Dear Evan Hansen's Gabrielle Carrubba on How 'Being Onstage is Self-Medicating' & Loving Andrew Barth Feldman

Gabrielle Carrubba can be seen singing her requiem for all to hear as Dear Evan Hansen's new Zoe Murphy. Originally a vacation cover-turned-standby, Carrubba has been with the Broadway.com Audience Choice Award-winning musical for almost a year and has since stepped into the role of Zoe Murphy full-time, replacing Mallory Bechtel. "It's my fifth week as Zoe. That's crazy, I can't believe that," she said in a recent interview on Broadway.com's #LiveAtFive. "I auditioned for the show nine times total. I think they just couldn't find a place for me at certain moments, so when I got offered the vacation cover it was only for three weeks. I didn't think that I'd even be coming back. But here I am haunting the Music Box halls almost a year later. It's a dream come true to get to tell this story every night. I pinch myself a lot. I'm like, 'Hi, okay, you're here." I can't even believe it."

Carrubba joins the roster of women who have brought Zoe Murphy to life on stage, and original cast member Laura Dreyfuss is one of the reasons why she even discovered the role. "I went to the Boston Conservatory and our senior year is really geared towards our future," Carrubba said. "I had a couple of friends be like,'Have you ever heard of Dear Evan Hansen? There's a role that I think you'd be good at. You should listen to Requiem.' Laura Dreyfuss also went to BOCO so everyone knew her. I listened to it on a plane and I just cried. I was just like, 'Yup, okay, I get it. I want to do this.' I saw the show my first day of rehearsal, which was just a disaster of an idea because Taylor Trench destroyed me. I cried so much and I was like, 'Okay, I'm really ready to do this all the time.'"

Carrubba shares the stage with newcomer Andrew Barth Feldman who leads the show as Evan Hansen, which is something that she is extremely grateful for. "I love Andrew Barth Feldman," she said. "He's just a masterclass of poise and emotion and agility. He's just the best person ever to love on and offstage. The most beautiful thing about him is that he's so humble and so generous as a scene partner. He listens. To have an active scene partner like that, who can just really be present in the moment when you're playing such a crazy role, is incredible. I couldn't have asked for a better person to be onstage with."

While this is just the beginning for Carrubba, it is something she has been working towards her whole life. "I started as a competitive dancer and I always joke that Dance Moms was like my life," she said. "I am an anxious person and I think being onstage is self-medicating in a way where I don't have to think for a minute. It's so cheesy, but singing and dancing and performing makes me so happy. Ariana Grande tweeted 'I love singing' and I'm like, 'Retweet, me too.' I love doing it."

See Carrubba in Dear Evan Hansen, playing at the Music Box Theatre

Watch the full #LiveAtFive episode below!