[ ♪ ♪ ]
[ ♪ Ladies and gents, ♪ ]
[ ♪ this is the moment you've waited for. ♪ ]
[Songwriter] The Greatest Showman was
a really joyful film to get to make.
And there were some --
there were some hardships and some obstacles
along the way
but the ideally an entire time
was to create something that was joy filled
that could entertain families
and really appeal to a family
to a broad audience
through the joy of music
the joy of dreaming of inventing
and inspiring
and using one's imagination
P.T. Barnum at your service.
[ ♪ ♪ ]
[PT. Barnum] I'm putting together a show
and I need a star.
[ ♪ ♪ ]
[P.T. Barnum] Every one of us is special.
[Songwriter] it's a movie that
really is a celebration of optimism
and hope.
It's not cynical at all.
It really is a film that
asks you to believe in possibility again
and dreaming.
And, you know, I think some folks might find that corny
but I think that we're living in a
really sort of challenging and divisive dark time
when reintroducing the idea of
believing that the world can be
what you want it to be
and not having to accept it for what it is
is something that I think is really universally appealing.
Yeah it's really cheesy
but, you know, it's it's something that I think the
world needs right now.
[ ♪ Look out cause here I come ♪ ]
[ ♪ ♪ ]
[ ♪ And I'm marching on to the beat I drum ♪ ]
[ ♪ I'm not scared to be seen ♪ ]
[ ♪ I make no apologies ♪ ]
[ ♪ This is me ♪ ]
[Justin Paul] There's something obvious about the song
"This is me" from The Greatest Showman
It really was able to live outside the film in such a way
that it was inspirational to people
and people were able to claim it as their own
and for so many causes.
Such a broad spectrum of groups and individuals
that wanted to make that song their own anthem.
[ ♪ I won't let them break me down to dust ♪ ]
[ ♪ I know that there's a place for us ♪ ]
[ ♪ I'm not scared to be seen ♪ ]
[ ♪ I make no apologies, this is me ♪ ]
[ ♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ]
[Benj Pasek] I, you know, grey up as gay kid
who has always wanted
to find external validation and love.
And, I think, you know,
the older that I've gotten
the more I realized that
what I thought was my own
sort of private need to be accepted is really
something that a lot of people share
and so I think when we worked on "This is Me"
that felt like a moment that really defined
much of what the film would be about.
That even when folks
try to tell you that you're not worth something or
you can't do something
or the odds are stacked against you
despite how you look
or how you were born into the world.
The story of P.T. Barnum is is defying all of those odds
and not letting how you were born
determined who you will become.
But declaring that you have the power to
decide to be anyone that you want to be
if you just believe it
and you hold fast to that.
[ ♪ ♪ ]
[ ♪ Are you shining just for me ♪ ]
[Justin Paul] So, you know, after having La La Land
I just more felt like, "Wow
we got to we got to have another crack at it
hopefully we didn't ruin it for everybody."
And thankfully we didn't.
[ ♪ ♪ ]
The process, originally, we were only --
We were only given
the assignment to write one song
but we were really, you know, excited about the project
and this was also our first opportunity
to ever write anything for the world of film.
This, you know, we auditioned for and began to write
Greatest Showmen before La La Land
by a year and a half almost.
And many many songs got rejected.
Many many songs got cut.
There are tonnes of --
Tonnes of, you know, I guess, old song fragments
left on the cutting-room floor
but eventually, you know, over the process of years we
whittled it down
and tried to get it the best song moments
and the best reasons for characters to sing
[ ♪ I know you're wondering why ♪]
[ ♪ Cause we're able to be just you and me ♪]
[Benj Pasek] all while trying to be conscious
that we wanted it to be something that could
also exist in the pop world to some degree
while maintaining storytelling in its DNA
[ ♪ Be our guest, be our guest ♪]
[ ♪ Put our service to the test ♪]
[ ♪ Under the sea. Under the sea. ♪]
[Justin Paul] I grew up on the films
on the Disney animated classic films, you know.
Beauty and the Beast
and Little Mermaid
and, you know, you can draw a line from that
to a High School Musical to Glee
to sort of like, you know, all along my
growing up in my maturation as a person
as an artist,
music and people --
the characters singing and breaking into song
has been part of that journey and
so for us it's very natural
so I think that you're getting a bigger audience now
who are like, "Oh, they're singing?
Sure, okay. I'm along for the ride."
We love musical theater storytelling
and now folks that are my age or getting to write.
We're getting to write movies
Lin-Manuel Miranda is, you know, writing
Moana and he's in his 30s.
You know, so I think there is sort of more of an
offering now because the folks that grew up on it
are excited to get to write in
the style that they grew up loving.
And hopefully the more of that that exists
and the more risks that are being taken
and the great amount of work that's
being produced
the more that folks will embrace it.
[ ♪ ♪ ]
[ ♪ When you're broken on the ground ♪ ]
[ ♪ you will be found ♪ ]
[ ♪ And let the sun come streaming in ♪ ]
[ ♪ 'Cause you'll reach up and you'll rise again ♪ ]
It's really ultimately a story about parents and children
and how we relate to each other
and how we are so desperate to bridge
you know connection with each other
in a time that it feels increasingly
difficult to do so.
Actually it's really about
bigger topics than just high school or
or being a teenager
it's about, what I think, any of us feels like
that feels alone.
That feels isolated.
Lacking community.
Lacking any kind of connection.
Feelings of anxiety, depression, loneliness.
It's actually kind of also a funny show
but lest we think that it's just a
it's just a big Debbie Downer of a musical
it's a lot of fun but in there
we touch on some, I think, some important issues
and you know in a way that that's
similar to The Greatest Showman
just in the way that both of those shows sort of
touch on people who feel disenfranchised.
People who feel on the outside.