Pasek and Paul

Pasek and Paul
Benj Pasek (left) and Justin Paul
Background information
Genres	Musical Theatre
Website	pasekandpaul.com
Members	Benj Pasek Justin Paul

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, known together as Pasek and Paul, are an American songwriting duo and composing team for musical theater, films, and television.^[1][2] Their works include A Christmas Story, Dogfight, Edges, Dear Evan Hansen, and James and the Giant Peach. Their original songs have been featured on NBC's Smash, and in the film La La Land, for which they won both the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song "City of Stars".^[3][4][5]

Both artists are graduates of the University of Michigan^[6] and winners of the American Theatre Wing's 2007 Jonathan Larson Award,^[7] which honors achievement by composers, lyricists and librettists.

Their work on original musical Dear Evan Hansen has received widespread critical acclaim and earned them the Tony Award for Best Original Score.

University of Michigan

Pasek and Paul started working together as freshmen at the University of Michigan where they completed their BFA degrees in musical theatre in December 2006.^[8] Both got "background" roles in the school's musical theater production, which inspired them to write the series of songs turned into a show, Edges. While Pasek usually writes lyrics and Paul usually writes music, they opted to share credit for both elements of the songwriting.^[9]

Works

A Christmas Story, The Musical

In 2010, Pasek and Paul joined the creative team of A Christmas Story, The Musical. The musical opened at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre on December 9, 2010.^[10] Since the Seattle premiere, the show recruited John Rando and choreographer Warren Carlyle to launch a national tour in 2011, concluding at the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.^[11] The musical played a limited engagement on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre from November 19, 2012 through December 30, 2012; this was Pasek and Paul's Broadway debut as songwriters.^[12]

The show received three Tony Award nominations in 2013, for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre.^[13] It also received six Drama Desk Award nominations including Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Music, Outstanding Choreography (Warren Carlyle), Outstanding Book of a Musical (Joseph Robinette), Outstanding Orchestrations (Larry Blank), and Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical (John Bolton).^[14]

The cast album was recorded and produced by Sony Masterworks and is published through Warner/Chappell Music.^[15]

Dogfight

Pasek and Paul, together with book writer Peter Duchan, adapted the 1991 River Phoenix and Lili Taylor film Dogfight for their musical Dogfight. The musical premiered Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre on July 16, 2012 after previews from June 27 and was directed by Joe Mantello and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli.^[16] The show closed on August 19, 2012.

The musical was the recipient of the 2011 Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater given by the American Academy of Arts and Letters^[17] and two 2013 Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Musical and Outstanding Choreographer (Christopher Gattelli).^[18] It was nominated for 2013 Drama League Awards for Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical and Distinguished Performance (Lindsay Mendez).^[19]

The Dogfight Original Cast Album was released digitally on April 30, 2013 and as a CD in May, 2013 by Sh-K-Boom Records.

Edges

Edges is a song cycle about the trials and tribulations of moving into adulthood. It examines the search for love, commitment and meaning. Edges premiered at the Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor, Michigan on April 3, 2005.^[6] Social media created a dedicated fan base nicknamed "Edge-heads".^[20] It has had over 200 productions worldwide in Australia,^[21] South Africa,^[22] Denmark,^[23][24] France,^[25] South Korea, the United Kingdom,^[26] Canada,^[27] the Philippines,^[28] and across the United States.^[29]

James and the Giant Peach

Pasek and Paul wrote the score to the musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. The show premiered at the Norma Terris Theatre at Goodspeed Musicals in 2010 in a developmental production, and was directed by Graciela Daniele and choreographed by Pilobolus.^[30]

Dear Evan Hansen

Their musical Dear Evan Hansen premiered at the Arena Stage (Washington, D.C.) on July 30, 2015, running through August 23. The musical was inspired by a traumatic incident in Pasek's life, the death of a high school student. The book was written by Steven Levenson, directed by Michael Greif and starred Ben Platt as Evan.^[31][32][33]

The musical made its Off-Broadway debut in March 2016 (previews) at the Second Stage Theatre's Tony Kiser Theatre. Again directed by Greif, most of the Arena Stage cast appears in the Off-Broadway production.^[34] The musical is a recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.

Dear Evan Hansen premiered on Broadway on November 14, 2016, and opened December 4, 2016, at the Music Box Theatre. At the 71st Tony Awards, it was nominated for nine awards including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Actor in a Musical for Platt. It won six awards including Best Musical and Best Original Score for the duo.

Other

Other works include If You Give A Pig A Pancake and Duck For President for Theatreworks USA,^[35] and Dr. Williams, written for the Orchard Project's 24 Hour Musicals benefit. The show starred Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Cheyenne Jackson. Pasek and Paul were featured in the documentary film One Night Stand about the process.^[36]

Their New York premiere was a concert of songs titled Become: The Music of Pasek & Paul and was performed May 14, 2006, at Joe's Pub at the Public Theatre. The evening was a benefit for the Wylie Foundation and featured performers including Gavin Creel, Cheyenne Jackson, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Steven Pasquale. The evening was produced and directed by Jamie McGonnigal.

Television

Smash

As television songwriters, their original songs were featured on Season 2 of NBC's Smash, and have risen to the Top 25 on the iTunes Pop Charts. (See: List of songs in Smash)

Johnny and the Sprites

Pasek and Paul wrote music for six episodes of the Disney Channel show Johnny and the Sprites, including music for one story in the series' premiere episode.

The Flash

Pasek and Paul also wrote the original song "Runnin' Home to You" performed by Grant Gustin for the musical crossover episode of The Flash "Duet" between The Flash and Supergirl.^[37]

Films

La La Land

Pasek and Paul wrote the lyrics for the film musical La La Land. Justin Hurwitz wrote the music. The film stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. It was written and directed by Damien Chazelle.^[38] The film, in its world premiere, was the opening film at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2016.^[39] "City of Stars", their song from the film composed by Justin Hurwitz, won the 2017 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.^[4] "City of Stars" and "Audition" received nominations for Best Original Song at the 89th Academy Awards.^[40] They won the 2017 Academy Award for Best Original Song for "City of Stars." ^[41]

The Greatest Showman

Pasek and Paul will be writing the lyrics for the upcoming 2017 film musical The Greatest Showman, in collaboration with John Debney.^[42]

Aladdin

Pasek and Paul will be writing songs for Disney's upcoming live-action film adaptation of Aladdin directed by Guy Ritchie, in collaboration with Alan Menken.^[43]

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Pasek and Paul will be writing songs for Disney's upcoming live-action film adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.^[44]

Other film work

Pasek and Paul also wrote the song "Get Back Up Again" for the film Trolls.

Performances

Adelaide Cabaret Festival

In 2010, Pasek and Paul performed at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in Adelaide, Australia.^[45]

American Musical Theatre Live Paris

In 2013, Pasek and Paul performed and hosted master classes in Paris, at American Musical Theatre Live Paris.^[46][47]

Ronacher Vienna

In 2013, Pasek and Paul hosted a master class at the Performing Center Austria and performed at the Ronacher in Vienna, Austria.^[48][49]

Awards and nominations

†: Pasek and Paul became the youngest winners of the Jonathan Larson Grant in history.

Personal life

Pasek is the son of professor Kathy Hirsh-Pasek.^[50] Pasek's alma mater is University of Michigan and Friends' Central School.

Paul's alma mater is University of Michigan and Staples High School.

References

External links

• Pasek and Paul website
• Michael Paulson, What It's Like to Make It in Showbiz With Your Best Friend, The New York Times, November 10, 2016.
• Benj Pasek on IMDb
• Justin Paul on IMDb