Benj Pasek | |
|---|---|
 Benj Pasek (left) and Justin Paul (right), 2009 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | June 9, 1985 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, lyricist, singer |
| Member of | Pasek and Paul |
Benj Pasek (born June 9, 1985) is an Oscar, Tony, Grammy, Golden Globe, and Olivier-award winning composer, lyricist, and producer best known for his works The Greatest Showman and Dear Evan Hansen , all of which he co-wrote with his songwriting partner, Justin Paul. [1]
Pasek was born into a Jewish [2] family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother is the renowned child psychologist, author, and Brookings scholar Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, whose work focuses on the importance of childhood play. [3] As a child, he sang with the Philadelphia Boys Choir & Chorale. He went on to earn a B.F.A. in musical theater from the University of Michigan. It was there that he met Justin Paul. When Pasek and Paul were unsatisfied with the roles they were getting in the shows at the university, the two decided to begin writing their own shows. One of the first projects they worked on together, Edges, was developed at the school.
Pasek and Paul won the Jonathan Larson Grant in 2007. [4] [5] The two co-wrote and co-composed the musical Dogfight , which opened Off-Broadway at the Second Stage Theatre in July 2012. [6] The pair went on to write music and lyrics for James and the Giant Peach , A Christmas Story: The Musical , Dear Evan Hansen , and The Greatest Showman . [7] [8] Pasek also collaborated with Paul on lyrics for the film La La Land (music by Justin Hurwitz). [9] They have also written songs for the television shows Smash and The Flash. [10] More recently the duo wrote the original songs for the film Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, [11] Apple Original Films' Spirited, [12] and the Hulu show Only Murders in the Building . [13]
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is a children's book written by Bernard Waber first published in 1965. It is the sequel to The House on East 88th Street, published in 1962.
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. 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 films La La Land, for which they won both the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song "City of Stars", and The Greatest Showman. Their work on the original musical Dear Evan Hansen has received widespread critical acclaim and earned them the 2017 Tony Award for Best Musical and Best Original Score. In 2022, they won the Tony Award for Best Musical for serving as producers for the Broadway production of Michael R. Jackson's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical A Strange Loop.
Justin Paul is an American theater and television composer and lyricist best known for his works The Greatest Showman, La La Land and Dear Evan Hansen, all of which he co-wrote with his songwriting partner, Benj Pasek.
Edges is a work of musical theatre by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul. This work is a song cycle about coming of age, growth and self-discovery of people mostly in their 20s. Its most famous song, "Be My Friend", has come to be commonly known as the "Facebook song".
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek is the Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Professor of Psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia, where she directs the Temple University Infant Language Laboratory. She is the author of 14 books and over 200 publications on early childhood and infant development, with a specialty in language and literacy, and playful learning.
Michael Greif is an American stage director. He has won three Obie Awards and received four Tony Award nominations, for Rent, Grey Gardens, Next to Normal, and Dear Evan Hansen.
Jeremy Michael Jordan is an American actor and singer. He has performed on Broadway, in television and film, in concert, as well as in other theatrical productions.
Hit List is an American musical with music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, Drew Gasparini, Joe Iconis, Andrew McMahon, Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, and Lucie Silvas and a book by Julia Brownell, based on the original fictitious musical from the second season of the NBC television series Smash.
Dogfight is a musical with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and a book by Peter Duchan. It is an adaptation of Nancy Savoca's 1991 film Dogfight. The musical premiered off-Broadway at the Second Stage Theatre in 2012, and in August 2014, the musical had its European premiere at the Southwark Playhouse in London.
The Greatest Showman is a 2017 American biographical musical drama film directed by Michael Gracey from a screenplay written by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon, and a story by Bicks. The film stars an ensemble cast led by Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, and Zendaya. Featuring nine original songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and a score composed by John Debney and Joseph Trapanese, the film is a heavily fictionalized depiction of the life of P. T. Barnum, a showman and entertainer, and his creation of the Barnum & Bailey Circus and the lives of its star attractions.
Dear Evan Hansen is a musical with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and a book by Steven Levenson. The musical follows Evan Hansen, a high school senior with social anxiety, "who invents an important role for himself in a tragedy that he did not earn".
Dear Evan Hansen: Original Broadway Cast Recording is the cast album to the 2015 musical Dear Evan Hansen, with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and a book by Steven Levenson. The recording stars Ben Platt, Rachel Bay Jones, Laura Dreyfuss, Jennifer Laura Thompson, Michael Park, Mike Faist, Will Roland and Kristolyn Lloyd. The album was produced by Alex Lacamoire, Pasek and Paul, and featuring musicians include Rob Jost, Adele Stein, Justin Smith, Ben Cohn, Jamie Eblen, Dillon Kondor, Justin Goldner, Christopher Jahnke and Todd Low. The album was released by Atlantic Records on January 27, 2017, and featured at #8 on the Billboard 200, making the highest debut for a cast album after Camelot (1961). It also topped the Internet Albums chart. It further received the Best Musical Theater Album award at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.
James and the Giant Peach is a musical with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and book by Timothy Allen McDonald based on Roald Dahl's 1961 children's book of the same name.
"Waving Through a Window" is the second song from Act 1 of the 2015 musical Dear Evan Hansen, which premiered on Broadway in 2016. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote both the music and lyrics for the song, which serves as the main protagonist Evan Hansen's "I Want" song. It has since become the signature tune of the character, one of the musical's most famous songs and an anthem for those who have felt depressed and alone and show a desire for connection.
"You Will Be Found" is the Act 1 finale of the 2015 musical Dear Evan Hansen, which premiered on Broadway in 2016. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote both the music and lyrics to the song.
Justin Goldner is an American music producer, songwriter, arranger and session musician based in New York City, originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is a 2022 American live-action/computer-animated musical fantasy comedy film directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon from a screenplay by William Davies. Produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Eagle Pictures and TSG Entertainment II, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is an adaptation of the children's story of the same name and its predecessor The House on East 88th Street by Bernard Waber. The plot focuses on a family who moves to New York City, where their struggling son befriends a crocodile, Lyle, who can communicate verbally only by singing. The son tries to protect Lyle from the rest of the world. The film stars Shawn Mendes as Lyle's voice, alongside Javier Bardem, Constance Wu, Winslow Fegley, Scoot McNairy, Brett Gelman, and Ego Nwodim.
"Only Us" is a song from Act 2 of the 2015 musical Dear Evan Hansen, which premiered on Broadway in 2016. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote both the music and lyrics to the song.
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is the soundtrack album to the 2022 film Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon, based on the children's story of the same name and its prequel The House on East 88th Street by Bernard Waber. The album featured original songs written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul along with Ari Afsar, Emily Gardner Xu Hall, Mark Sonnenblick, and Joriah Kwamé, alongside classic pop/rock songs written by Elton John and Stevie Wonder. Shawn Mendes, who voices the titular crocodile, had provided vocals for eight of the tracks. The album was released by Island Records on September 30, 2022. Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile , another album featuring original score composed by Matthew Margeson was released on October 7, 2022 by Madison Gate Records.
Two soundtrack albums were released for the 2022 Christmas-themed musical comedy film Spirited: an original soundtrack and an original score. Republic Records released both the albums on November 18, 2022, the same day as the film’s release on Apple TV+. The soundtrack features original songs from the film written by the songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and performed by the ensemble cast members: Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, Octavia Spencer, Sunita Mani, Tracy Morgan and Patrick Page. The second album features the motion picture score composed by Dominic Lewis.