PNC Broadway has brought to Pittsburgh the Gen Z-adored musical Dear Evan Hansen. Per the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust website, there is less than 1% availability for all remaining performances. My teens informed me Hansen is 1/4 of the musical quartet trending on Tumblr: Hamilton, Heathers the Musical, Be More Chill and Dear Evan Hansen.
Hansen premiered on Broadway in 2016 and at the 71st Tony Awards, in June 2017, won six, including Best Musical and Best Score, then took home a Grammy in 2018 for Best Musical Theater Album. So, in the realm of show business, Hansen is a really big deal. Written by Steven Levenson, with music and lyrics composed by the powerful duo Pasek & Paul, it’s no wonder people are hooked on Hansen.
Hansen is an emotional feast for anyone not shy to melodrama. The plot follows Evan Hansen (Ben Levi Ross) an awkward and painfully shy high school senior on his first day of school. Inflicted with social anxiety, Evan’s new therapist has assigned him the task of writing a daily letter to himself, starting with “today is going to be a good day.” Evan’s only friends, Jared (Jared Goldsmith) and Alana (Phoebe Koyabe) are not invested in their friendship with Evan. This is especially evident when they notice the cast on Evan’s arm but don’t offer to sign it or show much concern. Evan is not so bothered by this, his distress is focused on Zoe Murphy, his crush who doesn’t know he exists, illustrated through the ballad, “Waving Through a Window”. At the end of the school day Evan is in the computer lab printing the letter for his therapist when he’s confronted by Connor Murphy (Marrick Smith), Zoe’s brother, who shoved him in the hallway earlier that day. Connor steals Evans letter from the printer and refuses to return it.
Several days later Evan meets Cynthia (Christiane Noll) and Larry Murphy (Aaron Lazar). They tell Evan that Connor has committed suicide, and that Evan’s letter was found in Connor’s pocket. Both Cynthia and Larry are convinced Evan was their son’s friend. Distraught with grief, Cynthia and Larry grasp onto Evan as their son’s only friend. Evan barely attempts to correct the Murphy’s misinterpretation of the letter. Instead he embellishes their idea of friendship with Connor, told through a poignant recount, “For Forever.” Evan enlists Jared to help fabricate a secret friendship with Connor. Together, Jared and Evan write dozens of fake emails, solidifying the lie that Evan and Connor had a clandestine friendship. The letter-writing antics are narrated through the wildly popular, “Sincerely Me.”
As the story unfolds, Evan becomes like a second son to the Murphys, all the while keeping the hoax hidden from his own mother, Heidi (Jessica Phillips), a single parent, absent at home due to a hectic work and school schedule. Using the phony emails, Evan proves to the Murphys his friendship with Connor was sincere. Word travels around school and suddenly everyone knows Evan and Connor were best friends. With the intention of keeping Connor’s memory alive, Evan and Alana create, “The Connor Project.”
Evan’s anxiety begins to melt away with the newfound recognition he receives from his peers and from the thousands of likes, shares and followers “The Connor Project” receives when it goes viral on social media, a cathartic moment for Evan professed in “You Will Be Found.”
Evan struggles to maintain the labyrinth of lies; hiding the truth from his mother, averting Alana’s questions when she attempts to address inconsistencies in the emails and eventually Zoe becomes his girlfriend. Life seems to be going great until the web of deception becomes so tangled it eventually breaks.
I hate spoilers, so, I refuse to share the ending, but rest assured, it is intense.
Pasek and Paul ensure Hansen is fresh and present. The lyrics are a poignant imprint of the fear, loss and grief attached to the struggle of mental health and suicide crises. Sounds depressing? Hansen is not a complete tear-jerker. Goldsmith, brings a perfect balance of comedic relief at just the right moments. Koyabe delivers the overachieving high school student role with finesse. Lazar, Noll and Phillips contribute years of theatrical maturity to their parental roles. Together, the cast is a unified force of talent, but it is the astounding brilliance of Ross’s vibrato that kept me a single blink away from tears. Never have I heard a man sing with such boundless vocal range.
Hansen is an emotionally stirring rendition of juvenescence and alongside depicts parental strife in a way that does not force you to feel like you must choose a side; parent versus child. It just is. Hansen is not a moral lesson, or a coming of age story. It is a depiction of life with a musical narrative both cutting and consequential.
Megan Grabowski works full time for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania but for fun she enjoys volunteering, as a trustee for the Crafton Public Library Board, the Girl Scouts and as a contributor to Pittsburgh in the Round. Megan grew up attending community theater performances with her parents and relishes the escapism and adventure live productions provide. Now, a mother to 2 teenage daughters, Megan is thrilled to see her girls enjoying live shows, performing on stage and creating playlists of their favorite showtunes. To keep up on writing trends, news and cool cultural stuff, follow Megan on Facebook @mjgrabowskiwordsmith.
Categories: Archived Reviews