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Backstage: Tony Nom Mike Faist on How He Found His Connor Murphy
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Nov 4, 2022
Just a little bit over a week away from Broadway's biggest night, star of Dear Evan Hansen, Mike Faist, is finally getting into the swing of awards season. The first-time Tony nominee has earned love from fans and critics alike for his complex portrayal of a teen in trouble. Below, watch as Faist chats with Richard Ridge about the complex Connor Murphy.
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0:00
Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World. One of the most talked about performances of the season is the one that Mike Feist is giving as Conor Murphy in the juggernaut musical Dear Evan Hansen
0:10
And now he's been nominated for a Tony Award, and I caught up with him here at the legendary Sardis just days before Tony's Big Night
0:18
what is this whole time like for you is it all surreal i mean how did a kid who like did
0:29
construction work for his parents wind up tony nominating i don't know because once it's all over
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i'll go back to construction work i know that that's the truth you know so i don't know it is
0:39
all surreal i was actually just came from like a brunch with all the guys who are in my categories
0:44
So Brandon, Andrew, and Gavin, and all of us were just like, literally just on the block having brunch and hanging out
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And just, you know, basically just, you know, just praising each other and having a great time
1:00
So it really is all surreal. It really is. I've like looked up to all those guys. And I know these guys and their performances
1:05
And I just know how talented they are. And it's an honor. It's ridiculous
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Well, they look up to you too. I don't know. Yes, they do. Well, they're all taller than me, so they actually look down
1:15
You're pretty tall. I am pretty tall, but they're very tall. Gavin is, right
1:19
Yeah, huge. Andrew is? Yeah, huge, huge. You know, you're giving one of the most complex and talked-about performances
1:25
I love what you've done with Conor Murphy. Thank you. And so is everybody else
1:29
You're being rewarded for all of your work. What's it like living in the world of Dear Evan Hansen
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It's a whirlwind. I mean, you know, for the most part, it's been the same cast for three years
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and growing and refining and creating these characters, that's been everything that I really wanted to do artistically
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was to create a character that was complex and interesting and someone I could grow with
1:53
and someone I could really feel like I could sink my teeth into. And that's really all I really wanted out of it
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and it's challenged me, and I felt like every iteration that we did with the show
2:07
I felt like I was falling on my face every time. and to get this thing that happened
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It's all too much. But, I mean, doing this show, it's exactly what I wanted to do
2:20
It's exactly what I wanted to do with my theater career is create new work that I thought was complex and interesting and relevant
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and could reach people and create conversations. How do you view Connor
2:35
Because he's changed over the course of the workshops and the first readings, right
2:39
Yeah. You know, there's this... It was hard because he had changed quite a bit
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And when they made the change to the more complex version of who he is today
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I had a really hard time going with that adjustment because I had been playing one thing for the first year and a half
2:57
And so when the change kind of happened, I thought they were going to fire me after DC
3:02
I was like, oh yeah, for sure. And luckily I was fortunate enough that they didn't
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And so I put on my working gloves and pulled up my bootstraps and just kind of got to work
3:15
And I started doing research. And the first thing I did was try and find people who had attempted to commit suicide
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I took to the Internet. And there only one website that actually has that voices from the perspective of people who have attempted to commit suicide failed survived and want to tell their story And the website called LiveThroughThis started by this woman named Desiree Stage And I started looking through it and it these people it just profile interviews
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And I reached out to her, and I got into contact with her, and I just started asking her a bunch of questions
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And I started reading these people's stories, and I realized that I have a lot more in common with these people
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and people like Connor or people like Evan, then I thought I was separated
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But when I was reading these stories, I realized that I have a lot more in common with them
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than I could ever really imagine. And it humanized Connor in a way for me
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I was thinking I had to be this thing. And I didn't have to be this thing
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I just had to bring myself to it. And that's like the biggest challenge with what we do
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How can we find those pieces of ourself and bring those to the stage for everyone to see
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And I think as far as who Connor is, Connor, he's a bit of an enigma within our show
4:39
But the reality is that he's exactly like Evan. He's exactly like Alana
4:46
He's exactly like Jared. He's exactly like all the other characters on stage
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It's this person who can't allow anyone to see who he is
4:57
Because the minute he does that, he loses everything. You're so natural at what you do on stage
5:03
You make it seem so effortless, and I know it's not. That's practice. But I guess that's what every actor strives for, is that naturalness
5:11
Oh, well, that's very kind. Thank you. I want to go back to the beginning. Growing up, where did your love for performing begin
5:17
Was it MGM movies? It was. Yeah, I mean, I always played pretend by myself, you know, growing up in Ohio, and I had a lot of, like
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phonetic energy as a kid, and so my parents would kind of TV babysit me as well
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I kind of, you know, shut up, stand there, watch that thing. And, yeah, so, like, you know, I'd watch old MGM films of, like, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire
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and I was watching these guys, and I knew I had to be exactly like them
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I wanted to be exactly like Gene Kelly, so I forced my parents to get me into dance class
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started doing my own children's theater and community theater and it was just constantly
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playing pretend that's what i wanted to do yeah tap dancing right away i was dancing like i think
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my first word was probably music or something like that you know i just wanted to do theater i just
6:02
wanted to do like characters i was obsessed with like indiana jones i was obsessed with like star
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wars i just like wanted to play pretend that's all i ever wanted to do all right so now i see
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Indiana Jones, the musical, or Star Wars, the musical starring you, right
6:17
Tap dancing? Yeah, sure. Totally. I was obsessed with all the GM musicals too growing up
6:23
I bought Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ann Miller, all those incredible people. Some of those people might be there
6:27
Yeah, a lot of them are on the wall somewhere up here. But then you went to AMDA, but you didn't stay at AMDA in New York, did you
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I did two semesters, and then I ended up dropping out. And I just started trying to survive
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I was selling, commissioning off-Broadway, you know, tickets right outside TKTS. I was working the line
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I was like, you know, I'm going to see this property show. It was like the 39 Steps at the time was playing
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And that's what I did. And I was just auditioning, trying to do anything I could really get my hands on
6:56
And my first like professional job was this dinner theater in Dayton Ohio And we lived in the back of a McDonald parking lot and getting paid like 150 200 bucks a week and I was on food stamps and I was but I was a working actor you know I was doing it did
7:15
you live in your car no I mean they have like they have like housing units like literally set up in
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the back of the McDonald's parking lot of course when I read that I was like did he live in a car
7:25
No, basically, you know, it was, it was like a very strange, yeah, time
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Yeah. Yeah. You know, the interesting thing is you talked about auditioning
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You were, you were scared to audition for a while, right? Yeah, I probably didn't really
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In fact, that was my, I don't know. I only did a handful of auditions and that was probably, that one audition was in the
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very beginning stages, but that didn't happen until maybe eight months, seven months until
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after I dropped out of school. because we have a lot of young actors here
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at the Broadway world. Everybody says, you know, I've got talent, but I'm scared to audition
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I hate auditioning. What got you over it? Or what's your secret
8:05
I had a friend who basically dragged me kicking and screaming to that audition
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I was really fortunate, you know, that I had people to kind of like push me
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And it really is hard, but you have to just book that first thing
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And then once you book that first thing, you feel worthy enough to do it, you say, like
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oh, well, I can do that again. I can, like, you know, I can..
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Clock's wrong, or right, broken clock's wrong twice a day. Or right twice a day. So, you know
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I mean, like, you can, history can repeat itself, I think, you know, it's like, just the mentality of, like
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alright, I've done this before, I was able to book it, I can book something else, you know, and it was just
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a matter of just persistence and keep going, and, I don't know
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just keep throwing spaghetti at the wall, you know, as it is. And hope it sticks. Yeah, hopefully
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My mom might call it, you know, shit at the wall, but I guess we're not allowed to say that
8:58
Sure you can. Shit at the wall, yeah. I love it. Yeah. So how cool is it
9:03
I mean, the Music Box Theater, you walk to the theater every day. It's a beautiful theater, yeah
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I mean, you open that stage door. I mean, what does it all mean to me? I think it's got to be the coolest thing to be co-starring on Broadway
9:13
Yeah, it's amazing. I mean, our cast is just so wonderful, and I'm really fortunate that it's a true ensemble piece
9:19
and like there's every single character is so specific and so complex in their own way and
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it's a whirlwind you know I mean it really is just everything you could really ever ask for
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doing a show that is reaching people and and you know is important but without saying you're
9:39
important you know what I mean kind of a thing I mean it's it's everything you could ever ask for
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it's like a rock show over there yeah everybody loves your show I mean what do you why do you
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think audiences resonate so much of all different young people older people
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everybody connects to D. Reb and Hanson. Yeah they do. I think we're living in an era where
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we're more connected than we ever have been before and yet because of that we're the most
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disconnected than we ever have been and so the show is saying something that I think people are
10:09
having a hard time uh conveying in their day-to-day lives with family members and friends and so they
10:16
come and see the show and they're saying they're seeing all the different characters up there they're seeing the parents and they're seeing the kids and
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they're saying oh that's me yeah recognizing themselves and the people looks on stage was there a teacher or a mentor growing up or sometime throughout
10:30
your career that really got you they set you on your path there were so many I mean you know William I belong said he was at the Lord Tells He got like a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Lord Tell Awards
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And he said if you examine life, it's basically just a construct of the people who helped create it
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And then he said, like, you know, 75 percent of the people in this room got me to where I am today
10:56
And that's the reality of the situation. I mean, you know, I had teachers and high school teachers and community theater directors and children's theater directors and even, you know, writers here in New York that would take me under the ring and, you know, just encourage me
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casting directors who would, you know, email me after I did, like, was doing a play, and I really
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it was not going well, but they saw it, and they were like, you know, you're on the right track
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just keep going, keep going, keep going, you know, and it's about really formulating your own
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community in that sense, and I think the community here, as hard as it is, it is extremely hard
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You know, it's a cutthroat industry for sure, but it is a community nonetheless
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And, you know, we do want the best for one another. What are you enjoying the most about awards season
11:52
Is it crazy? It is crazy. But it's teetering off, you know
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It's starting to wind down and it is getting more enjoyable. When at first it was launching, you know, you'd look at your calendar
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and you would just see everything that was lined up and you'd immediately just like have this daunting feeling
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of like anxiousness. But it's starting to wind down and become more enjoyable
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I'm really enjoying hanging out with the guys in my category because they're fantastic
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and I've always looked up to them and watched them over the years
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And like, you know, Gavin's from Ohio. I'm from Ohio. Millie was like the second Broadway show
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I ever saw. And, you know, it's, that's what I'm really enjoying
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And we're talking about, oh, should we wear like fake teeth for the ceremony? So when they like
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pan to us, or something like that. We're having way too much fun with it
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We're not taking ourselves too seriously, and that's great, and we're really enjoying each other
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Well, I wish we could have been a fly on the wall at that lunch, because I'm sure you've got a lot of great things planned for Tony night
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Do you have an outfit yet? I have something. I love it
12:56
Yeah, I'll let you guys, you'll see. You'll see it all. Okay, my final question is
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if you could sum up the best part of the experience of being a part of Dear Evan Hansen
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what is it for you, Mike? you know for me the best part about doing the show and growing with it over the years it's
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i've been able to find out more about who i am through playing my role and that's uh huge i mean
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that's the most you could ever really ask for in terms of growing in your craft and growing as a
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person that's that's what's happened and that's what continues to happen each as we can like i
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I just continue to find more and more and more about who I am and what I'm capable of through Connor Murphy
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