Jon Larson
Jon Larson
Broadway Star Joined: 7/7/07
Jon Larson#3
Posted: 12/8/24 at 11:30am
While Superbia and Dear Evan Hansen both explore the power of the media, I think that's a fairly superficial similarity. DEH is far less scathing about society as a whole than the dystopian madness of Superbia; it is a smaller scale story of broken families, grief, and a very troubled and clearly ASD-coded young man making very poor choices through a yearning for acceptance that he cannot have. Superbia - if you can dramaturgically decode the labyrinthine mess of any of the various proposed versions of the story - might deal with social conformity, but on an institutional/political level as opposed to a personal one; it is the world of the Ins and Outs itself that drives the narrative, not the characters within it.
Jon Larson#5
Posted: 12/8/24 at 3:21pm
Works can explore similar themes without being a "take" on one another. Aside from some loose themes, there is nearly nothing in common with these two pieces, and it seems pretty unlikely that Pasek, Paul, and Levenson were even particularly familiar with Superbia when they were creating DEH a decade ago.
Jon Larson#6
Posted: 12/8/24 at 3:53pm
Superbia deals with the Ins and the Outs. Evan is an Outsider who wants to be an In.
"On the outside, always looking in"
Jon Larson#7
Posted: 12/8/24 at 4:35pm
Hestia2 said: "Superbia deals with the Ins and the Outs.""
So does Cats. I guess that makes Superbia a modern version of Cats, huh?
Broadway Star Joined: 7/25/11
Jon Larson#9
Posted: 12/8/24 at 5:32pm
Hestia2 said: "What is exactly Superbia?"
I don't know, I thought you brought it up.
Jon Larson#10
Posted: 12/8/24 at 6:40pm
Hestia2 said: "What is exactly Superbia?"
Superbia is an incomplete musical written by Jonathan Larson. The project started as an adaptation of 1984, but became it's own thing after George Orwell's estate denied Larson the rights.
It's incredibly difficult to compare Superbia to Dear Evan Hansen, not because they are wildly different shows, but because Superbia, in a way, doesn't exist, and never will.
If your knowledge of the show comes from Tick Tick Boom, you might have the impression that Larson finished the show, put on a reading, and put the whole show in a drawer while he went off to work on Rent. In reality, Larson never stopped working on Superbia, and was still actively rewriting it up until he died. As a result, we have multiple drafts of the show, with different songs, plot points, themes, and characters. Someday, someone might try to cobble together a show from what we have, but without Larson to give his authoritative say as author, it will never be "Jonathan Larson's Superbia".
Dear Evan Hansen, on the other hand, is a finished show. While it's possible that there may be edits or revisions in the future, you can point to the 2016 Broadway production or the published script and call it the "definitive" version.
This wouldn't be comparing two musicals to see if they are different takes on the same ideas, it'd be comparing a musical (one whose creators are all still alive and able to discuss it's intent) with a collection of songs and a few hundred pages of script that don't have an authorial permutation.
A lot of Jonathan Larson's early work is like this, and its unfinished nature doesn't make it uninteresting. If you're interested, J. Collis has a book called Boho Days where he goes through Larson's papers at the Library of Congress and analyzes how Larson developed his style as a composer.
Jon Larson#11
Posted: 12/8/24 at 8:51pm
My impressions came from Tick Tick Boom. I wanted to know more about Superbia.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
Jon Larson#12
Posted: 12/8/24 at 8:59pm
So maybe that's what you should have asked. Lots of people here have lots of information.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/13/09
Jon Larson#13
Posted: 12/8/24 at 9:06pm
This thread feels like everyone's conversing with an AI entity.
OP compares a well-known musical to a not-so-well-known unfinished musical and then proceeds to ask about that unfinished musical as if they didn't start this thread by making a declaration as if they knew both properties well.
That, or I feel like I'm high.
Jon Larson#15
Posted: 12/8/24 at 9:51pm
Hestia2 said: "I wanted to know the plot and themes of Superbia."
Perhaps you should have asked about the plot and themes instead of making a statement in which it appears you already formed a conclusion and then commanded posters to comment on it. By asking, you might have confused fewer people and drawn less criticism.
Jon Larson#17
Posted: 12/8/24 at 11:29pm
Hestia2 said: "Do you know the plot?"
Yes, it's about either an AI bot or a 5-year-old who posts random comments on a message board and can't understand the difference between two completely different musicals so instead tries to come up with bizarre theories to connect them.
Jon Larson#18
Posted: 12/9/24 at 11:36am
Look at ewe making assumptions about a stranger on the internet. Your parents ain't too proud. I have an ingenuous intelligence.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
Jon Larson#19
Posted: 12/9/24 at 11:47am
For someone that want others to think they are intelligent: many of your words don't mean what you think they do.
This is on YOU. You came here trying to appear clever, and when you failed and were called out on it - you didn't just own it. Finding the plot of this is actual a Google away.
Jon Larson#20
Posted: 12/9/24 at 11:51am
This is definitely one of the weirder interactions I’ve seen during my long time on BWW.
Jon Larson#21
Posted: 12/9/24 at 12:11pm
Ewes are female sheep.
Jon Larson#22
Posted: 12/9/24 at 3:22pm
Hestia2 said: "I wanted to know the plot and themes of Superbia."
Well if you read response #10, that poster told you that Superbia was a work in progress and there are no definitive plots and themes. You're asking for a concrete answer when there isn't one. DEH presented a final product. Superbia as unfinished, has no final product. It's pointless to try to draw comparisons between the two properties.
Jon Larson#23
Posted: 12/29/24 at 10:54am
Broadway61004 said:
Yes, it's about either an AI bot or a 5-year-old who posts random comments on a message board and can't understand the difference between two completely different musicals so instead tries to come up with bizarre theories to connect them."
Holds up a mirror the insult boomerangs off the glass and hits Broadway61004 square in the jaw.
Jon Larson#24
Posted: 12/29/24 at 11:28am
...it took you 3 weeks to come back with that, a worse version of "I'm rubber, you're glue"?
Jon Larson#25
Posted: 12/29/24 at 11:33am
Hestia2 said: "Broadway61004 said:
Yes, it's about either an AI bot or a 5-year-old who posts random comments on a message board and can't understand the difference between two completely different musicals so instead tries to come up with bizarre theories to connect them."
Holds up a mirror the insult boomerangs off the glass and hits Broadway61004 square in the jaw."
Sick burn, yo -- ewe really exemplify "ingenuous intelligence".
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