I couldn't I couldn't see [Laughter] Benj and Justin I had the great privilege of welcoming welcoming you back to Broadway names with Julie James on Sirius XM and one of the stories that really yeah that was I mean it's been it's I can't believe I've had we've had several visits and it's always been amazing one of the stories that I remember really stood out to me was we were all gushing over Ben Platt let's just be honest and because I have the thrill of playing a Christmas story and dogfight on the radio we were talking about dogfight and you shared that that was actually your first exposure to mr. Ben Platt so would you be willing to reshare a little bit about that experience and how that may have led to where we are right this very minute yeah and then I'll let Ben say it from his perspective yeah well we we were having we were holding auditions for dogfight in 2012 I think and we had a bunch of actors come in and this fantastic young 17 year old actor came in to audition for the role of Bernstein and most of the actors that we had cast were older but they were playing younger so like this fantastic actor who came in who actually was 17 but everybody that we had sort of cast was was older playing younger and he came in and he delivered this amazing amazing interpretation of the material and sang so beautifully I think it was how glory goes yes that is correct yes I remember being really blown away by this guy and you know I think it's you probably as if there are actors here which I imagine there are many you probably hear often that you know you come in for an audition and and you gotta you gotta give it that that that wonderful reading and really deliver the the the song and if they don't choose you you know maybe the creative team will remember and you probably think that that's complete BS right like many people are like that's not real but when Ben came in we were so blown away by his talent and he was someone that we were like we have to figure out a way to work with this guy in the future and we sort of stored in our memory banks I remember reaching out to him on Facebook or something at the time and being like you know I don't know if this will work out right now but you're someone that we really really love and that we want to find a way to work with in the future and so when Evan Hanson came around he was the person immediately in our minds who we wanted to begin to work with on this material like affirm or deny that is that is precisely how things went out that's just about it you know I you know I I have loved past camp all for a very long time I sang their song like breathing from edges for my senior solo night with my three best friends in high school and I used to watch all the edges videos every day all day and I wanted someone I went in for dogfight it was obviously I was incredibly nervous and I wanted very much to make an impression on them and so to receive that message on social media afterwards from Benj saying sort of what how much they appreciated my audition and things like that was was a beautiful thing to receive but you think as an actor like okay sure like that's very kind but nothing will ever come of it and so to actually hear like a year or so down the line that there was a reading I could come and do was I mean one of the most exciting moments of my life and I had actually also been in for Michael for the next a normal tour when I was 16 or 17 as well so it's luckily so it just was a real lesson in sort of misconnections and sort of there's no bad time to make an impression and no matter what the situation is whether things are going to work out or not so there's if you can get in the room get in the room because you never know what's gonna come of it I'm so glad you said that yes applause applause I thought man was really good too this is my favorite part of the story because for so many of you aspiring actors and artists just because you didn't get that particular job doesn't mean anything about your future and so in a world where you really have to deal I'm sure all of these actors could agree I deal with a lot of rejection and a lot of nose and a lot of missed opportunities but it doesn't mean to not keep going because the show of a lifetime might be right around the corner then I would I know a lot of people also are obsessed like I am with your characterization how nuanced it is how deep it is and how clear it is yeah give it up very kind it seems to me that you have mined every single moment for its maximum layered potential and you never stop moving you've got the mannerisms the what you bring to the characterization from you know futzing with your shoestrings or you know or some of the mannerisms and the gesturing and even the inflection of your voice on some of your lines can you speak to developing your character of Evan to that degree because I think so many of us remark upon how nuanced it is well that's very kind i you know the the first thing I'll say is that being able to develop it with all these people for almost three years um was a huge part of that I've never had the opportunity to work on something so in depth and in detail and through so many different stages and so there was an incredible amount of opportunities to sort of grow and get more and more specific over time and to sort of find him one step at a time a lot of the specific characterization characterization came from from Stevens writing and he's just so vividly creates this character in the scenes in the book and just sort of was an incredible jumping-off point because it's just sort of create such a specific person in my mind and I think as far as sort of the specificity of the characterization itself I never wanted to isolate anyone from being able to connect to Evan or not be able to see some of themselves in him and so you know I'll get questions like is it somebody on the spectrum is it something is it is it a specific kid that you knew that you're sort of using in your mind and my answer is that I've sort of taken pieces from all over and from you know some people that I remember in high school that were particularly difficult had a particular difficulty connecting or were particularly lonely or just but I never wanted to be too specific that you couldn't find something in him that that you could relate to or that you could see yourself in yeah so I guess that's where it all came from it's it's truly incredible it's really and I and I applaud that element of the show too that it's never really named but we absolutely get what what's going on but it doesn't necessarily have to have a label or an or a name so that's a really wonderful aspect because I think it does open it up to a lot of people being able to relate to it can we have just a brief departure from dear Evan - it's here what your la-la-land experiences have been bent and Justin the Golden Globe award-winning passuk and Paul now oscar-nominated and you know we of course all of us can relate to feeling like Broadway and theatre is a real community and now you're expanding your community into a Hollywood quite literally and figuratively and as you go out to LA and participate in these award shows are people out there talking to you clearly about Evan Hanson honestly that's the most exciting thing is that when we went we've got to go to these parties than that we don't belong at and the like ah like is not a dress no it's really embarrassing and the coolest part honestly was that people in Los Angeles would come up to us and if they knew us at all it wasn't because of lala land cuz you know like like famous people are in that movie and so we're walking around you know trying to like talk to famous people and if they let us it's very nice but they would come up to us and a lot of people have seen dear Ivan Hanson and from LA and that was the coolest thing they would come up to us and they'd be like you know la la la ba ba ba but like we saw Evan Hanson and we were like oh my gosh and that was a really really special experience for us you know we we come from we went to musical theater school at Michigan and we would go blue yeah yeah oh yeah dad yeah we love you but you know we we grew up always loving musicals and we're so excited that musical theater is becoming a thing that not just people you know between 42nd Street and 53rd between seventh Avenue and ninth Avenue are really embracing that that that culturally it's becoming something that people are getting excited about you know I don't know about a lot of people out there but we grew up with the Little Mermaid being the first movie that we ever saw you know and so yeah clap it up for Ariel exactly but you know when when that's your first exposure to musicals or you know and to movies in general I think our entire generation has been primed in such a beautiful way to accept storytelling as a musical theatre as just storytelling so I think we're having this really amazing moment that's bigger than than these blocks where people are getting excited about Broadway and we're just very very excited that that people are excited about what we do and telling story through song and and that that we can be be a part of that I think it's only a good thing that there's a big musical right now that people all around the country and around the world are watching and you know people sometimes ask us like what is there it was there a difference when you were writing for a la-la-land then when you were writing for a deer but Hansen or something like that and like what's the difference between writing a movie musical or writing a stage show and the exciting thing to say is that at least for that for la-la-land really there wasn't a difference we were it was one of the first times I could remember where some a project like that they they didn't say we want you to write a pop song that you know that has some theatre moments in it or we want you to write a you know a song that could be on the radio that whatever it was really like we want to write a song for these characters in this moment that captures what they're feeling McGrath is the story forward so he was really uh apology ethically a musical in every sense and I think that's really exciting because not only does it say mu mu bees that have music in them should be an exciting thing but it's really saying people are coming to see the movie and they're saying movies with songs that tell the story that explore the character which is what we all do and love to do that's okay and that's exciting and I think ultimately it makes people more people come to see a Broadway show people who never maybe wanted to see musical they see that movie or they see something like it and the next time they're in New York they'll come in to see a Broadway show and they might have never done that before yeah and we're also just so appreciative of the director Damien Chazelle like Michael greif is so rigorous about character but and and and and telling story through song and so many of the references that he would use when we were talking about songwriting it wasn't it wasn't pop songs in the radio but it was we were listening to Cole Porter songs and we were listening to Sondheim and like that that's where we were drawing the inspiration not just for the songs but the musical moments and so we were really appreciative that the world of musical theater was getting seeped into the discussion of the creative process as well fabulous guys fabulous so proud of you I'd love to open up to anyone if you have a favorite moment that you'd love to share from the show and what I'm what I particularly mean is it may not even be a moment in the show that you are in like sometimes you know what we don't get to see is you're waiting you know in the wing space to make your next scene and maybe you get to observe something that's going on and sometimes I've heard that that can be like oh I just you know I loved watching every night when this happened so it could be something that you're a part of you know one of your own moments on stage or a particular song or lyric but it could be something that that you're just in in a position to observe anybody want to chime in on that Michael Park does mines really fast will Roland makes me laugh every single joke every single night I listen on the monitor I watched him from offstage and I laugh like it's the first time every single joke [Music] I sometimes I sometimes I sometimes I wish I wasn't in the show so I could watch it yeah I after I'm done yelling at Evan I come offstage in my blazer and I stand and watched the last dinner scene and there was a night where Jennifer Lawrence ins words and the way she delivered a line stopped me in my tracks because normally I run upstairs and like change in my orchard scene and then like sit on my iPhone and yell at people on Twitter but one night I was like what what just happened in the scene Jennifer Lawrence and just stopped me in my tracks and I stood on the stage left side of the wings and I watched that entire scene until unfortunately I can't watch Rachel and Evan but I stayed up until then and it was a moment of church for me because I rarely get to watch and experience what my incredible cast does from a different perspective and to get to experience the kind of breakdown and build-up that happens in that scene is truly moving for me and I'm just so in awe of you guys and the work that you do all of you so I there's a lot of people in New York City and around the world talk about how good Ben flat is at this moment but but what you guys see is all what happens on stage and and what's very fun for us you know this this is a group that has you know been doing this show for a while you know at least you know this year you know since last year or longer than that and Ben is like a spectacular captain for all of us like you may have seen this on the internet but like every night like usually about 28 to 25 minutes for the show like Ben comes up to the to the penthouse level where a lot of us have dressing rooms and like brings his speaker and like we all like dance and sing together and like some sounds really corny cuz it really is and but it's like we you know we have like you know we love to gather the eight of us onstage in the stage left-wing every night and really like look each other in the eyes before we go onstage and it's the kind of thing that like when I was doing theater in high school I was like oh this probably doesn't happen like on Broadway but but like it does apparently all right you know or at least with this very special and wonderful group of people who you're a great cheerleader for our unity and then everyone here really brings you know like we're really friends in real life even though we're mean to each other on stage and so kudos to you and my friends so we'll have you think I there are so many there are so many III get to be on stage for a lot of them to watch these things unfold in in the dinner scenes and and everything but there are a couple that happened off when I went um off stage one of them being and that that really are powerful to me when when Connor pushes Evan at the beginning of the show that really just resonates with me I don't know why maybe my son was picked on or something like that or I was I'm just having flashbacks of high school and then there's another one when when when Ben is is having a moment with the tie on the floor in the in the auditorium when he drops his his card and that was that's just again just rips me apart as a father and and as that lost kid in high school so there you go I'll just say I only get to listen or listen to slash watch one number in the show because that's the only one I'm not in and it's I'm really glad about that because it's Requiem which is the song and Laura Dreyfus sings with Michael Park and Jennifer Lerner Thomson and it's just incredibly gorgeous and so if there are nights when it's taking the audience little time to warm up I'm feeling a little bit of fatigue or things like that after the first 35 minutes or so when I get to go offstage and hear that song it's just an incredible sort of empowerment because it's equally beautiful every single night and so I'm just really grateful for them he watches every night that's beautiful guys well speaking of Requiem we have just days to go before the digital version of the D revenant handsome cast album is finally I've loudly and proudly played whatever I could on Sirius XM but I am so excited to get the full-fledged album and hear all your gorgeousness it is going to we are and of course if you don't know preorder it now so that you can get the immediate gratification waving through a window track if you don't already if you don't already I have a personal requirement of listening to it 50 times per day other otherwise I can't go on with my day has it been you know there is a bit of a Hamilton effect dare I say it in that you know this is very of the moment it's what people are talking about it's what people are coming to see anybody's starstruck not maybe even wasn't a celebrity but like an artist that you looked up to that came to the show and you're just like oh that's the Carol's Carol Burnett there again the Carol's always to it the Carol's one with Annie Carol with Annie and Carol without any I actually started shaking when Carol King came because that's like probably my biggest vocal ikon musical icon in the world and I I don't normally get so starstruck and I just she saw it in my eyes and she just went do you want a picture that's that story but Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd were pretty cool yeah when I came to I said wow Hugh Jackman was pretty cool for me yeah I keep waiting for Keanu Reeves yeah put it we're putting it out there to the universe if it's if it's said it if you set it at Broadway con it has to come true [Laughter] real quick if you have dear Evan cosplay on please stand up got the cast very good guys wait let's say let's see somebody you in the wait someone's waving waving through a cast window way back there Oh amazing so cool our own Chelsea Nachman if you see her she is also playing playing some amped up dear Evan cosplay today hey Julie can I just give a quick shout out we have our producer in the first row Stacy she's very shy she doesn't like the attention but we're gonna have to annoy her for a second I just have to say as writers it's very rare that anybody gives you the opportunity to come and say to you what is the show that you want to write that nobody's giving you permission to write so often people will come to us and it's wonderful to say what if we have a movie that we would love for you to look at or make this into a musical and she came to us when we were 24 years old and we had never written a show before and she said what's the thing in your hearts that nobody's giving you permission to do and I want to help you do it and that is such brave producing and it makes absolutely no sense on paper and we are so appreciative everybody up on this stage and I think a lot of people in the audience hey you took that risk on us and that we're here today cuz when you tell somebody the plot of this show it does not necessarily mean that it's going to be a commercial Broadway hit but she she believed in us before we believed in ourselves and and pushed us to believe in ourselves and we really really appreciate that you took that risk so thank you oh well Bravo I'm so glad you said that because it really does take an amazing amount of creative people to bring a story like this to the stage to bring any of the shows that we love to the stage takes so much commitment and then for it to come to fruition and for for us to get to witness the kind of commitment that you are all bringing to the stage and the kind of commitment that each of you brought to your creative work to give them the words to say and the songs to sing I applaud let's all applaud them applaud them I can't believe we get to have this on Broadway this is a miracle thank you all again for your dedication for coming out to Broadway con for spending your Sunday morning on a two do--she with us we so appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts and last but not least thank you to all of you because you are what makes theatre happen thank you guys so much thank you [Music]

Channel: Broadway Sings for Pride

Views: 36,839

Rating: 4.9626169 out of 5

Keywords: Pasek and Paul, Pasek & Paul, Ben Platt, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Michael Greif, Will Roland, Laura Dreyfuss, Kristolyn Lloyd, Michael Park, Mike Faist, Rachel Bay Jones, Jennifer Laura Thompson, theater, original broadway cast, obc, theatre, stage, musical, best musical, tony award, broadway sings for pride, singing, interivew, julie james, broadwaycon, broadway, musical theater, musical theatre, showtunes, dear evan hansen, tony awards, bway

Id: h4j7voo5WwU

Length: 51min 26sec (3086 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 29 2017