Exclusive Interview: Colton Ryan Chats Some Lovers, Dear Evan Hansen, and More

From pouring his heart on the stage in productions like Girl from the North Country to starring in projects like Apple TV+’s Little Voice and Hulu’s upcoming The Girl from Plainville, Colton Ryan is a rising star who is captivating audiences in all facets of his career.

This October, he has not one, but two exciting projects out now: the concept album titled Some Lovers and the film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Colton about Some Lovers, his journey with Dear Evan Hansen, and how his community has shaped him into the artist he is today.

PC: How did you discover your passion for the arts?
Colton: Like a lot of kids, I didn’t have many friends, but I knew there was a good place to find some—when we were all stuck together, rehearsing for musicals after school. I also went to an arts program in elementary and middle school, so we didn’t really have sports. The big thing to do socially was musical theater. I found a real community there.

Also, I experienced some big losses when I was very young. It was the first place where I found a congregation; it was the first communion I held with people. When we got together, I felt like a part of something bigger, instead of a unique person who felt alone.

PC: You’ve had a lot of success already throughout your young career. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out to you?
Colton: There was a moment where I was about to do my first original piece of theater in New York, Girl from North Country, at the Public Theater downtown. It was super cool and had lots of guts. I knew it had the wings to be something bigger, as it now is.

When it was downtown, I also had the opportunity to do an indie film somewhere else. It was a good opportunity. It was a good part and everything, but my gut told me there was something really intriguing about this musical. It was weird, Irish, dark, and moody. I would like anyone who knows me to describe me as all of those things. [laughs]

I was like, “You know what? I know it’s may not make sense to others, but I’ve got to do this musical.” It was the first time that I really followed my gut.

I can draw you a direct path of how I started in that show and how I was seen by my great friend, and hopefully lifetime collaborator, Jessie Nelson. She saw me in that. She was like, “We’ve got to do something together,” so we did something together off-Broadway. Then she was like, “We’ve got to keep this going. We got to make some jazz.” I was like, “All right!” Then we did Little Voice on Apple.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Colton: The people who have had the most impact on me spiritually are the people that I’ve lost; they haunt me in everything I do. But on a very literal note, Jessie is one of those people. For reasons beyond my understanding, people have always been champions of me, like my friend Ben Platt. Their love and support is full-forced, full throttle. They give it to everyone they care about. Steven Sater is another one of those people. I’ve been fans of their work and they’ve been fans of mine. We’ve all come to agree that it’d be better if we were just friends first and foremost. They’ve been really generous and kind to bring a friend along with them. I feel that.

PC: You’re a part of a new concept album. Tell us about Some Lovers and how you got involved with the project.
Colton: It stems back to the off-Broadway play that I did with Jessie Nelson, which was written by Steve Sater and Duncan Sheik. It was called Alice by Heart at MCC.

I’ve always gushed over Steven because I’m a millennial/cusp of a zoomer, so Spring Awakening was everything to me. I wanted so desperately to be in it, which I was lucky enough to do.

After our run, Steven and I felt this connection. We were like, “We’ve got to keep jamming.” He sent me Some Lovers one time to read, which was really kind.

When you’re growing up, you dream of that: a writer being like, “Could you read this? Tell me what you think.” It meant the world to me that he actually cared what I thought. I really liked it. It was so haunting and melancholy, yet full of so much romance. I hadn’t even heard any of the music. I just read it a bunch of times. We read it for real with some actors, and I sang a few of the songs. I actually sang “Molly” on Zoom, which is hard to do by the way! I was juggling all the delays of Zoom.

It was so much nicer when he was finally like, “Let’s get you in the recording booth to make this thing.” It’s funny because up until a few days before it was released, I didn’t know who was on it. I’m sitting here listening to the album and I’m like, “That’s my hero. That’s my other hero. That’s Katrina Lank, oh my God, that’s my ride or die hero.” I was like, “Look at all these iconic people on this. Somehow, I was able to convince Steven to let me start it off.”

PC: What was it like recording during the pandemic?
Colton: It was actually crazy. It’s honestly been so inspiring and enlightening. It’s actually so much easier to make music than you would believe. I’m a musician first and foremost. That’s what I grew up doing, but I’ve always been so scared of recording my own music because it’s all these do hickeys and do dongs, mixing, mastering. As a result of this pandemic, I’ve done the most recording of my life. I had to teach myself a lot of things over the past year, but it manifested into this project.

I ended up pretty much engineering a studio in my mom’s house in Lexington, Kentucky. The room is a little bigger than a closet, and I had to makeshift it into a studio. They were talking me through Zoom as I was doing passes, engineering myself, and then sending them the files. I was like, “Let’s see how that goes.”

It’s amazing to hear the quality of this album. It sounds like it’s in the studio. Only I know it was in my mom’s house. [laughs] During the recording, I was like, “Everyone stop talking down there. People are here working.” [laughs] The fact that I know the secret of that is so funny to me. It’s really cool. The access to making music is getting much easier.

PC: Tell us about “Molly” and reuniting with your Alice by Heart castmate, Molly Gordon.
Colton: That’s a funny story; I wasn’t actually aware that she was going to be on the recording at the moment when I recorded it. I was singing it and laughing to myself because I’m singing her name over and over again. I’ve known Molly for years; she’s a good friend of mine. It was so funny when I heard her on the track. I recorded reference tracks as a backup in case they got someone to do the duet with me. They were like, “If we don’t, we’ll use your voice twice and do an echo effect to it.

When she came on, it sounded way better. It’s super cool. It was so long ago that we did that. That experience was genuinely one of the best and most impactful theater experiences I’ve ever had—and Molly was right there for all of that. She’s a big reason for it, too. It was wild to get to hear our voices. It would have been nice to do it in the same place and hear our voices blend in real-time, but I’ll take it.

PC: You were talking about recording your own original music. Do you think we’ll see an album or a single in your future?
Colton: Yeah, for sure. That’s all I’ll say for now. [laughs]

PC: Totally fair. You’re currently starring in Dear Evan Hansen. What has the transition been like bringing all the hard work you’ve done on the stage to the screen?
Colton: The whole thing is very romantic to me. You can’t write the way that it happened. I quite literally transitioned from the stage to the screen with Dear Evan Hansen. It was the first professional job I ever had; it was the biggest milestone in my life at twenty-one years old. It took me out of school and brought me to New York to live for the first time. It upended my whole life, my worldview, and how I work. I would love to continue to be associated with theater. Sometimes I feel like I’m slowly walking in the other direction, but I’m very much a theater kid and nerd at heart as anyone can attest.

It’s too spiritual to put into words—the fact that it gave me all the bones of what I do as an artist and actor. I always assumed I’d be in the theater watching the movie. I’m such a fan of it, and for it to come back around, it’s immeasurable in my heart. I explode when I think about it.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Colton: Love Island or The Challenge.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Colton: I do like a solid re-watch of everything Marvel once a year; it’s a whole day saga for me.

PC: Favorite book?
Colton: A Prayer for Own Meany by John Irving or anything he writes.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Colton: Dear Evan Hansen. It’s of the moment.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Colton: Chaka Khan. I don’t know if this counts, but it’s very telling of me. The first album that I ever owned was in the fourth grade, and it was Usher’s Confessions. It totally explained the way I sing and why it’s so dramatic. I mean Confessions Part 2—talk about drama.

PC: First concert you attended?
Colton: John Mayer.

PC: Dream role?
Colton: Well, they’re rebooting X-Men. They chose the song and dance man to play Wolverine the first time, and it was very successful. If this is the way for me to pitch it publicly…

PC: Who would play you in the story of your life?
Colton: I definitely want someone subversive and interesting. This is a stretch, but I would love it if the late River Phoenix played me in my life. That would’ve been great.

PC: An album that changed your life and why?
Colton: Control is a pretty big one for me. I was a young adult when that came out. That stays on repeat for me.

To keep up with Colton, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Pick up or stream Some Lovers today.

Photo Credit: Travis Chantar