‘Today is going to be a good day...’ With not one, but two Evan Hansen’s in the room, that would appear to be a given.
Ryan Kopel and Sonny Monaghan may sport very different looks and have an age gap of six years but they have one important thing in common, both are preparing to play the iconic title role in the new Nottingham Playhouse production of the Olivier, Tony and Grammy award-winning Best Musical, Dear Evan Hansen.
Kopel stars in the fresh new take on the musical, which will embark on its first UK Tour after opening in Nottingham, while Monaghan is the alternate Evan. Both are excited at the prospect and it's clear they can't wait to have an audience.
With musical theatre credits that include Newsies and The Book of Mormon, Kopel landed the coveted role after a three-month audition process. He recalls, “My agent asked me if I’d be interested in Dear Evan Hansen at the start of the year. I said, 'Yes', and then did five auditions, the last one being in March. A couple of days later, while on the Underground going home, my agent called to say I’d got the part. I was so excited I had to get off the Tube to scream a little bit. Then I realised I was miles away from my stop and would have to walk the rest of the way. That was even more tortuous as I couldn't wait to see my family and partner’s faces when I told them.”
If Kopel’s casting followed a fairly traditional route, for Monaghan, from Eastbourne, the audition process proved very ‘now’, he landed the part after submitting a video on TikTok, as part of the casting team’s collaboration with the social media platform, which invited users who were interested in being cast in the production to upload a video of themselves singing any number from the show.
From more than 2,000 submissions, the 21-year-old was one of 36 TikTok users invited to in-person auditions, eventually being cast as a member of the show's ensemble and as alternate Evan, a role he will perform twice a week, at every matinee.
The 21-year-old explains, “I saw a post asking people to submit a video of themselves singing a number from Dear Evan Hansen through TikTok. I sang Words Fail. Maybe three weeks later I got an email inviting me to an in-person audition.”
Three rounds of auditions later, Monaghan was recording a song for his friend’s new musical when he got his good news and, as it was Dear Evan Hansen that first got him into musical theatre while at secondary school, he says receiving the news was "a dream come true."
“When my agent called and said I’d been offered the alternate Evan, my friend and I had a bit of a celebration,” he admits.
Dear Evan Hansen is the story of an anxious high school kid who wants nothing more than to fit in. The thing is, on his way to fitting in, he didn’t tell the whole truth. And now must give up on a life he never dreamt he’d have. As events spiral and the truth comes out, Evan faces a reckoning with himself and everyone around him.
The musical premiered in Washington, DC, in 2015 before transferring to Off-Broadway and then Broadway a year later. The London West End production followed in 2019 but it was on Broadway that Monaghan, a self-confessed fan of the show, first saw the musical during a family holiday to New York. He loved it so much he then went to see the original West End production when it opened. For 27-year-old Kopel, it was a very different story.
The actor from Kirriemuir, in Scotland, reveals, “I never saw the original production, but Dear Evan Hansen was such a huge cultural phenomenon when it first came out that I knew all about it without ever really knowing the story.”
His introduction to that came during the audition process and with themes including bullying and mental health, he quickly discovered that Dear Evan Hansen deals with some important issues.
He recalls, “Reading the script during the audition process was very helpful because as much as Ben Platt, the original Evan, was iconic in the role, it was nice to be able to form my own take on Evan. The writing is so good that I really can just trust my instinct to bring what I feel to the character. Usually when you do a musical that has been done before, there’s a set way of doing everything; 'This is how you say this line,' and, 'This is where you stand on the stage for this moment'. We’ve had none of that. We have complete freedom to take the script and create something new.”
‘Staging-wise, everything is different...” chips in Monaghan, before Kopel continues, “It’s eight years since the Broadway production debuted, which doesn’t sound that long but when you think about it, a lot has changed in that time. The technology we use everyday is so different that much of the script has taken on a whole new meaning. Just looking at the piece from the lens of 2024 has been an interesting experience.”
If the rehearsal period has been invigorating for Kopel, for Monaghan it has been nothing less than hectic. Explaining how having two Evans ‘in the room' works, he reveals, “Mainly, it’s Ryan and the principal cast who are in the rehearsal room with director Adam Penford. They create the show. As the alternate Evan, I get brought in once it looks the way they want it to look. Then I work with our associate director to replicate that.”
Kopel elaborates, “To be fair, that is the case, but it’s also done that way because Sonny has about '90 million' different things to learn. While I’m lucky to be focussing on one character, he has to be in a different room learning the parts of Evan, Connor, Jared and all the ensemble's moves too. 100 per cent do I have the easy shift... apart from having to do it every night,” he grins.
And it’s not just lines, songs and moves the pair have to familiarise themselves with, due to the sensitive themes of the piece, producers have partnered with The Mix, the UK’s leading digital charity for under 25-year-olds, to ensure anyone affected by the issues explored in the show knows where to find support. The Mix has provided training to the cast and creative team on how to appropriately respond to queries from the public, both online and offline, and equip them with the knowledge to direct individuals to the right support channels.
“The Mix is there for anyone who needs to reach out for support," explains Kopel. "We had a long Zoom with them the very first week of rehearsals where they explained what they did and the way they work. It was an incredible insight into a world I had no idea about.”
“There's just something about this show that allows people to connect deeply with the characters. We take that responsibility incredibly seriously and having that guidance from The Mix is vitally important.” said Kopel.
Despite its themes, Dear Evan Hansen is a beautifully crafted and uplifting piece of musical theatre, one that Monaghan believes will “be a blessing for many, by helping them realise they need to talk to someone.”
Kopel agrees, “Ultimately, Dear Evan Hansen is about hope. No matter what happens, what you are going through, its message is that there is always someone to talk to and reasons why you should go on. That’s what I'd like people to take away from the show.”
Packed with some of the biggest musical theatre songs of the last decade, Dear Evan Hansen has Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the Oscar-winning composers for The Greatest Showman, to thank for its haunting score and both Evans have a favourite song when asked which they enjoy singing most. The anthemic For Forever is Monaghan’s while for Kopel it is Words Fail, he adds with a cheeky smile, “I like it because it’s a bit of an emotional catharsis, it doesn’t matter if your voice cracks because you are crying and already an emotional mess.”
Before they head back to rehearsal, there's one last question: Dear Evan Hansen starts with Evan writing a letter to himself. It begins, naturally enough, with the title of the show followed by 'Today is going to be a good day because...' So, what would they write in such a letter to themselves?
"Keeping in line with the show, My letter would say, ‘Dear Ryan Kopel, today is going to be a good day because you can take each day at a time, every hour as it comes’," says the Scot.
"Mine would read, 'Dear Sonny Monaghan, today is going to be a good day because this is what and where you want to be and you should know that you have worked hard and deserve to be here'."
With opening night fast approaching, both admit that despite their reassuring words to themselves, the nerves are sure to kick in on the big night, but even that is a good thing.
“I kind of live in a state of constant nerves anyway,” laughs Kopel, “but nerves before a performance are definitely a good thing. It means you care, so I'll harness them and let them kick me up a gear...”
“It’s like athletes," nods Monaghan, “You have to use your nerves and adrenaline to reach your peak performance...”
Kopel laughs, “Yes, and then keep it there for another two and half hours.”
Show: Dear Evan Hansen
Sunderland Empire
Dates: 19 – 23 Nov
Tickets: from £13 online at ATGTickets.com/Sunderland *
*May be subject to a transaction fee of £3.80.
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