By SHARON EBERSON
A cautionary tale of troubled teens, families in crisis, and the consequences when a lie goes viral, Dear Evan Hansen burst onto Broadway in 2016, and rewrote the rules of engagement by adding social-media screens to 21st-century theatrical storytelling.
In Pittsburgh Musical Theater’s riveting regional premiere of the Tony Award-winner, Anthony Marino Jr.’s superbly awkward Evan and the strikingly original staging are among the reasons to revisit Dear Evan Hansen if you have already seen the show. If you haven’t, or even if you have, bring tissues.
for Pittsburgh Musical Theater. (Image: Matt Polk)
You could hear the sniffles and see people wiping their eyes throughout PMT’s Gargaro Theater, and that was well before Zanny Laird’s rendering of one of the saddest songs in musical theater, “So Big, So Small,” told the story of how Evan became the lonely, self-loathing teenager who, “Learned to slam on the brake … before I lead with the worst of me.”
Directed by Tim Seib, Marino’s moving, detailed performance as Evan is appropriately and utterly unnerving. If his downcast Evan had a turtle shell, he’d never poke out his head.
Marino personifies the insecure, medicated teen, betrayed by twitchy mannerisms that ebb and expand, depending on Evan’s scale of discomfort. The actor who has grown up on stages in his hometown of Greensburg and, more recently, with Pittsburgh CLO, stays in character for songs that require enormous range and emotional integrity, and he performs the vocal feat of cry-singing that is both woeful and a wonder to behold.
Marino is supported by a stellar cast of local actors, several of them integral to Pittsburgh Musical Theater’s professional company. Laird, as Evan’s harried, overworked single mother, continues to build on a string of impressive roles, including the lead in PMT’s Waitress.
Notables include Joshua Clark as Connor, a darkly troubled teen whose suicide sets the plot in motion: Connor bullies Evan and grabs the printout of a positive letter that Evan has written to himself, part of his therapy as a daily boost, including Evan’s adoration of Connor’s sister, Zoe (Erin Cain). Connor also — with unfriendly intent — prints his name in large letters across a cast that Evan is wearing, the result of Evan having fallen out of tree, while he was working at a summer job.
When Connor commits suicide, the letter is found in his pocket and mistaken for something he has written to Evan.
with Anthony Marino Jr.’s Evan Hansen. (Image: Matt Polk)
And here’s the twist: Connor’s grieving parents (Brett Goodnack and Bre Short) ask to see their son’s apparently secret buddy, Evan, who proceeds to lie about their long-term friendship, ingratiating himself to the family he has always wished for, and growing closer to Zoe.
Evan confides in his wisecracking pseudo-friend, Jared (Maximillian Milligan, ably providing much of the show’s comedic elements), who helps keep the lie going, until it reaches fellow student Alana (Maya Fullard), an overzealous talker with her own acceptance issues.
Fullard fully embraces Alana’s need to elevate her own importance, leeching onto Evan’s apparent friendship with the late Connor and pushing him to share his story on social media. She also arranges a memorial for their previously unpopular classmate, with Evan a key speaker.
Marino’s Evan, now caught in a web of his own lies, faces an auditorium of his peers and allows his inner voice to reach them, with the anthemic You Will Be Found.
Evan’s hopeful plea to be seen is recorded by every smartphone in the room, sent out over social media, and he becomes a media sensation.
On Broadway, the thousands of teens who engage with Evan’s “speech” are expressed with video posts, seen on dozens of screens. For PMT, Tucker Topel’s dynamic set design of asymmetric frames and screens that wrap around the upper deck of the theater, are ever-changing with visual media design by Scott Andrew, while Forrest Trimble’s spectacular lighting is akin to a key character in the show.
Unlike the Broadway screens, however, the many voices are provided by the ensemble, which moves in and out of Evan’s life, choreographed by Lucas Fedele, with music direction by Dr. Francesca Tortorello.
Are screens more powerful than people? No, just powerful in a different way.
As his lies spiral out of control, Evan experiences visions of Connor, who often comes to him bathed in light. Clark’s Connor is delightfully silly and darkly engaging, as seen through the prism of Evan’s mind.
As Connor’s parents, Goodnack and Short convey the individuality of the grieving process, and the need to latch onto Evan as a sign that, just maybe, there was some light inside their son that they could not see. Their neediness, along with Cain’s empathetic Zoe, feed Evan’s dream of a family, while piling on his guilt.
Several of the Pasek & Paul pop songs are seared into memory, but a couple that I didn’t recall as well caught my attention in the PMT production, in particular when Evan is called out with “Good for You,” elevated through thoughtful staging and choreography. Likewise “Requiem,” with Goodnack, Short and Cain expressing their character’s different stages of grieving.
I will never be satisfied that the teens of Dear Evan Hansen, who perpetuate lies and exploit Connor’s family, get enough of a comeuppance. The failed film version of the musical added a scene in an attempt to deal with this flaw, but to no avail.
Marino’s Evan, however, suffers so mightily, carrying a mountain of despair inside his slight, trembling frame, that I am convinced that dear Evan deserves some grace. He leads a production that delivers a message everyone needs to hear — “You are not alone. You will be found.” — and on opening night, moved many in the audience to tears.
At intermission, one of the most telling comments overheard was, “I shouldn’t have worn makeup! Even my dad is crying!”
If you’re going to the West End theater’s Dear Evan Hansen and you don’t arrive armed with tissues, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
Pittsburgh Musical Theater presents Dear Evan Hansen at the Gargaro Theater, 327 S. Main Street, West End, April 30 – May 24, 2026. Tickets: https://pmt.culturaldistrict.org/production/102545/dear-evan-hansen or call 412-456-6666. Note: For information on crisis services, visit https://www.upmc.com/services/behavioral-health/programs/emergency-crisis/resolve-crisis-services.
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