This is a video promoting the Broadway show “Dear Evan Hansen”. If you thought it was a video of cult members singing a hymn to their incredible founder, you would be wrong. It is an absolutely horrible video; the entire thing is dubbed from a studio recording and lip-synced with the wandering camera — blissful triumphant faces insisting that all is well and wonderful and sweet.
“Dear Evan Hansen” looks like a good play. I bought tickets for my wife and I: we’re going. But these ads bug me because they indulge in a peculiar form of fraud. Most of the time, these videos are blatant dubs: pleasing videos of singers and musicians obviously lip-syncing to studio recordings of the music. But these ads purport to show the performers actually recording the audio. They are not: they are posing, hamming it up for the camera, creating contrived shots intended to make it look like they are really feeling the drama of the song.
This is from a “serious” musical? Everyone is smiling as if they just overdosed on Prozac.
We have reached a new low. For years, I have been suggesting that a good music video would be a simple recording of the artists in the studio actually performing the song instead of the usual ridiculous lip-sync. Well, someone thought that was a cool idea, and now we have videos of the artist supposedly in the studio and being all dramatic and earnest in expression– but instead of hearing the actual recording of that performance, we hear a highly edited and homogenized different studio recording. The mic is a prop. They couldn’t bear to show the real recording sessions because then they wouldn’t be able to get all cutesy with the wandering camera, the faces, the cutaways, and so on. They would have microphones blocking a view of the mouth. They would have artists concentrating on their technique instead of their facial expressions.
The facial expressions here are intended to show and audience what it thinks serious musicians who are feeling the drama would look like. Watch a real musician perform: they look nothing like this.
This is a stunning new low in pop music. It is beyond fake.
I am perplexed by what I hear and see about “Dear Evan Hansen”, including this line: “Once you’re outside of the theatre, the entire story feels ickier and creepier than it ever did from the plush seats of the Royal Alex” from the favorable Toronto Star review of the Toronto Production.
I listened to some samples of it on Youtube: it sounds like superior factory pop. Well, at least it’s not rap or hip hop.
From the New York Times: “Rarely – scratch that — never have I heard so many stifled sobs and sniffles in the theater.” Are we reviewing theatre or a therapy session here? They continue: “The musical is ideal for families looking for something yeastier and more complex than the usual sugary diversions.” And yet that sample video above is pure meringue.
Here’s another video: utter dreck. Once again, we are supposed to think we are seeing the actual artist’s performance, but it clearly is not the actual performance. It is a bunch of actors hamming it up in the studio. Nobody looks like they are actually concentrating on holding pitch or tempo or rhythm: they are all posing for the camera.
I understand the market for this. There are a lot people who want to believe that the french fries they are consuming are actually green beans or spinach. They want to believe the art they enjoy is actually substantive and original and authentic. That’s what the videos are supposed to look like.
Finally, the promotional materials for this production emphasize the phrase (and the song) “You will be Found”. It doesn’t sound like the play is really in tune with this sentiment, which might be a good thing: “You Will Be Found” sounds like a desperate attempt to be inspirational and anesthetizing. It sounds like something Oprah would promote.