Mike Faist - Behind the scenes of Dear Evan Hanson

is I am coming to you live behind the scenes at dear Evan Hansen and I'm here with anyone who's seen the play knows the face of Mike Feist it's so great to see you it's a pleasure thank you you play Connor in the musical uh and and I don't want to do too many spoilers here because I think you know there are people out there who are going to be coming to us they've seen the show and then there are the people out there who haven't seen it right and we hope to give them a good taste of what there is to enjoy here yes absolutely and this is your dressing room this is it this is it does it I'm curious to know from people who are watching what they think like does it look like what you expected a Broadway probably not it's like eclectic and kind of like well you know I'm messy and weird and I just got like things that I like to look at what's with the the hand this was an opening night gift from uh one of our understudies Olivia Puckett she made a cast for everybody because you're part of the cast right you know and like you know Evan where's the cast so you know and some of his like these are all mostly just opening night cards and some of it is like fan art like someone made this during the show kind of a thing like in the play build that was kind of cool that is really cool yeah and like in our costume designer made this you know some things that are nice to have and they're like I do a lot of reading from the back here let's see oh you have The Little Prince have you read it in French I haven't speak French no no I'm not nearly as simple so you do love um Antoine yeah yeah he's fantastic yeah and you know and mostly it's just like messy and I don't know it's my little home wait a water bottle that says is this your nickname no we'll roll into his a label maker and uh so we decided to do that we have a lot of time you know yeah right so okay so I want to get into a little bit about your backstory by the way guys Mike will take your questions and we're gonna get up in just a second here and give you a little bit more of a taste for what it's like behind the scenes here of the studio and the whole show and let us know where you want to see behind the scenes your story you started out in Ohio grew up in Ohio you came here because you had the dream to come to New York and be on Broadway yeah and here you are yeah is that has it fully sunk in at this point do you think yeah I mean like it's not my first Broadway show so the first one it was definitely oh overwhelming I remember like really needing to like bask in it and take it in kind of a thing this one you know I've I've learned the ropes a little bit more but uh with this show is so special because of the content and this and this self that's what makes doing this show eight times a week so special eight times a week eight times a week yeah what does that take in terms of your time commitment your energy and also the show this this has a lot of depth it's a heavy show it's of the moment and your character in particular yeah um a lot of water a lot of water stay hydrated yeah stay hydrated stay hydrated make sure to drink from the Chisel over there um no yeah lots of just rest water making sure you take care of yourself and not you know going out partying and you know just enjoy yourself enjoy it you know don't don't take yourself too seriously while you're doing it and just learn to enjoy it you know it's live theater you know no one dies at the end of the show knock on wood you know in real life in real life yes exactly but you know it's we're just uh enjoying ourselves and just doing it and basking in it well I want to talk as we walk around yeah let's talk about the audition process because you know as an outsider everybody well a lot of people have seen Fame and maybe that's their one sense are we going left or right yeah let's go this way okay so you guys just come along this way so what was the audition process like uh for this show in particular um it was the Untitled pestic of all weapons was what I was auditioning for at the time okay and so there was no script okay there were two scenes from the original version of the show okay uh two scenes that no longer exist anymore in the show cool and um Annie is back behind us there you go there we go by the way thank you to Taylor Who's um bracing herself as we walk down these stairs being very careful very careful I wonder if they're my Jennifer hello oh wait let me just get out of the way he's filming mom mom can I say hi I can't you're in pink girls oh my gosh can you let me know when you're ready what are you doing this is with the abc.com hi yeah how are you I'm great how are you doing Rebecca this is my beautiful mom you're looking great oh my God tell us tell us about your experience working on dear Evan Hansen oh my gosh it's um been one of the most gratifying shows I've been a part of the message is so strong losing this one every night has taught me some life lessons I hope I don't ever have to learn again but knowing that people can go on through tragedy is is a really important lesson and we're impacting so many people it's really rewarding it's the best kind of theater that was something that I mean it's not surprising given the depth of the show but the outpouring of response the number of people who have said I made a different life choice yeah after seeing that performance how many things in this life can we say actually make that kind of impact I mean we're not doctors we're not firemen we're not emergency medteens we're not um you know like in the Army saving lives but what we do to have that impact doing what we do which is what we love is a gift that I I feel lucky to have having chosen what could be a frivolous lifestyle but it really has a strong impact and it feels very gratifying thank you for joining us do you mind I know we're asking you off camera do you mind if we take a peek in here it's your dressing yours is gorgeous oh my gosh did you decorate yourself I did is that is that what your kid my son your son he's holding an apple which is the theme in the show apple orchard that's my panda in his face you have a panda yeah you're nice what do you recommend to the people watching um and we're talking to Mike a little bit about this whole process of coming to Broadway getting on a Broadway show what do you recommend to the dreamers out there the people who want to do what you do with your life don't do it I've always said educate yourself I I was uh not mature enough or ready to come to New York as a 17 year old I needed that four years of education other people need some other kind of education and whether it's just private acting classes or experience in community theater and observing everyone around you but um don't come before you're ready get like get those get those lessons into your body and learn how to deal with rejection well and the best way to go off that is by have having like people around you who are in the same boat with you that foundation and I think you get that a lot of times if you go to it I know but you know if you go to a a conservatory or a college setting and you're all moved together then you're all in one together you know what I mean it's hard enough so you might as well like have that support system with you yeah and I moved here with a small group of friends we were all on the same boat yeah well thank you so much thank you for taking the time to chat with us good luck tonight thank you it's phenomenal and you do a great job we have a we have a question from Adriana why don't you come in here that's you people want to see you and I think you both could answer it um how your performance has evolved from the early days of the show to its current run um also does all the crying in the audience ever distract you great question um well uh as far as how the show's involved I mean my character in particular uh you know it was kind of I always say it was kind of um it was not glossed over but it was it was not uh looked at in depth as it is now and when Conor passed away he had passed away that was kind of it and then they kind of experimented with this idea of bringing him back and I don't know had him and they didn't really know how to do that so they were like well we maybe have like uh yeah you know and so and overall I I mean the biggest thing I always say is that when they first started out they were really looking at it from a like cynical point of view of of this generation and how we react to tragedy and then they stopped judging it and they started asking well why is that the case and they started to empathize with who we are as the people and and I think that really informed the full development and how these characters kind of came about and why they are the way they are and like it it answered a lot of really deep questions that way I don't know I need to feel connected too yeah I think the from the beginning beginning for uh me as Cynthia um and as well for you the weight of the scenes kept shifting because they didn't know what points were going to be the most poignant and most important in the show so um for example I lost a whole song to what became a two-minute scene so there's all that body of of beautiful music and storytelling that was condensed into a solid two minutes but I still had the same message to come across to to give forth and um so those challenges were constantly coming at us and then so and even the slight change of a single word changes the whole impact of an entire scene so we've gone through a lot of very small but very very significant changes and I think your your transformation throughout all of it might have been some of the most difficult because they were trying to figure out how he was going to work into the world as a non-human friend right as an Adonis how from from the emotional standpoint the audience is so engaged during your performances and in in other shows you know you have an audience oftentimes They're laughing they're cheering in this type of very heavy audience reaction do you feed off of that energy when you're on stage I mean you're always listening to audiences and you know it you do page shows a week they're always different and I think depending on you know if it's a Wednesday matinee to a Saturday night show it's always going to be kind of different and so you're always kind of having to feed off of what they're giving to you with this show in particular I think you know at times it makes people extremely uncomfortable and they get fidgety or they they um you know they don't know how to they don't know how to um process yeah you know what's happening and I think if thing that validates that okay we're onto something we're doing right something right stay the course yeah yeah absolutely absolutely and it just continues to feed us well thank you for sharing this with us seriously I know we just literally we literally just barged in to her dressing time and next time I'll be ready after actually you know what I'm gonna do guys I'm gonna post a picture at the end of all this I'm gonna post a picture of you and your stage makeup everything yeah no because I it is a transformation every day it is congratulations all your success and continue success thank you nice to see you too I'll see you in a second um we'll keep making the way will asks what are some of your favorite songs in the show and also do you think the song waving through a window is about your character or Ben's or both oh um I know crystalline come out here hello how are you I'm good we're here to answer this question we're here with ABC news we're doing Rebecca Jarvis beautiful we're doing behind the scenes with Mikey's giving us a tour you're live on Facebook and you're live on Facebook um either sincerely me or Mom couch song Mom count song what is it about the bomb cap sock and one that's Rachel B Jones she's singing it's so pretty this really redeeming moment in the show it's like it heals everybody yeah yeah and then the other question was waving through a window um whether or not that was like particularly the Evans feeling or like Conor's feeling or your feelings between us being in it also is not just to show eyes you know isolation I think it's to show ours as well yeah I mean that's at least how I play it when I'm walking around on stage and we have our moments where we're freezing it's it's also that's why this the show works because it's it's a universal feeling right so I think it's all of us as well I agree yeah yeah and then bye thank you um Maggie asks what's your favorite scene in the show that Conor isn't in oh oh that's a oh that's a good one my favorite scene in the show is in the second act and Heidi goes to dinner with the Murphys and um within it the Murphys offer uh money to uh support Evans um College Endeavors you know they're willing to pay for Evans College um using Connor's segments and it's just really Ah that's a stomach turning moment and I think in the play and it really is really wonderful every it just sinks a little bit more everything comes into like a very real place in that moment it's like steaks are pretty high here and that's a beautifully written by Stephen Levinson and it's a true moment in the play where it's a scene I mean it's a it's there's no like song that's telling the drama within it it's just the actors and they're doing a scene it's very simple and it's very gripping and it's wonderful oh yeah live on Facebook Eric's one of our stage managers what's it like to be a stage manager on this show oh my gosh it's so gratifying and so wonderful and I I mean I get to work with these amazing people every day and come in and do this fantastic show so how do you become a stage manager on Broadway what's what's the process you just gotta work hard and get in touch with people I don't know I mean how do you get to know the right people in the early stages if you put yourself back in that moment you just uh you put yourself out there really I I that's all I did I was kind of like respond to like calls yeah you'd like take what comes at you and like you kind of like I always had this like this goal and like mindset sort of and and just like things came my way as I needed them and took everything that came in my came like towards me so yeah good for you that's like crazy it's a crazy crazy business what's the craziest thing you've seen maybe not here or just in behind the scenes as a stage manager on Broadway the craziest thing to me is walking outside at the end of the show all the people yes that is insane I just don't get it [Laughter] thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us good luck with everything thanks continued success all right where are we going I don't know Rachel's here but I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you want to just take a quick peek all right why don't you guys get in there it's very nice so whose dressing room is this is Rachel's and then we'll continue on this one all right great very nice [Music] so how many times a day would you say you go up and down these stairs it's always just running up and down what are your pre-show rituals um you know we always um we're always listening to music before the show at least in the top floor do you have a go-to song no we don't have like necessarily go-to song and then usually what happens is we'll have a dance party at Ben's dressing room oh wow I think I'm gonna need to see when we're on flat ground some moves from here absolutely not this is uh underneath so right above us is the actual these are um they said no yes there's some clothes storage so when you're uh performing are you backstage here this is backstage area or underneath this is underneath this is like here's like the trees right here you can see oh the trees right yeah there's the trees that go up right underneath the deck there um yeah cool so it's very very I swear all the magic really happens for people who really make the show run actually when you first moved to New York you were 17 or yeah 17 years old and you would go home to Ohio in the Summers yeah to work in construction yeah and I read that you when you were first here were living on food stamps in New York yeah you say it like that's I don't know I feel like that's probably pretty common for actors I think yeah actors are really like anyone who's young I mean like they're trying to you move to like one of the most expensive cities in the world right and you're trying to do your dream and you have no money um yeah you're going to you know do uh whatever you need to do so you do whatever you need to do so you have to just hustle basically yeah absolutely um yeah so I mean it wasn't I don't know if it was what it was I was you know I'm just trying to do what I needed to do what was the toughest lesson you had to learn along the way huh that's probably one I'm still you know uh learning with on a day-to-day basis here um this is our Bloomingdale's Blue Room by the way and it is blue and it is blue so you every day you're learning tough lessons you're not yeah I think um at least for now the one that really kind of um sticks with me is is figuring out um when you're doing acting uh it's very much a personal kind of experience and it's very um vulnerable at times and I think to put yourself out there it takes a lot and a lot of times I think we're constantly you go on auditions and you get nose nose nose nose nose and it's always because you're not this enough you're not bad enough and you're not necessarily what they're looking for and and you're always comparing yourself to someone else and Meisner has this really wonderful crew Nick says there's nothing there's nothing um more authentic than a fully Alive fully there's there's just nothing more sorry it goes like this there's nothing more exciting than a fully Alive fully authentic version of yourself hard lesson to learn to learn I think as you go along and um it's a constant thing to like continue to tell yourself that like you're here for a reason um you're you know you're on the right track like you're gonna be okay you should have been platforming up should we go say hi yes could you mind if I just say one thing because I really respect what you just shared and that's very vulnerable no I genuinely want you to know that I respect it and I think that it's really honest and I think that in as an outsider looking into the world of theater your point about all of these rules and you want to be you want to be the part that they want you to be right when you walk in that door when you're going into these auditions um and so separating between living up to that expectation but still being true to who you are has to be just an all everyday challenge it is absolutely and you know I mean there it's very easily to walk out on stage and have a thousand people look at you and you can easily think like oh well they're out to get me almost in a way and you have to stop um getting in your own head and you have to stop getting in your way about those things and realize that you know everyone really is rooting for you in this industry you know and it is a community and um it is you know at least with the craft I believe it's a personal Journey um as well as like a spiritual journey you know at least for myself you know is what I'm learning and it is a day-to-day practice and you just gotta keep at it now yeah you have a question from Maggie she says have you found any similarities between your character Morris Delancey and Newsies and Connor and dear Evan Hansen um not really no no well I guess one dances his feelings away maybe I don't know yeah should we um sure let's do it thank you this way I hear him are we going up or down we're gonna go up just one so who do you hear this is Colton Ryan everyone hi oh Colton Ryan nice to see you and Rebecca Jarvis news on Facebook live right now on now hello hello um would you like to surprise everybody who comes to work today that's the best thing about live TV right all right whatever you call it now yeah exactly he's also the and we had the great privilege of last Sunday he went on for Evan and he made his Broadway debut congratulations thank you very much what was that moment like for you um as you're here in your backpack I'm going to work lunch right oh God what an ugly deal uh yeah no um it was it was thrilling yeah it was crazy I think these guys especially him they were very helpful um they're very present with me and helping me along the way so we call it the show a love they were kind of pushed me along it was wonderful congratulations thank you what a moment were you did you call your family beforehand the crazy great story I'm graduating college right now and um all my uh we have a thing called a shield case where where they all we all come to New York City we perform for a bunch of Industry professionals it just so happened the Showcase was that weekend so my mother my best friends were all here and um and they all kind of bummed rushed the theater they're like give us the tickets and we got like 20 of them somehow I mean yeah and um so so yeah so they were all there what a moment it's very crazy spiritual amazing day so yeah it was wonderful yeah tell remind everybody your name and where they can find you if they're if they're looking to find you in the world of social media and whatnot although that uh Colton Ryan is my name uh the handle is at Colton the wizard it's a branding thing um so so yeah I'm gonna hook on everything somewhere so you can find me the same name we'll let you go ahead of us and get you guys you guys what up what a great thing to have all of those things happen to him in one weekend I know it was meant to be no it really was watch whatever behind you guys another viewer tuning in now Kimberly says what's your favorite song and why oh Queen hello mine is uh for forever and uh it's it's the one moment in the show that it really starts the plot of the show and it's the first time that Evan really um you know he's telling this lie throughout it but it's coming from a very truthful place and a very vulnerable honest place for him and so it's very um parallel the different you know problems that are happening within it hey Benjamin we steal you sure are you sure for one second I'm just gonna keep warming up nervous with ABC we're on Facebook live hello everyone I know you're getting ready for the show congratulations on everything you've accomplished you've done a tremendous job well thank you it's one show at a time thank you for I it sounds seems like you got to get back to your yes yes warm-ups and whatnot I got my cast okay cool see you in a bit no fun bye bye Facebook everyone here is so friendly yeah I mean what's that musical theater no it's a hard enough show to do so yeah you gotta make it easier on yourself because um we've all done with it you know seven on big cast members have been with them for three years and you know you develop those relationships and you really get to know people and it's it's a very family operations right now and it's a small group so we really love each other yeah it shows yeah in a real way yeah no it's good people we'll say hi to Will and then we'll let you be on your way so I wanted to know what what is all of this oh dessert where's our jokes Daniel would like to explain Daniel Daniel maybe we can move the wigs into your place yeah well nice to see you all thank you these are all uh jokes that are wonderful um hair uh gentlemen Daniel uh says for Rachel um and they're all just like really corny jokes seeing in the shower is all fun and games until you get shampoo in your mouth exactly so you know we keep things like this well I know you've got to get going to get ready for the rest of your night but thank you for having us back here Mike no thanks for helping this is really cool and thank you for sharing your story with thank you thank you guys and thank you guys great questions thanks for joining us we'll see you again soon take care bye

Channel: JillyO0315

Views: 5,142

Keywords: Mike Faist, Dear Evan Hansen, Behind the scenes with Mike Faist

Id: Vi6M9bKbM68

Length: 28min 57sec (1737 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 26 2023