Pasek and 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. Their works include , 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 original musical Dear Evan Hansen has received widespread critical acclaim and earned them the Tony Award for Best Original Score.
Both artists are graduates of the University of Michigan and winners of the American Theatre Wing's 2007 Jonathan Larson Award, which honors achievement by composers, lyricists and librettists.

History

Start at the 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. 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.

Musical theatre

Early projects

While still in college they wrote Edges, a song cycle about the trials and tribulations of moving into adulthood and the search for meaning. Premiering in Ann Arbor, Michigan on April 3, 2005, it proved popular on social media and within several years it had over 200 productions worldwide, with countries including Australia, South Africa, Denmark, France, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Philippines, and the United States.
Their New York City premiere on May 14, 2006 was a benefit concert of original songs titled Become: The Music of Pasek & Paul. Presented by Jamie McGonnigal, performers included Gavin Creel, Cheyenne Jackson, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Steven Pasquale. They contributed to the 2006 off-Broadway musical , which won Talkin' Broadway's 2006 Summer Theatre Festival Citation for Outstanding Original Score.
Pasek and Paul wrote the score to the musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, which premiered in 2010 through Goodspeed Musicals. Other works include If You Give A Pig A Pancake and Duck For President for Theatreworks USA, 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 2011 documentary film One Night Stand about the process. They wrote the lyrics and music to the 2012 musical Dogfight, also contributing to A Christmas Story, The Musical, which was nominated for a Tony Award in 2013 for Best Original Score.

''Dear Evan Hansen'' (2015)

Pasek and Paul wrote the music and lyrics to their musical Dear Evan Hansen. The musical, inspired by the death of a fellow student while Pasek was in high school, features a book by Steven Levenson. Directed by Michael Greif and starring Ben Platt, it premiered at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. on July 30, 2015. It made its Off-Broadway debut in March 2016 at the Second Stage Theatre, and on Broadway on November 14, 2016, opening three weeks later 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. At the 2018 Grammy Awards, Dear Evan Hansen won Best Musical Theater Album. The musical received the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award and a 2016 Obie Award for Musical Theatre.

Television

The duo have written original music for several television shows. As of 2007, Pasek and Paul were writing music for the Disney Channel show Johnny and the Sprites, with songs used in six episodes and for one story in the season's premiere.
Their original material was featured on season 2 of NBC's Smash in 2013, and have risen to the Top 25 on the iTunes Pop Charts.
Pasek and Paul also wrote the original song "Runnin' Home to You" performed by Grant Gustin for The Flash episode "Duet", a musical crossover between The Flash and Supergirl. Melissa Benoist sang it in Supergirl's "Crisis on Earth-X" crossover episode.

Films

Pasek and Paul wrote the 2016 song "Get Back Up Again" for the film Trolls, as well as five original songs for the 2016 animated direct-to-video feature .
They wrote the lyrics for the musical romantic comedy-drama film La La Land, which had music written by Justin Hurwitz. The film, in its world premiere, was the opening film at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2016. The film's track "City of Stars", with their lyrics and composition by Justin Hurwitz, won the 2017 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. "City of Stars" and "Audition" received nominations for Best Original Song at the 89th Academy Awards, and they won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "City of Stars."
Pasek and Paul wrote the songs for the 2017 musical drama film The Greatest Showman. About the Barnum & Bailey Circus, the film premiered on December 8, 2017. The duo's song "This Is Me" won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and was nominated for Best Original Song at the 90th Academy Awards.
In collaboration with Alan Menken, Pasek and Paul wrote the lyrics for two new songs for Disney's 2019 live action film adaptation of Aladdin. The film also includes original 1992 song compositions written by Menken, Howard Ashman, and Tim Rice. Pasek and Paul will also write songs for Disney's upcoming live-action film adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The duo has also been selected to write songs for The Planets, the working title of an animated film from Blue Sky Studios. It is projected to reach theaters in 2022.
Pasek and Paul will also adapt Dear Evan Hansen as a feature film for Universal Pictures and director Stephen Chbosky.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Personal lives

Pasek is the son of Temple University professor Kathy Hirsh-Pasek. His alma mater is the University of Michigan and Friends' Central School. He identifies as gay.
Paul's alma mater is the University of Michigan and Staples High School. Paul is married; he and his wife have a daughter, born in 2016.