‘Dear Evan Hansen,’ ‘La La Land’ Songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul Launch Theater Music Class With Monthly (EXCLUSIVE)

Award-winning songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the duo behind “La La Land” and “Dear Evan Hansen” have launched an immersive 30-day musical theatre songwriting class on the creative learning platform Monthly.

The class will allow students to develop the foundations of their own original musical via a hands-on class. Pasek and Paul will also donate a portion of their profits to benefit the Musical Theatre Factory (MTF), an organization that has supported the development of hundreds of new musicals that expands access and challenges traditional models of musical theater development.

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Students are invited into the writers’ room for an intimate look at their end-to-end process for developing a musical. Across 15 hours of video lessons, Pasek and Paul develop a new musical from scratch as students learn how the duo approaches everything from developing characters to writing songs. Students can then apply what they’re learning in guided assignments, developing the foundations of their own original musical. By the end of the class, students walk away with an outline of their musical’s book, a roadmap of its score, plus two finished original songs.

“We’ve been so fortunate to learn directly from some of the best musical writers of the stage and screen, and we are excited to share what we’ve learned along the way. This is the first time we’ve opened up our songwriting process, and we are thrilled to partner with Monthly to do so,” said Pasek.

Added Paul, “We’re donating a portion of our profits from this class to Musical Theatre Factory — a non-profit artists’ service organization that centers musical theatre makers who exist in the intersections of underrepresented groups and develops their work in a collaborative atmosphere free from critical or commercial pressures. We’re excited that this class, both directly and indirectly, will develop and encourage new voices in musical theatre songwriting.”

This comprehensive online class is for all levels, from experienced industry songwriters who want a structured approach to mastering the craft all in one place, to new songwriters and fans of musical theatre who want to get under the hood of their unique creative process.

The class costs $249, and enrollment for the first session closes on December 27th. The class will be offered several times throughout 2022. Enrollment can be found here: monthly.com/pasek-paul-musical-theatre

Watch the trailer below.

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