Ben Platt as Evan Hansen and Laura Dreyfuss as Zoe in the world-premiere musical Dear Evan Hansen at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Photo: Joan Marcus.
By DCist Contributor Jonelle Walker
Attempts to capture the zeitgeist of a rising generation can be irksome. The often-maliciously named “Millennial” generation has been subject to embarrassing ads about intern life and misguided pop journalism, to name just a few transgressions. Tonight, Arena Stage will debut their own take on “kids these days” with Dear Evan Hansen, a world premiere musical from songwriting team Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
It’s a curious move for Arena Stage to court the under-35 crowd this aggressively, a demographic that’s chased most fervently by Woolly Mammoth and Studio Theatre (though all three companies, as well as most other local theaters, tend to have deals for younger patrons). Thankfully, though, this world premiere is not just about youth culture, but also created by young people. Pasek and Paul are 29 and 30, respectively. Their leading man—Ben Platt, of Pitch Perfect fame—is just 21. Heck, even the bookwriter, Steven Levenson, is in his early 30s.
While the details of the plot are still closely guarded (until tonight’s debut, at least), the story follows Evan Hansen, a high school student who has a second chance at fitting in, getting the girl, and having a perfect family. The trouble? He’s concealing a major secret which, if discovered, could ruin everything.
DCist sat down with Pasek and Paul, as well as leading actress Laura Dreyfuss, to discuss Dear Evan Hansen, “Millennials,” and why the musical form is perfect for portraying the struggles of youth.
What inspired you to create Dear Evan Hansen?
BP: We were interested in exploring how our generation responds to grief. Dear Evan Hansen is inspired by true events that happened at my high school. There’s this need for public community—especially online—and that need often drives people to prove or even invent connections to one another, particularly as they come together in the wake of a tragedy. We wanted to look at this need to connect to other people, to be a part of a community.
JP: We were also excited to get the chance to write a solidly contemporary show with a contemporary score after Dogfight, A Christmas Story and James and the Giant Peach, all of which were set in very specific worlds that required very specific styles.
What has the development process been like?
JP: Dear Evan Hansen was an idea that we first had in college. We were encouraged to begin developing the show a number of years ago by a producer who challenged us to write that idea that had always been in our heads but we’d been too scared to sit down and write.
BP: We read the work of Steven Levenson, a fantastic young playwright with an incredible grasp on contemporary language and humor, and were so excited to have him come aboard the project. Justin and I came to the piece knowing the themes we wanted to explore, but themes a plot do not make. With Steven, we spent a very long time—a year, at least—just talking, teasing out the story, developing our protagonist. Only from there did we start to identify song moments.
LD: I’ve been lucky enough to do the past two workshops leading up to this production. It’s been so exciting and such an incredible gift. So rarely do actors get the opportunity to create an entirely new musical and have a chance to perform it in front of an audience.
JP: An original musical is a moving target; we’ve had to re-write so many things. Even the tiniest change in Act Two can reverberate with massive consequences in Act One. In an adaptation, you know the important beats you have to hit; in a wholly original musical, the map is blank.
Laura, tell us a bit about your character in Dear Evan Hansen—Zoe—and the role she plays in the story.
LD: Zoe is girl who is trying to navigate her way through high school during the most complex time of her life. She goes out of her way to be nice to people like Evan, even though she feels disconnected from everyone around her. Evan comes into her life in a very unexpected way and she is forever changed.
Why is the musical such a fitting form for telling the stories of young people? It certainly seems a trend, from classics like West Side Story to contemporary works like Spring Awakening.
BP: Musicals work well when emotions run high, when the characters have plenty to sing about. When we’re young, and we’re starting to explore our identities and who we want to be in this world, that has a lot of emotional potency. It gives young characters so much to struggle with, to express. As a form, musicals allow a very raw and direct connection to our inner thoughts, and when we’re young, we have so many big ideas and big emotions that we need to express; that need fits the form.
LD: It’s very special to be young. There is a certain naïveté and a newfound freedom of thought. In a show like Hair [Dreyfuss appeared in the 2009 Broadway revival], the youth of America created a counter-culture that completely changed the course of history. It’s amazing to see young people realize their power. In a show like Dear Evan Hansen it can be a gesture as simple as a teenager standing up for the first time to say “this is me.”
Ben Platt as Evan Hansen . Photo: Joan Marcus.
Do you feel that Dear Evan Hansen makes a statement about “millennials”?
LD: Absolutely. I think it makes a statement about anyone who feels the need to belong. The most important thing I think people will take away from the show is that life is beautiful. We all make human mistakes and no one is going to give you permission to be yourself except you!
What do you think are the defining characteristics of the “millennial” generation?
LD: I think the explosion of technology and social media has changed the way we interact. Things happen so much faster now and we are constantly connected, that creates a lot of possibilities and a very strong desire to chase dreams.
As young artists yourselves, what do you think is important about telling stories which are relevant to young people?
BP: We feel a responsibility to write what we know, things that our generation question and think about. When we wrote our first show in college,Edges, we were nineteen years old, and the songs we wrote were about our experiences and our friends’ experiences as young people. The show premiered in 2005, in the very early days of social media; Facebook and YouTube were brand new. These new platforms allowed other young people to have direct and instant access to our songs. We found an amazingly powerful sense of connection in writing things that felt true to us, and having those things feel authentic and true to other young people.
Dear Evan Hansen is our first big attempt to write about contemporary issues with a contemporary score, and we hope that it resonates not just with our generation, but with everyone.
What drew you to premiering Dear Evan Hansen at Arena Stage? Is there something particular about D.C. that you think contributes to the piece?
JP: Arena Stage is nationally and internationally known as one of the best theaters for developing new work, and this is certainly a new work. We wanted to premiere the show in front of an audience that was smart and savvy and could give us great feedback, and that also understood what it means to develop a new show. D.C. audiences undeniably possess these qualities, and we can’t wait to sharpen and hone in on what we’ve created with their help.
What do you hope audiences will gain from the show?
JP: The show is a very contemporary look at society, and how young people relate to family and their community, the need for connection and a consuming feeling of loneliness. Many of the shows we love the most are those that hold a mirror up to the audience and ask questions about where we are in the world, and what we believe.
BP: We’re hoping that this musical makes people talk when they leave the theater, that they see something of themselves in the story and that they might recognize, in these seemingly contemporary issues, a greater universality and timelessness.
Dear Evan Hansen runs from tonight through August 23. Tickets are available online, including Pay Your Age discount tickets, if you’re under 30.
