Sara Bareilles discusses the adaptation of Meg Woltizer’s The Interestings

Sara Bareilles he had no trouble getting inspired I Wolitzerthe 2013 coming-of-age novel, The Interests.

Having won the Tony for Best Original Score waitress in 2016, Bareilles, 44, signed on to compose the musical adaptation of The Interestswhich is currently in the workshop phase. Playwright Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl he is writing the book.

“I read it so fast,” Bareilles exclusively said Us Weekly in November of Wolitzer’s novel. “It was only a couple of days, and I couldn’t believe how vibrant and alive the world felt to me.”

both of them waitress i The Interests star characters who feel distant from younger, more ambitious versions of themselves, but Bareilles noted that the latter has a “sophistication” that isn’t present in waitress.

“(These characters) are hyper-intellectual, on the other hand waitress it’s about a small community, (in) a southern town back home,” he explained. “These are, like, intellectuals from New York. So I think the music (for The Interests) somewhat reflects that.”

For Bareilles, the “biggest challenge” of the project was “trying to distill and condense” a 560-page novel into a single musical.

“We will not do a six-hour show. They do, but we’re not trying to make that kind of show for this book,” he said. “We’re trying to make sure that what’s being distilled are the juiciest bits of this novel, knowing that nothing (we do) will really withstand all that this novel contains. And I will always recommend that people, whether you like the musical or not, go read this book. I think the book is so special.”

The Interests follows a group of friends who meet as teenagers at an art camp in 1974. The novel’s central character, Jules, sees herself as less sophisticated than her peers, and these insecurities follow her until into adulthood as he romanticizes the lives of his longtime friends Ash and Ethan. and marriage

Bareilles said she “felt so close” to the characters when reading the book, particularly Jules.

“(She) has a little bit of Peter Pan syndrome. I think we often see that trope in men, and I don’t know that we see it as often in women, where they just have a hard time letting go of their ambition and their hopes for it’s my younger self,” he explained. . “This is an issue that lives there in a very prominent way waitressand it’s also something I’ve struggled with a little bit in my life.”

Jules’ tendency to dream of greener grass affects her husband, Dennis, who can’t help but wonder if his life will be enough for her. Bareilles explored this conflict in a song called “Enough,” written from Dennis’ perspective.

“I wrote ‘Enough’ before I finished the book,” Bareilles said. “I was really moved by the character of Dennis and the themes that were coming up around childhood and growing up, and what is enough and when can we make do with what we have?”

The jury is still out on whether Bareilles will join the cast of The Interests. (while Jessie Mueller originated the lead role of Jenna in waitressBareilles performed the role in stints on both Broadway and London’s West End.)

“Right now, I think the only hat I can wear is just the songwriting hat and (trying to) help put the pieces of the puzzle together,” the singer-songwriter said. “But I mean, I love the idea of ​​getting back on stage.”

Bareilles, however, performed “Enough” during three career shows at the Kennedy Center in September, accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra. The performances were filmed for PBS Then to the Kennedy Center series, and the special — titled Sara Bareilles: New Year’s Eve with the National Symphony Orchestra and Friends — will be released on December 31.

“It’s a whole new experience for my audience to hear my work performed with the extraordinary touch of a giant orchestra,” Bareilles said of the show. “It was daunting in the sense that we wanted to get the ensemble right and pick songs that spoke really well (with) an orchestra.”

The program features special guests Rufus Wainwright, Emily King i David Ryan Harris and touches on several periods of Bareilles’ career. Beloved songs like “Love Song”, “Gravity”, “King of Anything” and “Brave” were part of the setlist along with some deeper cuts and a couple of songs. waitress melodies

“It’s really a luxury to be able to swim with all the music of my life so far,” said Bareilles. “It was an unforgettable experience.”

The prolific songwriter is also adding more music to her songbook. He is currently working on his seventh studio album.

“I’m writing a lot about grief,” said Bareilles, whose friend Gavin Creel he died at the age of 48 in September, two months after being diagnosed with metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. The couple shared the stage in both waitress and the 2022 reactivation in the forest.

“I lost a dear friend recently (and) I lost another friend in 2020. I haven’t written for a record since before the pandemic,” Bareilles said. “I think in terms of my spiritual metabolism, I’m pretty slow. I know a lot of people who were making a lot of music during and around the pandemic, and I wasn’t doing anything. So I think now I’m processing that chapter of my life: isolation, pain and loss”.

While Bareilles assured fans that the album “won’t all be hopelessly sad,” she believes it’s important to keep room for “uncomfortable” subjects.

“It is not something that our culture supports very well. I think we do a lot of escapism, which I think we also need; I don’t think it’s worthless, but I think there’s also merit in going to the dark places and resting there and really processing what’s going on there,” he said. “It’s unlike any other record I’ve written. It goes all over the place and it’s not a formula. I feel like I’m just telling stories that need to be told.”

Sara Bareilles: New Year’s Eve with the National Symphony Orchestra and Friends will air on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS app on Tuesday, December 31 at 8:00 PM ET.