Recode Decode: How 'Dear Evan Hansen' brought social media to Broadway

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Vox Media Podcast Network

Technology, Business

4.3 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2017

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Stacey Mindich and Steven Levenson, the producer and book writer of "Dear Evan Hansen," talk with Recode's Kara Swisher about how the hit Broadway musical depicts the current state of social media and isolation. The show centers on a socially anxious teenager who tells a big lie about a dead classmate, and Levenson says it asks a question that's just as potent in the real world: Through the internet, can something fake turn into something real? Mindich talks about how the story of "Dear Evan Hansen" evolved to speak to multiple generations and how its creators have reached an ardent base of fans online, some of whose faces are now a literal part of the show. They also discuss the post-"Hamilton" era on Broadway, where technologically-minded events like "The Encounter" are rubbing shoulders with old-school live theater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today's show is brought to you by SoFi.
0:03.0	Whatever your next goal is, get there sooner with a personal loan from SoFi.
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0:12.0	Terms and conditions apply. Visit SoFi.com-slash-legal for more information.
0:17.0	Loans originated by SoFi Lending Corp and are not available in all states.
0:22.0	This show is supported by Willis Towers Watson.
0:26.0	They decode cybersecurity by looking at risks across your company's people, capital and technology.
0:31.0	Willis Towers Watson assesses your vulnerabilities, protecting you with the best in class solutions
0:36.0	and helping you recover quickly from future attacks.
0:38.0	Details at WillisTowersWattsin.com-slash-recode.
0:43.0	Recode Radio presents Recode Decode, coming to you from the Vox Media Podcast Network.
0:50.0	Hi, I'm Cara Swisher, Executive Editor of Recode.
0:54.0	You may know me as the director of the hit Off Off Broadway Musical, Dear Mark Zuckerberg,
0:59.0	but in my spare time I talk tech and you're listening to Recode Decode, a podcast about tech and media's key players,
1:04.0	big ideas and how they're changing the world we live in.
1:07.0	You can find more episodes of Recode Decode anywhere you listen to podcasts.
1:11.0	We're on Apple Podcast, Google Play Music, Tune In, Stitcher, SoundCloud and more,
1:16.0	or just visit recode.net-slash-podcasts for more.
1:20.0	Today in the Red Chair are Stacey Mindage and Steven Levinson, the producer and book writer of Dear Evan Hansen.
1:27.0	It's a musical about a high school student with social anxiety disorders struggling to connect with people around him,
1:33.0	including his crush Zoe and her social outcast brother Connor.
	...

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