Dear Evan Hansen
I recently saw an incredible Off-Broadway musical called Dear Evan Hansen. I bought tickets mainly because I LOVE the songwriters, Pasek and Paul, but in the end was blown away by every aspect of it. With bold portrayal of the common personality traits of teenagers, along with an accurate representation of social media in comparison to today’s society, it was a truly amazing experience. And although the dead guy singing isn’t Gabe Goodman or Moritz Stiefel, this musical is easily as much of a tear-jerker as Next to Normal or Spring Awakening.
The show focuses on Evan, a high schooler who struggles with social anxiety. He writes a letter to himself as an assignment to help his anxiety, but Connor, a misunderstood boy at school, takes the letter. Connor is found to have committed suicide three days later with the note in his pocket and the letter is mistaken as Connor's suicide note addressed to Evan. Evan goes along with the assumption that Connor wrote the note and that they were friends and, realizing that pretending to be Connor’s friend makes him mean something, he abandons his originally innocent intentions and reluctantly builds onto the lie. In the end, however, he is right back where he started, with no friends, but tragedy allows him to begin to believe in his own worth.
One of the things that makes the story so effective is that everyone knows how it feels to want to fit in somewhere. The complexity of Evan’s impulsive and irrational choices seems crazy at first, but his movements, actions, reactions, and words create an extremely humane character that is impossible not to compare to someone you know, or even yourself. The outcome is an effective and accurate representation of an overthinking teenager who struggles with people, fearlessly displaying qualities teens may not want to admit they have.
Part of the reason why Dear Evan Hansen can make the audience laugh at some points and be close to tears at others is the music. The incredible Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (who also wrote A Christmas Story, Dogfight, and more) have once again proven to be absolute geniuses and the gods of contemporary musical theatre. Each song continues a conversation or monologue so that they are all important to the plot, and does not just allude to the plot, but explodes the moment — along with your mind. The score captures the many emotions of this show, between love, betrayal, and self-reflection, and seems to say things so much better in song than it ever could in words. As a HUGE fan of Pasek and Paul, I might be a little biased in saying that the show wouldn't be as great as it is if they hadn’t written the music. Some of my favorites were "Waving Through a Window" and “Requiem,” and the music had me crying by intermission.
Another factor of it's success is the fantastic cast. Each character in the show goes through their own emotional journey, and every actor bared their soul onstage. In particular, Ben Platt perfectly portrayed the awkwardness of Evan, yet his display of emotion was realistic and tear-jerking...not to mention his HEAVENLY voice. As a big believer in being natural and connecting with a role, I was very pleased with his unique-but-effective acting. In addition, Mike Faist portrayed Connor Murphy incredibly well, convincingly becoming the troubled teen yet showing his comedic side in “Sincerely, Me.” Will Roland, who played Evan’s “family friend,” Jared Kleinman, was the comic relief of the show and had the audience laughing harder than ever on several occasions. As the only person I had not heard of before seeing the show, I was surprised at just how much he blew me away.
(A teaser for this play can be found below. Email viewers, just click the provided link.)
Overall, Dear Evan Hansen is an incredible show, and I recommend that everybody go and see it!
-Julia and Michelle Levine, 14
Freshmen at Trumbull High School
Co-managers of the Programming Committee in the NPT Youth Board.
