Theater Take a look inside Dear Evan Hansen's gorgeous new book Don't be on the outside, always looking in By Jessica Derschowitz Jessica Derschowitz Jessica Derschowitz is the former digital features director at Entertainment Weekly. She left EW in 2022. EW's editorial guidelines Published on November 16, 2017 01:07PM EST Trending Videos Close this video player 01 of 14 Dear Evan Hansen Matthew Murphy Ben Platt may be leaving Dear Evan Hansen on Nov. 19, but evidence of his Tony-winning, heart-wrenching performance as the titular character will still be found in the upcoming behind-the-scenes book Dear Evan Hansen: Through the Window — and EW has an exclusive sneak peek inside those pages. Through the Window (out Nov. 21 but available for pre-order now) features interviews with the cast and crew, behind-the-scenes photography, reflections from the creative team (including writer Steven Levenson and composer-lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul), and the musical’s full libretto. Keep clicking to see more from inside the book. 02 of 14 "Sincerely, Me" Matthew Murphy Paul describes "Sincerely Me" as "the biggest tonal risk in the show," writing in an annotation, "We have no idea if the audience will be OK with us having Connor come back into the story this way. We get to the 'nipples' line, where we know we will sink or swim based on the audience response, and they laugh! They were willing to go on the ride, and regardless of whether we had a million things to fix and change...we knew in that moment that the patient—our show—still had a fighting chance." 03 of 14 Evan and Jared Matthew Murphy Writes Levenson, "Jared’s function in the show is often to puncture deep emotional moments before we run the risk of tipping into sentimentality. It’s actually quite difficult for an actor to step onstage and entirely undercut the tone and feeling of the previous scene, but Will Roland makes it seem effortless." 04 of 14 "Waving Through a Window" Matthew Murphy "The first draft of this song was titled 'Total Reinvention,' which we soon realized was too on the nose," Pasek writes in the book. "We wanted to create an 'I Want' song where Evan expresses his fear of loneliness. It allowed us to give specificity to the idea." 05 of 14 "Waving Through a Window" Matthew Murphy "This song initially ended without a coda," Paul writes. "We thought we were being 'smart' because in that version, it mirrored Evan retreating back into himself, but it played fairly anticlimactically onstage. We had to rethink it, but how could we justify a big ending? Well, Evan was feeling desperate — so couldn’t he be screaming on the inside? We worked with Ben Platt to craft a new ending to the song that felt right. This is the first time we stop for a 'hand' [applause] in the musical. The addition of the coda finally allowed the audience the chance to fully cheer for this character and the actor’s terrific performance." 06 of 14 "Waving Through a Window" Matthew Murphy Screens scattered across the stage display social media feeds as if in real time. 07 of 14 "Waving Through a Window (Reprise)" Matthew Murphy "Steven is a little TRICKSTER and did a really cool thing that 99% of audience members and listeners don’t notice," writes Paul. "But it’s still SUPER COOL. He cuts off 'sound' in the lyric 'make a sound' with Connor’s first word, 'so,' which makes you feel like you’re hearing the lyric but you’re not. TRICKSTER! It was Steven’s way of threading song into dialogue so you feel like the line punctuates the sung moment, even though it gets cut off. Brillz!" 08 of 14 Evan and Connor Matthew Murphy Levenson says of Connor, "One of the many ways that Connor mirrors Evan is in the speed of his thought process. Like Evan, he races from one idea to the next. Unlike Evan, whose anxiety is always directed inward, Connor projects his fear and anger externally—everyone is always out to get him. Evan’s brand of anxiety tends to curdle into self-loathing; Connor’s transforms into paranoia." 09 of 14 Dear Evan Hansen Matthew Murphy Another shot of Platt as Evan Hansen. 10 of 14 "Waving Through a Window (Reprise #2)" Matthew Murphy "At first, we weren’t sure who should sing this reprise. It began as a trio for Alana, Zoe, and Jared with the intention of showing that all these young people privately shared the same sense of isolation," writes Pasek. "This felt a little forced when staged, so we gave the reprise to Connor. Doing so seemed to foreshadow his suicide and felt too dark in tone, which made the rest of the act feel uneven. Eventually, we decided to have Alana sing it as a solo. This planted the seed of her desperation for acceptance, so we understand her push to promote the Connor Project throughout the rest of the show." 11 of 14 Dear Evan Hansen Matthew Murphy "Evan’s broken arm is the hinge for so much that happens in this story," writes Levenson. "It’s always incredible to me to remember that Benj, Justin, and I had been working on the musical for over two years before we even arrived at the idea of Evan having a broken arm." 12 of 14 Dear Evan Hansen Matthew Murphy Jared (inset) "knows just how to capture what we in the audience are thinking..." Levenson writes. 13 of 14 Dear Evan Hansen Matthew Murphy Referring to a scene in Act One, Levenson writes, "I want the audience here to remember, if only subliminally, what Evan wrote in his letter: 'I wish that anything I said... mattered, to anyone.” Suddenly, for the first time in his life, it does." 14 of 14 Dear Evan Hansen: Through the Window Headcase Designs The book — fittingly, covered in a white, cast-like material — will be released Nov. 21.