[APPLAUSE] BEN FRIED: Are you as
psyched as I am, by the way? I am out of my
mind psyched, yes! So I'm Ben Fried. I'm the CIO and the site
lead here in New York. And I get the incredible
privilege of welcoming you to a Talks at Google event. And this one is
incredible, because we have the cast and the book
writer of "Dear Evan Hansen" here. [APPLAUSE] And they're going to
start with two songs from Taylor Trench
and Laura Dreyfus. [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC - LAURA DREYFUSS AND
TAYLOR TRESNCH, "ONLY YOU"] [APPLAUSE] "Dear Evan Hansen" opened in
2016 and had rave reviews. It won six Tony awards in
2017, including Best Musical. And it took home the 2018 Grammy
award for Best Musical Theater Album. [CHEERING] A letter that was
never meant to be seen, a lie that was never
meant to be told, a life he never
dreamed he could have. Evan Hansen is about to get the
one thing he's always wanted-- a chance to finally fit in. So let's welcome the cast
and book writer, Steven. And I apologize,
but can I ask you each to introduce yourselves? [INTERPOSING VOICES] WILL ROLAND: We're
very organized. TAYLOR TRESNCH:
I'm Taylor Trench. I play Evan. LAURA DREYFUSS:
I'm Laura Dreyfuss. I play Zoe. KRISTOLYN LLOYD:
I'm Kristolyn Lloyd. And I play Alana Beck. WILL ROLAND: I'm Will Roland. And I play Jared Kleinman. MICHAEL PARK: I am Michael Park. I play Larry Murphy. STEVEN LEVENSON: And
I'm Steven Levenson. And I wrote the book. [CHEERING] WILL ROLAND: And can I
introduce the musicians who were just on stage? BEN FRIED: Yeah. WILL ROLAND: That was Ben
Cohen, our music director, on the keys. On the guitar, we
had Dylan Condor. On the bass, Rob Jost. And on the cajon,
Mr. Jamie Eblen. [APPLAUSE] BEN FRIED: Thank you. So, Steven, why don't
we start with you. You wrote the book. You won the Tony award, yes? So you seem like a good
person to start with. How did you get
the idea for this? And when did the writing start? STEVEN LEVENSON:
Yeah, well, this all began actually with one of
our composers, Benj Pasek, who had an experience in his high
school where a classmate of his died of a drug overdose. And this was a kid who
didn't have a lot of friends, who was sort of an outsider. Nobody really knew him at all. And in the aftermath of
his death, what was curious was that everyone
in the school all of a sudden had a connection
to him that they claimed. We were best friends
when we were six, or our lockers were
next to each other. Everyone sort of
wanted ownership of this tragedy or just to
insert themselves into it. And this was was,
like, 1998 probably. So this was before social media. But Benj always
remembered that experience as being sort of formative. And particularly
troubling to him was the fact that he
too wanted to have some kind of relationship
to the kid who died too. He felt that urge
at the same time as he found it ridiculous
that other people did. And so Benj and Justin
Paul, the other composer, they went to college together. And they began writing musicals. And they talked about this
weird experience together. And in the years that
followed, things like 9/11 happened and, obviously,
the rise of social media. And this idea of-- we always grope at
the word for it, but it's like
grief exhibitionism maybe or this idea of having
to put yourself into a tragedy. Or whenever a celebrity dies,
people are all of a sudden, like, oh, that was
my favorite actor. We shared an elevator
together once. And so that was sort of the
kernel of the idea, which was kind of a very heady idea. And then, when they
came to me, basically, we had this incredible
producer, Stacey Mindich, who loved their music
and basically told them, what's the idea
that you guys have that nobody else wants to do? And they had this crazy idea,
and they brought me on board. And as we started
to talk it over and to try to tease
out what we thought was so interesting
thematically about this, we quickly realized that we
didn't want to write a satire. That was the first impulse. The obvious story
here is to poke fun at our false connections
and our attempts to fit in. And we were like, well, what's
the deeper human impulse behind it? What is actually propelling
people to want to do this? And it felt like it
had something to do with a desperation to connect. And so the character
of Evan came out of the idea of what would
happen if there was a kid who was unable to connect? And that's how the
story all came together. And that was in 2012 we
first started talking. Oh, no, I'm sorry. That was 2011. So it took us, like, five years
before the show was on stage, I think. It was a long process. BEN FRIED: And
just as a follow-up question on the process,
how did the collaboration with them work? Did music and song lead the
thinking about the plot? Did plot bring music together? Were these things kind
of all intertwined? STEVEN LEVENSON: What
ended up happening is we hashed out together
over several months a basic rudimentary set
of characters and an idea. And then, I went off
and wrote the first act as if it were just a play. And I left spaces where we
had discussed there possibly being songs where I felt like,
oh, maybe this is a song. And I even would write
these monologues there that felt lyrical, or I
would leave them blank. And then when I gave that
to them, they said, oh, this is a good place
for a song, this isn't. And then it began this
process where very soon, it became unclear where the
division began and ended. We were really back and forth. BEN FRIED: To continue
the theme of that question about the evolution of
the show, four of you have been with it since
the very beginning, right? And so how has it evolved
as you got attached to it? To what degree have you shaped
the characters or the plot, or have you seen it
change over time? MICHAEL PARK: No
one else is here that has been with the
show since the beginning. WILL ROLAND: Bragging. STEVEN LEVENSON: I remember-- WILL ROLAND: You stand alone. MICHAEL PARK: We were
talking at one point, there was a song
called "Going Viral." There were a lot of songs
that had come and gone throughout that process. Obviously, the cast had changed. At one point, there
was a student body. There was an ensemble. And I don't know what the
decision was to diminish that. I think it was the
growth of the projections and using them as that social
media engine and the student body. But I also remember
one time we were talking about this too, the
school shooter cheek line. And I don't want to start
something that you're probably going to finish later. But at one point,
it was basically on the whole Columbine
thing that he was wearing a long, black jacket. STEVEN LEVENSON: I think
that was a wardrobe decision that we nixed. I think that was-- I'm trying to remember
where that came from. WILL ROLAND: The show is
peppered with stuff like that. Mike grew his hair
out, and so there's a line about his hair in there. I always like to say,
forever every sort of joke that I have in the
play-- for those of you that haven't seen it, it sounds
like a real bummer of a play. But there's lots of humor in it. I'm involved in a
lot of the humor. For every sort of funny thing
that I say, for every line, there's two other funny
things that Steven wrote that I just couldn't do. They just weren't
funny when I did them. STEVEN LEVENSON: That's true. WILL ROLAND: And so
they're not in the play. That's it. And that's true for
all of our material. The stuff that we
could make work-- there's a lot of times
where you would write what you were
feeling, and then you would say it very articulately. And then it all became like a,
yeah, and that's how we felt. LAURA DREYFUSS: The
show changed from DC. We had two songs change-- the opening number and
then the Act 1 finale, which used to be a song
called "A Part Of Me." And that song was
a little bit more about people wanting to
connect to the tragedy. And I know that Benj and
Justin have spoken about this. And I'm sure you
can too as well. But they wanted to make it more
about a realization that Evan has, and then, therefore,
a celebration, which is now "You Will Be Found." And so it became more
of an anthem at the end. STEVEN LEVENSON: Yeah, a lot of
our impulse in writing the show was dealing with a lot of
complicated moral issues. And a lot of our
early impulses were to shy away from
those things or to be a little bit afraid of them. And I think that is an
example of let's give Evan the moment where he's really
enjoying what he's found. Let's live in that
complicated moment, instead of trying to
gloss over it and pretend that it's not complicated. BEN FRIED: It's
amazing to me to think that you might have thought of
the finality for the first act differently, because it seems,
to me, so central to the play. It's a rebirth scene
among other things. And it's just so
gripping because of that. But that brings up another
question in my mind. Do each of you have
a most favorite thing that's no longer in the play? What's the thing you miss the
most that was there and isn't there anymore? Sorry, is this a
terrible wording? LAURA DREYFUSS: I'll start. I had a line that I
used to love that we had to cut at second stage. And it was basically
commenting on how my mother is now
acting different once Connor has passed away. And I said, she
likes you being here. You remind her what it's like. But it's different, it's
better than how it used to be. And then Evan says
this beautiful line about how I think that's what
happens when people leave. You just remember them
how they used to be. And I just loved
that line so much. And that was one of my favorite
things, my favorite scenes. STEVEN LEVENSON: That
was my favorite scene too It really was. It was. That was the hardest-- I literally from the
beginning was like, I'll cut anything in the
show except for that scene. It was just this little scene. But it was really beautiful. But it just didn't really-- you realize when you
work on a musical, there are so many
strange technical-- it had to go for a very
technical reason that was just basically like we needed to
get to the end of the first act sooner. And it's so crushing. By the end of five years
of working on something, you've killed every one
of your darlings for sure. Because also, as
the book writer, your job is sort of like,
if it's better in a song, it should be a song. So a lot of it is like
your favorite stuff goes away or becomes a song. MICHAEL PARK: I missed
in the bedroom-- sorry, Kristolyn-- "In
the Bedroom Down the Hall" was a song that the two
moms sang to each other. They were sitting in their
respective sons bedrooms and missing them both. And they had this
beautiful duet together. And it was a tear-jerker for me. That's what I miss. BEN FRIED: Kristolyn,
you were poised to speak. KRISTOLYN LLOYD:
I realized what I was about to say isn't so
much about missing something that's changed. So maybe you'll get
to the question of, what do you like that's changed? BEN FRIED: Kristolyn, what
would you like that's changed? KRISTOLYN LLOYD:
Well, I, for one, have not been with
it for five years. I was brought on after Irena, so
I like that they changed that. BEN FRIED: As do I.
It means you're here. KRISTOLYN LLOYD: I was
very happy to join. And they also brought some
stuff in for the character and for the show that wasn't
there at second stage. They brought it to Broadway,
which was really exciting. For Alana, she was not as
essential to the revealing of everything that happens
in the end as she is now. And so I really liked that
they gave her character not so much of this ensemble feel,
that our characters kind of took over when they got rid
of the student body. But they made her an essential
part of the storytelling, which was exciting for me. BEN FRIED: No, but
at the same time, your character has this amazing
arc, where super-achiever who seems to have
everything behind her, but reveals a depth
that's not obvious. KRISTOLYN LLOYD: I love that
you said super-achiever. I think in the beginning
I was very scared of being this villain. And I have had a
lot of experiences with being a villain in a show
and the writers being like, we don't really care about
the arc at the end of it. And I'm like, but every
character's arc matters. And that's one of
the things that I love about working with
Steven, Benj, Justin, and Mike [? Grief. ?] They
gave her an arc. They gave her a final thing in
the end that kind of exposed why she does what she does. They did it with Jared as well. And not a lot of writers
will take the time to put some kind of ending
or cap or understanding on people that are
essential to this plot. Because then, you
walk away thinking that they are the
villains, which is not the case in the show. No one is. BEN FRIED: I completely
agree with you. I'm lucky enough to have
seen the show twice. One of the most amazing things
is that there are no villains. Everyone is relatable. Everyone is real. Everyone is someone whose
shoes you could walk in. And that's so much better. Villains are cartoon
characters, because no one is purely unalloyed--
basically unalloyed evil. There might be some exceptions,
if you know what I mean. Anyway, so thank you
for bringing that up. While you have the mic,
I was curious about-- you came a little
later to the show, as you pointed out as your
character was developed. What was that like joining? Was the crew already
pretty tight? I'm not asking you to rat out
your colleagues or anything like that. KRISTOLYN LLOYD: Of course not. It's a really good
group of people. And you enter a project
with trepidation. Because you don't
know where you fit in. You don't know what role
you play amongst the group. It all kind of works
out in the end. And who's supposed to be
there is going to be there. And what's supposed to
happen is going to happen. The process was a lot. Because I had to do so much in
such a short amount of time. I don't know if I'm
speaking for you correctly, but Stacey says at
one point that Alana was one of the most rewritten
characters in the show. And so when I showed
up, it was really great to collaborate
with the creative team and to be able in rehearsals
to be like, OK, give me notes. And then in some
rehearsals to be like, I need you to leave me
alone, so I can figure out something for you. And so I found that
it was a lot of work. But I, at one point, was
able to completely trust that they were going to let
the story serve the character and the character
serve the story. BEN FRIED: On the subject
of joining the cast somewhat later, Taylor, you're the
newest member of the cast. By the way, congratulations on
a great run in "Hello, Dolly!" with Bette Midler. Absolutely awesome. So what has this transition
been like for you and the onboarding, as we
would call it here, been like? TAYLOR TRESNCH: Terrible. WILL ROLAND: We call it
a put in on Broadway. TAYLOR TRESNCH: It's
been truly magical. To be the-- as
Kristolyn experienced-- to be the one person who is sort
of thrown into this preexisting machine is very scary. But everyone could
not have been more open-hearted and
supportive and kind. And I just loved the show so
much the first time I saw it. So I feel very lucky to
be saying these words. BEN FRIED: So while
you have the mic, you did take over from two-- from Ben and from Noah. And they each brought
their own style. What did you bring to
make Evan your own? And how did you
think about that? Can I share one
little observation? Again, I might be a
terrible audience member. One small thing you did that
really touched me was, I think, when Connor pushes you
over in the beginning, there was this bit where you go
and grab the back of your shirt and pull it down. And maybe that was
just a natural thing that you do because you'd been
pushed down on the ground, and you don't want
people to see no Krakatoa or anything like that. But I thought that
it was somehow a bit of a tell into
the character that kind of his awkwardness,
and his trying to hide, and just wanting to straighten
himself up, it seemed so real. And I don't know if that was
a conscious thing that you did or something like that. But I thought that that was an
element of bringing something to the character that
I hadn't seen before. TAYLOR TRESNCH: I would love
to take credit for that. But that's a very specific
note from our director and our movement director. I kept not doing it,
and they were like, pull your shirt down! So the praise goes to them. It is such a beautiful
detail of him just trying to cover up and hide. So I don't bring
anything interesting. BEN FRIED: Sorry, I killed
my question, which was what-- TAYLOR TRESNCH: I would
say I bring gorgeous looks. No, I think we're all different
people and different actors. Without even having
to think about it or make a conscious decision,
we all make it a different Evan. BEN FRIED: I had a
transitional question on that same subject for which
I mentioned to you and Laura a little earlier, which was that
the first time I saw the show-- am I allowed to give spoilers? No, yes, a little? I'll skirt the spoiler. So let's just say at the end of
the final scene, the first time I saw it-- WILL ROLAND: Everyone dies. BEN FRIED: You
don't need me here. So I left thinking it was
a very bittersweet moment. There is closure,
but these people are done with each other. And when I saw it
Wednesday I thought-- well, I didn't think, oh,
sunshine and unicorns. I did think maybe they'll
talk to each other again. And I felt like maybe
the relationship isn't completely dead. And I was wondering
that could just because I'm a terrible
audience member and I got something wrong. But is that an
element of something that is-- and
maybe for Laura, is this a difference between
working with Taylor and working with others. Is it just something else? LAURA DREYFUSS: Like I said,
it depends on show to show. But I think there's this really
sad, heartbreaking quality to the scene no matter what. Just because for
her own self-worth, there can be no continuation
of the relationship. But that doesn't mean that
there isn't a want for that. And I think that
it just reflects on the complicated nature
of their relationship and how things worked out. But I think that the
most important thing is that we know that they
are both OK, in a way, and that there's hope. And yeah, I would like
to think that that's what people take away at the end. BEN FRIED: Heavy stuff. LAURA DREYFUSS: And they die. BEN FRIED: On the subject
of heavy stuff, Will, there's this line very
early in the play. You describe Connor as
very school-shooter chic. And obviously, given recent
events, there's an immediacy. I thought I heard a kind
of gasp in the audience on Wednesday night
when you said that. Did you think about
changing the line? Did you think about delivering
the line differently? STEVEN LEVENSON: Funny
that should bring that up. BEN FRIED: What is your process
been given what's happened? WILL ROLAND: Well,
it's definitely been a sort of collaboration. It's been a
conversation, I should say, between Steven, myself,
Stacey, our producer-- STEVEN LEVENSON: And
that line has always been in there, for four
years probably. WILL ROLAND: I think throughout
the course of the play, Jared, the character
that I play, says a lot of coarse,
very honest dialogue. It reminds me of things that I
might have said when I was 17 and didn't really realize
the power of the speech. And so, yeah, that line at
the beginning has always-- certain folks have
come up to me, like, I don't know
if you can say that. Because it sort of gets under
people's skin a little bit, and because we look at it
with so much more context and from the sort of
world that we live in. But I think what we talked
about is what has changed. The play lives in
a different world than it did eight weeks ago. And the play has not changed,
but the world has changed. And so we have to figure
out what does this say now. And I think in the
end, we decided it's important to have this
dialogue be true and be real and let this thing move
through time in that way and let people have those
reactions when things are raw and fresh, I think, so
that we can examine the way that we speak and also create
the situation for Connor. Then the brief glimpses
we get of Connor's life-- people are awful to
him in different ways, either through neglect
or sort of mean or somewhat abusive
things towards him. And then he isn't
understood by people. And so I think it's a really
valuable moment for us to get inside of what
people think of this boy. And then when we,
as the audience, try to imagine what he was like
after he has killed himself. Sorry, that's a spoiler,
but it's the first five minutes of the play. And after he's killed
himself, everyone starts to imagine
him their own way. And I think in a
brilliant way, we all are already doing that
before he has taken his life. We're projecting onto him who
he is, what we think he is, how he should act,
and what he should do. STEVEN LEVENSON: It's
a really tricky-- we had a lot of back and
forth last week about this. And it's interesting,
because from the very, very first reading, people told
me to change the line. It's never not been disturbing. The character is
glib, but I don't want the show to be glib,
if that makes sense. And the honesty of
that character, I think that is what the
character would say. And I went really back
and forth on this. Because part of me
just doesn't want to pull the audience too much
out of what they're watching. So they start to think,
oh, that's interesting that they said that. Am I upset about that? I wonder if they wrote
that before this happened. You know what I mean? I don't want that to start. But I also feel like part
of what we're showing is a generation that is
desensitized in a lot of ways to these things and
also that uses humor to try to cope with the trauma
of knowing how ubiquitous this is. And like you said,
in high school, people say crazy,
terrible things that really are meant to cover
up their fear of these things. You know what I mean? So I felt like it was
important partly as-- this sounds really
overblown-- but as a document of our
time, which is what all art is in some respect. That it was important to keep
this and show that this is the time that we're living in. BEN FRIED: So on the subject
of how we communicate, Michael, for you, a question. I thought that
your character has this amazing moment in
the "To Break in a Glove" song, where in
just one song, you get such a view into his
character and the relationship he didn't have with his
son, his need for it, and all the stuff that's
missing in someone who's otherwise cut from the
image of the stoic father man-type. I'm trying to turn
this into a question. I understand you're
a father as well. And I'm wondering how you
think about parenting has been influenced by the
role or what you bring to the role has and
influenced by your experience as a parent. MICHAEL PARK: I talk to a lot
of kids, obviously, in the stage door. The number one thing they say
is, this show and your role makes me want to have a better
relationship with my father. And I think that's
really important. I don't know if that's
what you set out to do. But it's reaching a lot of kids. But I'll tell you
for me personally-- and I say this a lot-- I have three kids-- 20-year-old, 18, 13, who's
right in the middle of it. And she's giving it to us. So I can honestly tell you-- BEN FRIED: I have a
15-year-old too, so, yeah. MICHAEL PARK: Whoo, it's tough. But I've got to
tell you, it really has opened the door to
communication that I never thought was possible. My dad wasn't the most overt
person in the world either. But it was interesting
kind of tiptoeing around him and his moods. And now my kids know immediately
that they can come to me. And it's never been so good
really through this mire that Larry Murphy
has to go through to reach someone who
is actually looking for the same exact thing that
he's looking for, in a way. And that's what "To
Break in a Glove" is really about--
the fact that they are meeting on the
same ground and not really reaching each other,
but reaching each other. And I feel that every adolescent
is looking for that too. And what I tell the kids at
the stage door a lot of times, like, I have no idea
how to talk to my dad. I say, well, have you tried
to talk to him at his level? I mean, seriously? Hey, dad, what are you watching? Fox News. OK. Well, what's Hannity up to? Just ask him a
question about him. As much as you
would like to think you want him to be
in your life and ask you questions about you. For sure, you should
be asking him maybe what did you do today? Those are great shoes. Anything to get into his world
for a little bit or his orbit. So that's basically
what it's all about. The communication is fantastic
with my children now. Thanks, Steven. BEN FRIED: Wow. Hey, so on the subject
of communication-- thank you for the segue-- social media is this fact. It's almost another
character in the play. And happy to see that YouTube
plays a part in that as well. Go YouTube. STEVEN LEVENSON: That
was a really good buy. That was a good buy
you guys made there. BEN FRIED: I know who
writes my paycheck. But also, the way
that the production has used social media and
YouTube to bring fans together. And, Michael, you
talked about connecting with fans at the stage door. But it seems to
me like the things that you've done through
YouTube and social media to connect with fans opened
up a new chapter on what's possible in theater in
terms of promoting things. I think we're going to
play a brief video from one of these fan-sourced collages
that the production has put together. Yes? Are we going to do that? [MUSIC - "YOU WILL BE FOUND"] WILL ROLAND: It's the
virtual choir, everybody. BEN FRIED: The whole video is
about 5 and 1/2 minutes long. And I recommend it on YouTube. STEVEN LEVENSON:
Have you seen it? BEN FRIED: You said it. I think we're going to have
a couple more of my questions before we move to
audience questions. So maybe one or two
more questions of mine. And then for the audience,
please queue up behind the mics that are here in the aisles. And if you start
queuing up now while I give you cover time with a
question or two, we'll be good. So for all of you, do you
have a favorite moment in the play for each one of you? Is there one favorite
moment scene, something? Taylor? TAYLOR TRESNCH: Gosh, it
changes every night certainly. I really love
"Anybody Have a Map?" The song the moms
sing up the top. It's hard for me to
not just rock out. That's my final answer. LAURA DREYFUSS: I always go
between "If I Could Tell Her" or probably the orchard scene. I just really love
those moments. KRISTOLYN LLOYD: I like
"Waving Through a Window" because we all love to be
backstage riffing and doing our own runs and
harmonies to it. And sometimes,
Evan has been like, we can hear you backstage. Yeah, we can hear you backstage. That's fun. WILL ROLAND: My
favorite is Evan has this line in the second act. He says something-- Connor was really lucky to
have a dad who-- what'd he say? TAYLOR TRESNCH: Cared so much
about taking care of stuff. WILL ROLAND: Who cared so much
about taking care of stuff. I think it's a really
revealing moment where these two boys are so
similar and yet so different. And I loved that line a lot. It was very heavy. Good work, Steven. MICHAEL PARK: I like
playing air cello with Adele during "Sincerely Me." I play a mean air cello. "Sincerely Me" is really
one of my favorite songs. STEVEN LEVENSON: I
have two moments. I like all of it, and I like
everyone in the show so much. There's a scene in the second
act with Connor and Evan that I love the design of it. It's sort of the lowest moment
for Evan or, up to that point, the lowest moment for Evan. I love what the actors that
we have bring to that scene. And I always love "Words
Fail" in the second act. LAURA DREYFUSS:
It's my favorite. STEVEN LEVENSON: In DC, I would
leave the show for a while in the second act, because I
was like, I know what happens. But then I would
always come back at that moment,
because I just loved-- because every actor
that does it-- because we've seen
a couple now-- brings something new. It's just such a raw
and painful moment. And Michael Greif's
staging of it is so simple and
spare and perfect. BEN FRIED: I agree with
all of you, by the way, not that that matters. Audience members are cued up. Why don't we start hearing them. We'll bounce back and forth
across mics with questions. AUDIENCE: So I have a
question for the entire cast. I know that throughout
the play, it crosses a very large
emotional spectrum. There's highs, there's lows. Do you have a
process or something that you go through
before every show to dig deep and be able to
hit all those every night? WILL ROLAND: I'll
hop in on that. What's actually funny is I think
that we almost do the opposite. We try to get together and make
each other laugh a little bit and look each other in the eyes. Because there are
some moments where we're terrible to
each other on stage. We're mean, we're
course, and uncaring. And those are the
things that Steven has written so
beautifully that we can have those moments onstage
and those take us there. Because as long as you can live
in that reality, it gets there. So I think most of
our prep time is spent taking care of one another
and coming up from that place. MICHAEL PARK: It's
always when I'm most desensitized to what I'm
about to go through that I go through it the hardest. It's uncanny that way. Do you feel the same way? KRISTOLYN LLOYD: You
have to trick your body. I don't like to get into
my costume until places. And that's not fun for my
stage manager sometimes. But I like to trick my body. I don't want it to
know it's about to go through this emotional journey. And so we stand backstage. And we crack jokes. Because we have to be good
to each other offstage as much as possible. One, because we're a tiny cast. And there's not a lot of
people to rotate through when you're sick of each other. So it's like a family. It's like living in a
compound with your family. And you show up everyday
at the same time, and you have to be really
cool to each other. LAURA DREYFUSS: And I think
also, emotionally, that's why we're able to do so
much with each other because of this deep love that we
all have for one another. And that inspires all of the
emotional requirements needed for this show. TAYLOR TRESNCH: The writing
too does the heavy lifting. There's nothing
really to work up for if you just listen to
what's going on onstage. BEN FRIED: I'm sorry. I'm not supposed to be
asking questions anymore. But I'd like to ask the mirror
image question, which is, how do you come down off of that? There are gallons of
tears in that theater at the end of that show. I see what looked like
tears in the cast. It was such heavy stuff. How do you come down from that? Or is it just I didn't
understand, someone didn't tell me what acting is? LAURA DREYFUSS: We
literally crack jokes after. We get off stage
and immediately-- WILL ROLAND: Michael
and I like to share a beer at the end of the play. And then I take the train home. I have about a 45 minute
ride to Park Slope. And it's very
calming and relaxing. I listen to a podcast sometimes. No, it is. It's very intense. It's very heavy. It's about decompressing. And personally, I don't like
to go out the stage door and meet fans. Because I feel like I'm
too sensitive and raw. And someone's going
to say something to me and I'm going to take
it the wrong way. So all I want to do is
put my big headphones on and get on the
train and go home. BEN FRIED: Kristolyn. KRISTOLYN LLOYD:
I'm the opposite. I don't take the train. And I learned very
early on that I play 17. And when I get off that
stage, I don't want to be seen as a 17-year-old. But I look very young. And I found that when I
would get on the train, there were a couple of times
I got in fights with people on the train. I'm also a very
mouthy, tough girl. And so I find that I
need to take a car home. And I need to not
be around people after I'm done with the show. Because we did do a
lot of heavy lifting, and it's not always
fun to watch somebody go through that journey
of losing everything that they had worked so hard to
get or not worked hard to get. It just fell into their lap. TAYLOR TRESNCH: Ow. KRISTOLYN LLOYD: I
mean your character. After we finish, it's a muscle. You turn it off. Laura and I will
run around upstairs. We'll listen to rap
songs and Beyonce and dance around in our
underwear with Jennifer Laura Thompson. We just have to. It's necessary. And don't take the train home. You're welcome. BEN FRIED: I think we have
another audience question. AUDIENCE: Thanks for
coming to chat with us. I loved the show. My question is about process. And you mentioned that
you have a decision to make around whether you
keep a line in the show that could be sensitive,
whether you take it out. After opening night on Broadway
when previews are done, how much can you change,
and in what context? STEVEN LEVENSON: That's
actually a good question. We can change stuff. It's hard to rehearse. WILL ROLAND: You're
allowed to change anything. And because of the unions, it's
very expensive to rehearse. And I don't think you're
allowed to change things without having rehearsal. So there is a financial
incentive not to, but you could. STEVEN LEVENSON: I
changed something. Like two weeks ago,
I changed a line. MICHAEL PARK: When the
rhythm is screwed up after you've been doing
something for four years, and you come in, just take
a word out, just a word. STEVEN LEVENSON: That's
literally what it is. MICHAEL PARK: For about
a week and a half, it ruined the
entire line for me. STEVEN LEVENSON: When I go, I
have a running list of things I would like to change. It's terrible. That's why it's sometimes
hard to go back. Because it's like, I wish I
had-- you know what I mean? I catch these things. WILL ROLAND: Look for
those changes on the tour. STEVEN LEVENSON: Yeah, exactly. AUDIENCE: Great, thank you. STEVEN LEVENSON: Thanks. AUDIENCE: The preface
to my question is going to sound
like a criticism, but I promise it's not. STEVEN LEVENSON: I'm so excited. AUDIENCE: So my question
is about the balance between what your vision
is and what you have to work with with the actors. When I saw it, I was
sitting in the center of the last row in the balcony. And there's one scene-- I don't know what it was-- and everyone is lined
up on the back in a row. And then like six foot five
tall Connor in the corner is not lit up and
looks like Slender Man. And for me, it was
very distracting. But obviously, there's
nothing you can do about it. You can't shrink
him to the height of the rest of the actors. So I was wondering, there's
nothing you can do about it, but what is the balance
between, oh, there's an actor that's more comfortable
doing this versus what we had originally wanted? We wanted to block it this way. But we can't, because
these two people-- stuff like that. STEVEN LEVENSON: It's
a great question. It's one of the great challenges
and also the joys, I think, of dramatic writing
is that you have these people that you have to-- you can't just write a
character and write a novel and that's what it is. What you write is really just
the first part of the process. And I love writing with
actors and around actors. And I feel like a
lot of this show is written around
these people on stage. And then hopefully, for me--
and I don't know if this answers your question exactly-- but I
guess I think the more specific you can be for those actors-- And Benj and Justin
are very similar. There are vocal parts
in the show that are because the actors that
originated these roles could sing those parts. And I hope that the specificity
of those characters, because they're molded
onto that person, are, therefore, that
much sharper and easier to play for future actors. Because it's so specific. Do you know what I mean? So much of the show
is written and thought about around those actors. It's weird when I
realize that where you sit in the theater matters. And what night of the
week you come matters. And that's the kind of
thing that, as a writer, that can keep me up at night. You know what I mean? There is something very
comforting about film and TV, where you're in the editing
room, and it's like, we are fixing this
moment, and it's there. You know what I mean? So that's interesting. BEN FRIED: I think we have
time for two more audience questions, just as an FYI. AUDIENCE: Made it, great. OK, huge fan. Saw the show four times,
changed a flight to be here. STEVEN LEVENSON: Welcome. AUDIENCE: And I'm
probably going to miss it because it's raining a lot. But that's fine, worth it. So one thing that I think is
so wonderful about this show that you guys
touched on before is how all of the characters
in the ensemble have a full narrative arc and
some really deep humanity. One of my favorite scenes
is when Larry Murphy is looking around at
all the social media and finally collapses under
the weight of his son's death. What do you think are some
of those other more nuanced moments that help inform your
character to any of the actors or that you were thinking
of when you wrote the book? STEVEN LEVENSON: Well, I do
know we were very careful. And a lot of the rewrites
that happened over the years were about sharpening
everybody's arc and making it clear. Like for instance, with
Larry, I think it was in DC, we realized we loved that
moment that you're talking about where he breaks down. And then you start
to think, well, 'are we earning that?' is it
exactly as powerful as it could be? And then we actually
started to work backwards from that moment. And we were like, you know
what, we're setting up the idea that Larry is having
a lot of trouble expressing his grief. But in certain
moments, he actually seems to be grieving openly. So we were like, we have to
sharpen it and make it really clear that that's his dilemma. And then the payoff
is that moment. Do you know what I mean? As writers, it's
a lot about sort of following your instincts
as far as they'll take you. And then putting on
your analytic brain and being like, what's
the math of this moment? Also Alana, we want
her to get to a moment where she exposes the fact
that she's really lonely and feels a kind
of invisibility. And then it was like,
well, let's work backwards. Where do you start
with that arc? So it's a lot of that actually. LAURA DREYFUSS: We also
have a really great-- to the credit of
our creative team-- wonderful communication and
collaboration with them. And so we, as actors, felt like
we had the ability to speak up and say, I'm not
getting from A to C. Just for example, when
I go from meeting-- basically, I kiss Evan at
this point in the show. And it went from a place
of really not liking him. And so they were little
things in "You Will Be Found" specifically, where the audience
might not even be noticing it. But it's stuff
where I'm clocking a lot of the journey
of his beautiful speech and then realizing what
he's actually giving me and my family, which then
leads me to want to kiss him. And to be able to
communicate with Michael Greif, our director, and
Steven, and Benj and Justin about what we can do to
help make that easier. AUDIENCE: Thanks, guys. BEN FRIED: Last
audience question, sir. AUDIENCE: Thank you
guys for being here. Steven, I have a
question for you. You talked about how
you wrote initially as if this were a play. And I thought the show was
really beautifully structured. Can you talk a little
bit about-- you were kind of talking
about it now-- but how did you initially
think about the structure? And then when you're
making these changes, how do you trust those changes
when the show is actually up and you need to
have a show tonight? STEVEN LEVENSON: Yeah,
it's definitely a process. I've written plays before. And plays are really a
different animal than musicals. I feel like when I write
a play and I read it, I kind of know what it is. And when we do it, it's
going to be basically that. But with a musical, what
you have on the page and what comes out
on stage is radically different for some reason. And you kind of never
know what you have until it's on its feet. And that was certainly
true with this show. And the more readings
we did and the more workshops, and
then productions-- the thing that we
learned could guide us that we learned
somewhat early on was the show works best when
we understand exactly why Evan is doing what he's doing. That has to be our
guiding principle. Evan is making these decisions. Why is he making
those decisions? And also allowing him
to make those decisions. In earlier drafts, we struggled
a lot with how likeable to make Evan. And we were very
scared that if he was too proactive in
trying to get what he wanted that we would hate him. And so we we've
kind of pussyfooted around a lot in some
of the earlier drafts and had more things
happen to him. So for instance, in
really early drafts-- or not even that early-- Alana started the
Connor project. And then in another draft, Jared
released the email at the end. And we kind of kept upping
the ante for ourselves. We were like, what
can we get away with? Because we learned
that audiences just needed to understand the why
and the emotional why of what Evan is doing. And if they did, they
were on the ride, and they were following it. And as soon as you
stop knowing why Evan's doing what
he's doing, you start to lose
track of the story. And it just becomes a muddle. So that became the
structuring principle. How is Evan moving this story
forward to get what he wants? And what are the complications
that are coming up? So the structure formed
in process, weirdly. And it became a lot about
getting rid of the things that were in the way of that. AUDIENCE: Thank you. BEN FRIED: From
each of you, I would love to hear if
there's one thing you want the audience to-- maybe there's not one
thing-- but is there one thing you want the audience
to walk away with or hold with after they've
seen the show? TAYLOR TRESNCH:
Don't start with me. WILL ROLAND: I'll start. For me, I hope that
people will reconsider the ways in which they allow
social media to affect them. I think it's really easy to
just glance at our phones. And you guys have heard
me say this 1,000 times. I'm sorry. But I feel like it's
the message of the show. We glance at our phones. And we scroll through Instagram. We see a picture of someone
looking beautiful and happy. We're like, oh, look how
beautiful and happy this person is. Why isn't my life like that? And then we'll put
something into the machine that we've cleaned up and
doctored and taken away all the ugly bits. And we know that our stuff
that we put out there is fixed. But somehow, we
can't immediately believe that other people
did the same thing, even though they did. And for me, that's
the big thing that I hope people will consider
after seeing the play. STEVEN LEVENSON: I actually
think that for younger people, I've learned that they're
not even necessarily aware. The way that we, who didn't
grow up with social media, are aware of that fiction, I
feel like for younger people, it's actually a discovery that
other people aren't happy. Do you know what I mean? In a way that when I was a
teenager, I certainly believed everybody else was happy. But I didn't have the
pictures to prove it. And I feel like that's
part of the message that resonates with people
is, oh, wait, really? Those people aren't
living the life that they say they're
living either? MICHAEL PARK: We
touched on this earlier. I want everyone to
go call their father. I want them to call their
father or their mother and just tell them
you love them. That's all they want. LAURA DREYFUSS: I would
say I hope people walk away with a greater sense
of empathy for others. To touch on what Will said,
realize that we don't know what we see on the surface
is what's real and to trust that we
don't know who's hurting, and that you could be hurting
and other people field that way. It's important to
talk and communicate. BEN FRIED: Kristolyn, you
have a mic in your hands. KRISTOLYN LLOYD:
Yeah, I'm thinking it's a tug between
empathy and comparison being the thief of joy. When you sit there and
see other people's lives, it steals your
joy if you let it. And that, in turn,
makes it really hard for us to imagine that they
need something as well. Empathy is a huge part of
today, especially since we're inundated with so many
images and ideas of what life should be, as
opposed to allowing what life is to just be life. It can be messy. It doesn't have to be
an Instagram filter. Am I allowed to say that word-- Instagram? OK, I didn't know. But, yes, I am going to
leave it with comparison is the thief of joy. And that if you need to get
away from all of those things, you should to take
care of yourself. STEVEN LEVENSON: I also
think, on a fundamental level, it's about change
and forgiveness. And that by the end of the show,
Evan does change and become a better person. And all these characters
do, even though it's a lie. And it's sort of
that complexity, but also the fact that
change is possible and forgiveness is possible. BEN FRIED: Taylor, you get the
last words if you want them. TAYLOR TRESNCH: No. I just hope people like it. BEN FRIED: Well done. All right, so I think we're
going to show another video. And while we're
showing the video, I think the cast will file out. And I've been asked to ask you
please not to swarm our guests, but to allow them
to peacefully make their way to the green room. But before we show the
video and say goodbye, can we thank them for
an amazing [INAUDIBLE].. [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC - BENJ PASEK AND JUSTIN
PAUL, "UNTITLED PPL PROJECT"] WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Everyone is wonderful. And I loved it so much
because it was inclusive. This is about all of us. And I think it's
an important show, and I'm really proud
I got to see it. STEPHEN COLBERT:
I want you to know this is a compliment
when I say I started crying in the first
song and I did not stop. TINA FEY: I think a show
like "Dear Evan Hansen" can start a great
dialogue about being your authentic self, which
is a really hard thing to find and to be. It can start conversations
about the importance of actual human connection.
