Theatre Review: ‘Dear Evan Hansen’
Through beautiful folk-inspired songs and touchingly raw performances, Broadway’s Dear Evan Hansen critiques a society that thrives on the mass broadcasting and exploitation of tragedy.
With a book by the master of realistic conversational dialogue, Steven Levenson (The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin, The Language of Trees), and music and lyrics by powerhouse songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dogfight, La La Land), Dear Evan Hansen turns a painful story of teen suicide and mental illness into something introspective and beautiful.
The musical, led by director Michael Greif (Rent, Next to Normal, If/Then), is a unique addition to this season’s list of new shows. It tells the story of high school senior Evan Hansen, a young man with severe social anxiety disorder, who finds himself accidentally entangled in the aftermath of the suicide of his outcast classmate, Connor Murphy, played with ingenuity by an angsty Mike Faist (Newsies).
Evan is played by Broadway veteran Ben Platt (The Book of Mormon, Pitch Perfect 1–2), whose heart-wrenching portrayal of a teenager dealing with mental illness is amplified by his transcendental musical performance — his chills-inducing belting range will leave audiences in tears.
While Platt is the undeniable star of Dear Evan Hansen — his heartbreaking performance of the second act song “Words Fail” is unlike anything else on Broadway — the rest of the musical’s cast is perfect. Evan’s mother, Heidi Hansen, is played by the unbelievably talented Rachel Bay Jones (Pippin, Hair); Jones’ performance is fantastic, and her 90’s-rock style singing is a refreshing break from the stereotypical Broadway sound (less LuPone and more Morissette). Her final song, “So Big/So Small,” which she sings to a crying, panicking Platt, is quite possibly the most beautiful number in the show, and will surely secure her a Tony nomination, at the very least.
These out-of-this-world performances are highlighted by scenic designer David Kornis’ appropriately minimalistic stage design. Instead of an elaborate set, the stage is black, with set pieces rolling in to represent Evan’s bedroom and the Murphy’s living and dining rooms. This pointed simplicity is contrasted with the mesh screens that hang from the ceilings, which broadcast characters’ social media feeds throughout the show. The constant updates further enforce the impact social media has on everyone’s lives, perhaps using the stark, empty set to suggest that everyone is alone online. This is a particularly poignant design choice, as one of the main themes of the show is the exploration of how social media can amplify and exploit tragedy.
Above all else, Dear Evan Hansen is a musical about grief — the unfathomable pain felt by a family who has just lost their eldest son to suicide, the confusion of a single mother trying to understand her troubled son, and the desperate sadness of that son, plagued by his nearly debilitating anxiety. It is hard to imagine that one could leave the theater without having felt some deep emotional connection to Evan, his mother, or to Connor and his family, and that is the marking of a truly moving piece of theatre.
