Arachnophonia: Dear Evan Hansen

Editor’s note: Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.

Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by student manager Marissa (class of 2025) and features the vocal selections score for Dear Evan Hansen. Thanks, Marissa!

Dear Evan Hansen

Dear Evan Hansen

Premiering on Broadway in 2016, Dear Evan Hansen is a musical about Evan Hansen, a high school senior in therapy for social anxiety and depression. As an exercise, his therapist tells him to write a letter to himself about his feelings going into the first day of school. The musical also centers around Connor Murphy, another high school senior battling depression. On the first day of senior year, Evan and Connor bump into each other, and Connor ends up taking Evan’s letter. Later that same day, Connor sadly ends his own life, with Evan’s letter still in his pocket. Connor’s family later reads this letter thinking Evan must have been Connor’s best friend, and Evan goes along with it instead of telling the truth. Through classic songs like “Sincerely, Me” and “You Will Be Found“, Dear Evan Hansen tells the story of just how big a single lie can get, while also raising awareness for teen mental health and suicide.

Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Alex Lacamoire are responsible for bringing this world to life through their musical talents. Their music has been heard off and on-Broadway, on tours, and even in a musical movie. If you would like to learn how to sing these coming-of-age pieces through sheet music, you can check this item out now from the Parsons Music Library.

Parsons Playlists: “Best Live Performances”

Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist is curated by Music Library student manager Eliana (class of 2024) and features a selection of songs recorded live.

Best Live Performances

There’s an endless number of incredible live performances, but these are some of the ones that top my list. I suppose being able to see the real thing would be better but a YouTube video is a close second, right?!?

Audience enjoying live music at a concert

Kelly Clarkson – “A Moment Like This” (American Idol winning performance from 2002) – A true cultural reset

Michael Jackson – “Billie Jean” (Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever at Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California on March 25, 1983) – An even bigger cultural reset

Rihanna – “Love on the Brain” (Live at Global Citizen Festival 2016) – Performance I would have traded my left kidney for to see live

Miley Cyrus – “Heart of Glass” (Live from the iHeart Festival 2020) – The rockification of Hannah Montana

Soshana Bean – “She Used To Be Mine” from Waitress (From Club Broadway.com 2019) – The storytelling makes this a 15/10

Queen – “Bohemian Rhapsody” (Live Aid 1985) – No description necessary

Beyoncé – “At Last” (For Barack and Michelle Obama – Inaugural Ball January 20, 2009) – A defining historical moment that never fails to bring tears to my eyes

Keala Settle – “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman (2017) – BTS you need to see

Ben Platt & Broadway Cast – “You Will Be Found” from Dear Evan Hansen – (From The Today Show April 2017) – Best of Broadway off of Broadway

Ariana Grande – “One Last Time” (From One Love Manchester June 2017) – Bravery and resilience highlighted in a single performance

Olivia Rodrigo & Joshua Bassett – “Just For A Moment” (Live Performance Vevo 2020) – Didn’t age well but the irony only adds to the heartbreak of the performance

Bruno Mars covers Adele’s “All I Ask” (The Live Lounge BBC Radio 1 November 2016) – Fun fact, Bruno wrote this song. And he kills it.

Here is a version of the whole playlist on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU94rco57ZexFIivdsXLUDb4weJss_Niy

Arachnophonia: Dear Evan Hansen

Editor’s note: Arachnophonia is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.

Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by student worker Susie (class of 2019) and features the Tony Award winning musical Dear Evan Hansen. Thanks, Susie!

Dear Evan Hansen

Dear Evan Hansen

Dear Evan Hansen is certainly not your classic musical. For one thing, there are only 8 people in the entire cast, and there are certainly no big dance numbers. But there are many reasons why Dear Evan Hansen cleaned up at the 2017 Tony Awards including winning Best New Musical, and one of those reasons is the cast recording, which also won the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album in 2017. The soundtrack captures the rawness of the story by having the “orchestra”, comprised of 5 instruments, on stage with the performers, and it utilizes electronic instrumentation to complement the importance of technology in the story line. And the soundtrack as a whole takes you on the journey of Evan Hansen, shy, bullied, friendless teenager who finds his place in the sun through a fabricated story just to have the truth come crashing in and destroy his new “perfect” life.

dear-evan-hansen

The soundtrack opens with “Anybody Have A Map?”, a song any mother wondering “does anybody happen to know how the hell to do this?” while raising teenagers can relate to. Then you hear the heartbreaking tune “Waving Through A Window” from Evan Hansen himself as he sings about always being on the outside and never being seen. Through the next 5 songs, you hear about Evan and his bully Connor, who is now dead, but due to a combination of coincidences, Evan is believed to have been Connor’s only friend. And as Evan leans into the lie, he helps Connor’s family, the school, and the world cope with loss due to teenage suicide through the song “You Will Be Found.” As Evan builds relationships and finds love in a father figure and a girlfriend that he never thought would be possible, everything begins to fall apart in a true Broadway fashion culminating with “Good For You” and “Words Fail.” But, of course, when the whole world seems to hate you, a child can always find support from his mother, and in “So Big/So Small”, Evan’s mother comforts him and the audience with lines like “your mom isn’t going anywhere … no matter what”. And from the rubble, Evan comes back and finds himself by “Stepping Into The Sun”. And in closing, Evan Hansen reminds us that even if you don’t have the life you have dreamed about, “today at least you’re you, and that’s enough”.

This soundtrack certainly isn’t a light and breezy listen, but if you enjoy emotional ballads and the beautiful vocals of Ben Platt, certainly give Dear Evan Hansen a listen.