Tony award-winning musical 'Dear Evan Hansen' comes to LA's Ahmanson Theatre
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul won the Academy Award for Best Song for their work on "La La Land" in 2017. A few months later, their musical "Dear Evan Hansen" took Broadway's Tony Awards by storm.
The first national tour of the musical has just started its run at the Ahmanson Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.
"Dear Evan Hansen" tells the story of a high school boy whose anxiety and awkwardness have left him isolated and alone.
After a classmate dies, a misunderstanding spins out of control, and it inadvertently thrusts Evan into the world of popularity and social media stardom.
"He's given this opportunity to walk through a door of a little bit of a lie, or maybe a big lie, and in exchange he suddenly feels like he's part of something," Paul said. "He's part of a family, part of a community, he has friends, he has people who reach out to him."
Pasek and Paul said the reaction they've received from audiences has been unexpected and overwhelming.
"The show touches on a lot of topics that sometimes we're not that prone to actually talk about out loud," Pasek said. "Whether it's mental health, depression, anxiety, suicide, and when you see those issues portrayed on stage, I think it emboldens people to begin to have those conversations. And if the show can be a conversation starter, we feel like it's doing its job."
Pasek and Paul are thrilled to be able to do this job at this time.
"I think we feel really lucky that we're living in a time where musicals are being embraced by the masses again," Pasek said. "We credit folks like Lin-Manuel Miranda, or Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, with "Frozen" or "Hamilton," to facilitate this world where people are excited about musicals."
The fact that their musical "Dear Evan Hansen" is playing at the historic Ahmanson Theater in downtown Los Angeles is just icing on the cake.
"These were theaters we read about and studied in school," Paul said. "So many of our friends and colleagues who live in L.A., who will come see the show, many for the first time, get to experience it at the Ahmanson, it's the perfect place for the show."
"Dear Evan Hansen" runs through November 25th.
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