Backstage Bite with Katie Lynch: DEAR EVAN HANSEN's Will Roland Takes Over the Kitchen!

Thank you

It's finally happening

We have Tony Award winning musical Dear Evan Hansen coming into the kitchen

Is anybody out there watching me? And we have the ever handsome, ever wonderful Will Rowland who plays Jared

I'm waving to the camera! We got Will Rollet! I'm here. I've arrived

You're killing me! Good morning, Amy. I am so happy to be here

I'm happy to be here. Oh my goodness. In your kitchen. It's wonderful. Orange

Orange, you glad you came to my kitchen? Where are you from

I was born in New York City. I lived downtown when I was little. I lived on 11th and Broadway

And when I was eight years old, we moved out to Long Island. I grew up in a town called Locust Valley

Locust Valley Lockjaw. Locust Valley Lockjaw. It's its own thing. Oh, really

Yeah, no, it's like, well, no. All the husbands call their wives muffin, kitty, candy, puppet, all these great names

that are just like, and you know, they're not like there's no one in Locust Valley watching this

like, that's not true. That's not what we do. They all know that it's absolutely true

Okay, I have a really major, big question. How much do you know about cooking and baking

I know literally nothing. That is my favorite answer. Yeah, no, I'm not, I have no skills

Oh, great. I have no knowledge. But I am an excellent assistant

I'm excited to ruin something. Well, today, in honor of high school

In honor of high school And in honor of Dear Evan Hansen Love Dear Evan Hansen

We are going to be making white lie chocolate cherry Pop-Tarts White lie, that's rude

I like it It all starts off with a little white lie, right

Yes Do you know that I was in a musical where I sang a song called Pop-Tarts

This is true, this is 100% true Oh man, I could go for a Pop-Tart right now

Wild cherry or strawberry cause I'm dying for the high that you can only provide

With the taste of pastry with filling inside That's what we're making

That's what we're making! So, I'm gonna throw you to the wolves

I'm ready. Separate the yolk from this egg. I hope you've got a few of these

Great, so I should, how do you break the eggs? Yes. Wow look at me Wow I so proud of you Onto my favorite ingredient You going to do one teaspoon of vanilla Ooh

Is that right? Yeah. All right, sir. Two tablespoons. Oh, two. Of cold water

Here goes the first one. So, Will. Yeah. It's time to mix these ingredients together

It's time to mix up. Mix up. I think you like the shadow of all at the end too

I'm mixing the stuff together. And you're doing very well. Thank you. Next. Next

You are going to do one and a fourth cups of flour please

This is from Sam Stone Cypher and they would like to know, what is your favorite intermission

slash post show snack. I'm going to qualify this. don't send this to the theater is I love beef jerky. Really? Or like the Italian version

of beef jerky like some like super sods, some like you know, some dried meat discs. That

or like potato chips. Salty. I don't like sweet. Sweet comes in the second act. Now you're

going to do a third a cup of sugar in the raw. In the raw. In the raw. Sugar in the Shhhhhh. Sir

Can you please do a fourth and teaspoon of salt? Yeah. Now, sir, you're going to do half a cup or one stick of butter

Half a cup of butter. I suggest unwrapping it. Oh, unwrap it first

You're going to have to unwrap every single one. That's the fun activity. Yeah, sure

This is another audience question from Shipping Trash Imelda. If you could befriend someone dead or alive, who would it be

Pierre Orbach. Come on along and listen to the lullaby of Broadway

The two greatest words in the English language musical comedy. I'm offering you the biggest show Broadway scene in 20 years and you saved me, Allentown

He's amazing. Yeah, he's one of my acting inspirations. I want to pick his brain about career, but also about just everything

He did it all. Also, like, the law and order thing for 20 years

Lenny Briscoe. Lenny Briscoe himself. The most likable cop the world has ever known

Ever known. Yeah. I would like to have steak with Jerry Arbock

I would like to go to, like, Keynes or Peter Luger. Jerry Arbock, if you're listening, let's have lunch

Mix it up, sir. We want to make little crumbles, yeah? Yeah! Here we go

Time for your white light chocolate white chocolate Yeah, yeah, this is an audience question from Hannah Gonzaga. How do you interpret the message of the show

One is it a lot of us in life We all like sort of want to be heard and want to be seen and we all have varying

Challenges that sort of keep us from getting that feeling so I think the show is a lot about sort of seeing that and other people

And then the other thing is I think it's a lot about social media

and how it can be hugely dangerous in our lives We run the risk of sort of looking at other people lives on social media and forgetting that those people clean up what they put out there as much as we do And I think people don get that a lot of it is about like get off the internet for

a minute. Like really just put your phone down and go outside. So let the sun come streaming in, cause you'll reach up and you'll rise again

If you only look around, you will be found. You will be found

You will be found. You will be found. It's time for bada bing

Cherries. Fill a fourth a cup with cherries. With cherries, yeah. Chopped with cherries

In like half and then in fourth. I want you to create the social media handles for Evan

At Arbor Day 27. Because I think his birthday is on the 27th

What about Jared? Jared's is like some weird, it's like some Battlestar Galactica reference or something

At Adama's son with like six underscores. What about Zoe? At Guitar Gal

And then like she uses it for a while, but then after like two years she's like, I can't

believe I made my handle to Guitar Gal. So she has to start all over. What about Alana

Alana's handle is definitely at Alana Beck. That's so true. Very official

And she's thinking ten years down the line that she's gonna need it. Exactly, she's like, what if I have to put this on my resume someday

What about Connor? Connor's not on Twitter. We're gonna start off with two big scoops of our white chocolate. One. Yeah. Two

And now you are going to do two tablespoons of your cherry juice

Oh, good thing it all comes together. Exactly. One. Two. Now you're going to add your diced up cherries

Mush, mush, mush. Yeah. You're going to roll this out into a flat sheet, but..

I should have put flour on this first. Evan's starting the show

Yep. Writing a letter to himself. I want you to write a letter to your high school self

Oh, man. Dear Will Rollins, you can be nicer to everyone. Everybody likes you

You don't need to remind them that they like you. Because all you have to do is just be yourself

Really, just be yourself. Stop trying to overcompensate, because you're well-liked and loved

and you can be kind to everyone and still be cool. Sincerely me

Can you cut me two large rectangles? This is an audience question from Broadway for you and me

Broadway for you, Broadway for me. They would like to know, what gender-bent roles would you like to play

I really want to do, in like 20 years, I want to do like a gender bent gypsy in like a true

west style, wherein Ben Platt and I alternate the roles of Herbie and Mama Rose

That's the dream one. The witch in Into the Woods. Oh, I'd love to play Amalia and She Loves Me

I'd be a great Glinda. I just, you know, I'd be charming, but also like, you know

unlikable, but somewhat likable. Now we gonna assemble our pop tarts Actually that might be really pretty uh perfect All right let fold them over We gonna make sure that we have no holes here so our cherries don escape

You're going to use a fork and you're gonna crimp your edges. Do your crimping song! Hang up the phone

Is this right? Yeah! It is now time to put these into the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes

400 degrees, 20 minutes. And while we do that, we're gonna play a super fun game to get to know you

Quick fire questions! Quick fire questions! Ready, set, go. Backyard or rooftop access

Rooftop. How do you like your steak cooked? Medium rare. Late night snack

Uh, pizza. Jelly or jam? Jam. Middle name? Frigga. Beach or mountains

Mountains. Go to audition song? Uh, man up. Skydive or bungee jump

Bungee jump. Aisle or window? Aisle. First Broadway show you ever saw

Cats. Comfort food? Bacon. Beer or wine? Beer. Favorite season? Fall. Sweet or salty

Salty. What do you do on the subway? Sit. What did you have for breakfast

I had a bagel. Oh. I had an everything bagel with scallion cream cheese

That's my favorite combination. Look how beautiful your Pop-Tarts are. They're gorgeous

And now we're going to make them even more beautiful and make them look like Pop-Tarts

Yes. We are going to take a dollop of our white chocolate and spread it on the top

Dollop. And then you're gonna do your D-Rab and Hanson blue. Blue sprinkles

This is our final fan question from jquinn0910. 910. And they would like to know, what are some funny backstage antics

We like to have a dance party before every show, where we all go to Ben Platt's dressing room

And we dance. And dance if you want to. Literally, we do a safety dance sometimes

Oh, we like to play games sometimes. Bananagrams. They're beautiful. You're not, but that's okay

Dab foil sprinkles. You can't sleep, but I'm like really twerking. Dab foil sprinkles

He's twerking in here. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Are you ready to try these

Ready to try them. I'm very excited. Me too. I really just want a Pop-Tart

Me too. Cheers. Cheers. Pop-Tarts. Yum. Where are you supposed to be

Oh, yeah. Mm. Mm-hmm. That's great. Mm-hmm. That's actually pretty yummy. Mm-hmm

This actually is kind of addicting. Yeah, yummy. Wait a minute. How do I follow you

I'm on Twitter. At Will underscore Rollins. And what about the show? At Dear Evan Hansen on everything

That's like us. We are at Backstage Bike on everything. I've had so much fun getting to know you today

I have had fun, Katie. Really? I've really had so much fun

Thanks for having me today. Oh my gosh. I learned. I ate

I did a physical activity, which is great for my motor skills

Then we accomplished all of our goals. We did it all. I'm so proud of you. Yeah

You guys, go see Dear Evan Hansen. At the Music Box Theater eight times a week

He's incredible. The show is really, it's pretty darn good. I like it. Yeah

Go see Roman. Yay. See you next time

On Backstage Byte. Woo hoo