It’s already been a tough morning for Beau Woodbridge. He has experienced several breakdowns. Or rather, repeating the same thing.
The actor will star in Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s hit Broadway production, a co-production between Sydney Theater Company and Michael Cassel Group, which opens at Sydney’s Roslyn Packer Theater this month before opening the season in Melbourne. He is hard at work rehearsing for the Australian premiere of the musical “Dear Evan Hansen.” Canberra and Adelaide. He plays an anxious teenager who, through mix-ups, misunderstandings, and quite a few white lies, is given the mantle of heroism by his high school peers in the wake of another student, Connor’s suicide. They believe the person was Evan’s friend.
Currently, Woodbridge (son of tennis doubles champion Todd Woodbridge) is working on one of Evan’s masterpieces, Words Fail, in which he meets Connor’s shocked and disbelieving family. Confess everything. Those who know the show or watched the 2021 movie version will remember this moment. It’s difficult.
Just before this interview, Woodbridge was emotionally engaged at an empty dining table as the rest of the cast was given the morning off. “It’s a great song,” he says. “What I really like about Dear Evan Hansen is that each song has a great big story and is technically very demanding. So with a song like Words Fail, you have to keep your pace. I know it’s necessary. There’s about 14 or 15 songs in the show, and I’ll be leading 11 or 12 of them. It’s a lot of work.”
Woodbridge, who won the role while a graduate student at the Royal Academy of Music in London, also feels the weight of expectations. The title role of Dear Evan Hansen is synonymous with Ben Platt’s performance in the hearts of fans. Ben Platt won a Tony Award in 2017 for his performance on Broadway and also starred in the film. Unfortunately, some people thought it was Pratt’s role (unfortunately). (27 years old at the time) was too old to play a teenager. He took back pasting on social media.
At 22 years old, the soft-spoken Woodbridge might be considered more “teenager.”
Beau Woodbridge and Georgia LaGaia, who plays Zoe Murphy, Connor’s sister and Evan’s longtime crush. Photo: Prudence Upton/Sydney Theater Company
“I was lucky enough to actually see the original production on Broadway when I was pretty young, about 14 years old, and I saw Ben perform as Evan,” he says. “I think there are definitely parts of him that stick in my head about Evan, but I don’t really think about things like that. It’s fun for me to approach it from the text (and) from the score. And I really respect that. I definitely have my own take on Evan and the social anxiety he goes through.”
Was that something Woodbridge imagined? “I definitely have anxiety in certain areas myself and use that to drive my decisions,” he says. “For me, it tends to manifest physically. It kind of comes down to my stomach. So I’ve been playing with that, collecting and releasing tension in my gut.”
Some of Evan’s anxiety may be a result of his hyperawareness, Woodbridge says. “Dean (coach Bryant) and I have developed the idea that Evan is not a socially anxious person who wants to avoid people and problems. I see him as very conscious and really good at reading situations. He just can’t interact with them. What I really want to see in Evan is a longing for connection.”
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Director Dean Bryant in the rehearsal room. Photo: Prudence Upton/Sydney Theater Company
Bryant says he is unfazed by the prospect of staging a new version of Australia’s beloved musical. He did the same with 2021’s Fun Home. “That show was also loved, and while it may not have been as big of a hit as ‘Dear Evan Hansen,’ so many people still saw it on Broadway and in London.” takes the same approach to classic works and new works: what it feels like the author intended, but about mental health in 2024. , and what do you feel it says about conversations between teenagers and parents in 2024?”
In his production, “the space[of the theater]feels like Evan’s mind, compressing him, and the screen is used sparingly, overpowering the characters. “It’s like experiencing the Internet,” he says.
Natalie O’Donnell, who plays Connor’s mother Cynthia and has two teenagers herself, said she was particularly struck by the authenticity of Bryant’s direction. “What I think this show captures beautifully is how teenagers interact with each other and how the conversations between parents and teenagers exist in a completely different world. , that really resonated with me and I don’t say that lightly because I’m a mom who watches my kids do the same thing.”
Woodbridge saw the Broadway production with his mother. “I remember seeing you both face to face at the end and crying. You come back wanting to talk, to let me know you appreciate being there. These You’ve seen characters traverse moral and ethical gray areas, but it’s so real and the same world we find ourselves in every day. It’s great to see a musical that isn’t all glamorous. I’m really impressed.”
Dear Evan Hansen comes to Sydney’s Roslyn Packer Theater from October 12th. Melbourne Arts Center from December 14th. Canberra Theater Center from February 27, 2025. Playing at Her Majesty’s Theater in Adelaide from April 3rd
