Host 0:03

Hello! Welcome to Her Canuck Voice, where we are talking all things performing arts and the power of connection. My name is Lindsay-Anne Dow. I am the Her in Her Canuck Voice, and this season I'm taking you behind the scenes of my first ever professional production, Dear Evan Hansen. This is a multiple Tony Award-winning musical debuting for the first time here in Kelowna BC, Canada, this spring. So, ladies and gentlemen, take your seats and enjoy the show.

Host 0:36

I want to briefly call out a trigger warning off the top here, since this season of the podcast centers around the musical, Dear Evan Hansen, in which the subject of teen mental health and suicide is at the forefront. Please honor where you're at. And if these subjects are too much right now, it's okay. Move along. Let's remember everyone has a story and to lead with love and kindness and acceptance. We're all in this together.

Host 1:01

So hi, this is kind of new for me. Episode one of a podcast. You should see the recording setup I have right now. It is not professional, but it's working. That is like my life. If you've made it this far, I'm sure you're wondering, who are you? What is this about? Why are you recording a podcast? So let's spend a bit of time setting the stage. Okay, so one year ago, I decided to put myself out there. I'm a mom in her 40s, a bit of theater experience in high school, singing, yes, but these days mostly just to my kids and the odd night at karaoke to impress my friends, of course. But I knew it was time for more. It was Dear Evan Hansen that got me. The little I'd heard about it already had me hooked, but I was so ready, I just needed its little push over the edge. This process has been an absolute trip. From the beginning, researching the show to prepping self-tape auditions to callbacks and then casting, and lately getting to dive into my character now that she's mine, and waiting to begin rehearsals later this month. It has been such a trip that I can't help but want to document this final chapter and bring you along for the ride with me. Because I do want to connect with you through this experience.

Host 2:34

When I run into people who I haven't seen in a while, you know, the inevitable questions come up: what have you been up to? What's your plans for the summer? That's what everyone's talking about right now. I will usually stumble upon the story of getting back into stage and theater and Dear Evan Hansen. And, you know, some people are kind of like, oh, cool, okay. And I can tell they're like, that is not their world at all, and that's fine. I just kind of leave it at that we move on. But some people have a lot of questions and they're super interested. So, in a way, this podcast is for them. These are the answers to some of their questions. This is more about the show, more about why the heck I'm getting back into theater at this age, at this time of my life. But I also am finding that, I don't know, I have a lot to say about this, and that I do believe that there are a lot of interesting parallels between my story and the central theme in Dear Evan Hansen, which, if you don't know the story, I'll get into that shortly, it is the power of connection.

Host 3:44

We are increasingly disconnected, right? Divided, our walls are up, we have this insane amount of access to information from seemingly every corner of the world. It makes us scared. Which, in fairness to our bodies, is a protection instinct, keeping us safe, but not connected. More than ever, humans are depleted of this basic need of connection. So when we do get it, and I'm guilty of this too, we're anxious. We find it hard to relate to others, or maybe we judge others if their viewpoint is different from ours. We're not able to access the vulnerability needed to truly connect and be in this empathetic community with someone, which is where the art comes in. Okay. Have you ever been at a concert and felt that glow as you walk out? Maybe if you're like me, it stays with you into the next day and through your week. Does attending one concert leave you wanting to plan your next one immediately? Either with that same band or with someone else? Recently I took the kids to see Benson Boone in Vancouver. Talent aside, I mean I could go on and on about the guy and his voice, and I'll stop. I was kind of messed up, though, for probably 48 hours after the concert. When I say messed up, I mean like in mourning. I wanted to be back there. I was so sad that it was over. Almost like that feeling you get as a vacation is winding down. You're mourning the ending and you want to go back to the beginning, and you wish it was a few days ago just so you could have longer there. I also recently went to the Backstreet Boys in Vegas. Yes, at the Sphere, yes, I'm showing my age, but I have not kept that a secret. It was amazing. But the next day, me and my friends woke up and we're like, okay, we want to go again. Like, don't our tickets get us unlimited access to this one concert experience? It's such a bummer that it's over. Okay, I realize I'm probably on one end of the spectrum when it comes to this stuff, but even if you don't get all aggro like me for a couple days, you have to admit there's something magic that happens in the room. One of my favorite podcasts is Armchair Expert. Dax Shepherd recently had Chris Stapleton on, and they had this to say.

Clip from Armchair Experts Podcast (Dax) 6:14

You have five senses, right? And this thing music, it's in its own category of you kind of gotta call it magic. We have these ears that we're supposed to be listening to predators for and we're gonna communicate with. And then there's this completely pointless endeavor to making noises that we'll be sitting somewhere and crying or laughing or partying, and you're remembering. We have this one sense that is open to complete nonsense. There's no purpose to it.

Clip from Armchair Experts Podcast (Chris) 6:45

It's meant to unify us, though. That there is a point to it. The magic point to me is in regards to a certain type of song, but people like sad songs so they don't feel alone. And I think maybe all songs are that way, and that we want to feel those emotions together. There's a communal thing in that, even if you're driving in the car by yourself, listening to a song and it's hitting you in a certain way, it's still that communal thing. You're like, oh, there's somebody else in the world that understands this other thing that I'm going through. And so I'm not alone all of a sudden. Yeah. And I think that is the magic of music. It's not some mysterious thing. That is the magic of music, is it helps us all be connected in ways that even a conversation or a look or a touch doesn't provide.

Host 7:33

Thanks, Dax and Monica, for letting us use that clip. Just kidding. I contacted them, but I got no response. So I'm just gonna credit them in the show notes. They probably won't even know this happened. But magic, right? So I believe, based on my story, which I'll get to, that that feeling is a deep yearning, like a human basic need, intuitive yearning that is not being met, which is connection. The difference between a live concert and, say, a dinner party, is the music and artistry, the lights timed just at the right moment, the confetti exploding when the beat hits. (Benson Boone; totally happened). If you've ever been to a Coldplay or Taylor Swift concert, the lit up wristbands in rhythm with the music, right? I mean, these are professionals, from the musicians on stage to the stage design, sound mixing, lighting, screen art. These are talented people putting on this display, all centered around generating emotion. It's so good because it makes you feel something. So you've got this room of people, total strangers, maybe it's 150 people, maybe it's 50, 60, 70,000, all feeling something together. Suddenly the walls are down. We're cheering for things and we don't know why. Just because it's fun to hear all our voices together. We're singing, dancing, and now totally connected. Where, okay, back to the dinner party, walls are still up, we have heightened sensitivity and fear, our emotions are closed off. The performing arts which generate emotion and vulnerability aren't present. No matter how good your DJ at that party is. I'm talking to my husband here because he's often the the DJ. It's just not the same.

Host 9:29

Okay, before I get to my story, I'm gonna touch on how this all relates to Dear Evan Hansen. Actually, rather beautifully, I might say. Dear Evan Hansen is a modern musical. It's not very old, it's came out in like the mid-teens, centering around a group of high school students. I mean, talk about vulnerability. High school has to be the most vulnerable time of our lives. Anyway, these kids are all online, social media, in varying levels of connection, or in some cases, as it were, disconnection. The ultimate tragedy in this story happens near the beginning. When a teenage boy, the son of my character, commits suicide. What happens next is captivating and completely both shocking and crushingly relatable. The audience alone is witness to the lengths some are willing to go to to fit in. Okay, I won't say much more now, but connection is at the very heart of the story. The power of having it and the crushing despair of living when it's absent. It's musical theater, so as much of the subject matter is heavy, I promise you there are moments of levity and the music is amazing. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be moved, and maybe you will be found. Yes, that is a song from the musical.

Host 10:55

Okay, so this season, I'm calling it a season, maybe a mini-series, limited series. That sounds way too fancy, but this the point is this is a short-term thing. It's gonna follow the timeline as myself and just seven other, yes, there's only eight of us total, Kelowna-based cast members build our version of Dear Evan Hansen from the ground up. At the time of this podcast airing, it is April 2026, and this show goes live on June 10th. So somehow, between now and then, it's all gonna come together, which is also what I'm saying about this podcast. Okay, I'm gonna leave it there. Next episode, I'm gonna pull back the curtain on my personal story. I don't want to dwell on it too much, and I don't want it to, I don't want to talk about it a lot, but I do think it matters in how we got here and why I'm so passionate about the arts and live music and theater and how it relates to human connection. The central theme in Dear Evan Hansen, but ultimately what I believe the central theme is of this podcast and what I am trying to promote here. Okay, that's it. Thank you for still being here. In the meantime, if you get the opportunity, I will always say go see the show. Until next time.