JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH's Pasek and Paul Talk Childhood, Theatre, and More

Tony-nominated songwriting team Benj Pasek and Justin Paul recently discussed their background with theatre and music, which basically started from childhood. They also talked about their musical adaptation of JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, which is being presented by the Bay Area Children's Theatre in November.

Pasek and Paul each said that he grew up around the arts. Pasek even describes his childhood as, "an environment of turning every moment of life into song." Though each knew at an early age that he wanted to be involved in theatre forever, if possible, Paul says, "It wasn't until high school when I realized that people do this for a living. Then I knew musical theatre was going to be more then just a fun hobby."

They also reveal that they met at the University of Michigan freshman orientation and ended up being involved in musical theatre together, collaborating on songs occasionally. But when they were cast as very small roles in one of the school's musicals, they became inspired to seriously pursue songwriting.

Read the full interview here.