Dear Evan Hansen 👕

#PRInvite #Gifted | Dear Evan Hansen… this week will be a good week, because the hit stage show which took Broadway and the West End by storm can be found at His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen.

⚠️Trigger warning: this review mentions mental health concerns, including suicide.

Star rating: ★★★★

‘Dear Evan Hansen’ is a 2016 original musical, written by Pasek and Paul, and this week, the show can be found here in Aberdeen as part of its first UK tour. The show, which opened on Broadway nearly ten years ago now, swept the Tony Awards - winning Best Musical, Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical. They, in fact, won so many of these prestigious awards, that no other musical eligible during that year got an eye-in; so it was no surprise that the show transferred to London’s West End, where it played between 2019 and 2022, picking up several Olivier Award wins, too. The show was treated to a tie-in novel by Val Emmich and a feature film by Universal, which starred the show's original Evan Hansen, Ben Platt. Many will famously know ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ for its message on grief, suicide awareness, and finding a place where you don’t have to be alone in a world fuelled by social media for teenagers.

It is perhaps no surprise that the show announced a tour early last year following its strong success - but the announcement raised a few brows due to its non-replica status. Just as Evan’s iconic blue polo is no more, so too, the new tour has been traded in for a reimagining and needed refresh ahead of bringing it to audiences in 2025. This is not ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ as worldwide audiences know it: it is a completely reconfigured production unique for regional UK audiences, where the show has taken on a fresh coat of paint and a new lease of life - complimented by a revised script too. The show is centred on the impact social media can have, so it is no surprise that almost a decade on, the production has been updated for present day. This encompasses new staging by Adam Penford - and this was very similar to the recent ‘Be More Chill’ which runs in a similar vein to ‘Dear Evan Hansen’.

The audience follow Evan’s journey through therapy, completing journal entries addressed to himself, and struggling with his anxiety. Evan can also be described as an autistically coded character, with his body language and tics more in line with this rather than a diagnosis of anxiety or depression - though this is never explicitly mentioned. His school experience is difficult, feeling on the outside always looking in, and having suicidal thoughts himself. He runs into an altercation with Connor - a high-school stoner who is equally as isolated and vulnerable. Connor uncovers one of Evan’s letters which happens to mention his sister Zoe, who Evan has a crush on. Moments later in the play, it is revealed that Connor has died by suicide, and when his parents find the letter addressed to Evan Hansen, they assume the pair were friends. Evan, unknowing what to do in this situation, leans into the miscommunication and invents a narrative about their son to bring them comfort, and later starts ‘The Connor Project’ to raise awareness and funds for those impacted by suicide.

Though the original musical has mostly captivated the hearts of tens of thousands, there has been some recent discourse about how ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ is flawed at its core, and this is something I’ve been pleased to see in all honesty. If nothing else, the show is a talking point for good quality representation - and can be considered somewhat problematic in being a typical sample of mental health issues. On one hand, this show has a pivotal role in educating audiences about suicide awareness - particularly young teens and parents - and in noticing the signs that can be directly in front of someone, but which are still implicit. It is great to see the show provide leaflets with resources in key locations around the theatre to promote seeking help should someone need this. However, I do find the nature of ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ quite controversial and difficult to defend at times. Whilst I understand Evan is a young teen, and vulnerable himself, and he is only wanting to please Connor’s parents by bringing them some comfort - the entire plot is based on a lie about a suicide and the dangers of trying to rewrite someone’s history. I feel it also reverses the progress the show makes for under-represented characters, such as Evan, by suggesting that people with anxious or autistic traits may be seen using the death of Connor for their own gain and, for some, attention-seeking. Evan’s social climbing only occurs because of the lies he fabricates with his friend Jared, using these to manipulate Connor’s grieving family and win the love of his sister, Zoe. Without any real consequence at the end, it feels jarring and strange to me.

I will admit, I have watched many slime tutorials of the original production, later seeing the film - and I’ve even read the book to try and get a full understanding of why ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ portrays mental health in this way. Having seen the show live for the first time last night, I’m still not won over by this at all, and found some elements quite uncomfortable. But there are two routes into this show: watching Evan grow in confidence and finding himself along the way; or you may fall into the same trap as I did watching a slew of characters I could see no real goodness in. But unfortunately, the flaws of the show do represent teenage life, and I do expect many people would react in the same way as Connor’s peers do in schools respectively. It goes back to what I always say, though: a show that splits opinion and gets audience members talking about its pros and cons is a positive thing - and I have enjoyed the conversations I had with many who attended last night's performance.

The award winning score is written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul - the songwriting duo responsible for ‘La La Land’ and ‘The Greatest Showman’. The musical offering goes without criticism: the songs are really brilliant. The score features “Waving Through a Window”, “For Forever” and “Sincerely Me”, but most notably “You Will Be Found”. Whilst the show boasts some strong - and quite psychologically complex - character material, its pitfall is the lack of ensemble numbers. New to this specific production, an ensemble has been added, but this addition doesn’t quite fully work when the show has already been written, though the extra bodies are welcomed and definitely needed.

Bringing the show forward past its decade of conversation and change, the casting team cleverly incorporated social media into every aspect of the new staging, even down to its casting strategies. The production team for the show partnered with social media giant, TikTok, with people invited to audition by posting videos of themselves singing a song from the show - and some talent was pulled from Aberdeen for second rounds! The nationwide digital search only casted one member of the cast, Sonny Monaghan who plays alternative Evan, winning his role as a result.

Ryan Kopel leads the cast as Evan Hansen and his performance is excellent. Kopel is one of the few castings for the show’s history that fits the high-school timeline, and this enhances the viewing experience. In previous castings, audiences are left watching a grown man make the mistakes a teenage Evan makes which doesn’t feel quite right. Evan’s signature songs are no easy sing, but Kopel took these in his stride quite effortlessly, without any signs of strain.

Lauren Conroy takes on the role of Zoe Murphy, reinventing her character a fair bit, which I really enjoyed. Conroy’s portrayal of Zoe has more attitude than before, which works well with her stubbornness and inability to grieve her brother, based on Evan’s fictional narrative. Her performance of “Requiem” was a highlight, accompanied by her on-stage parents, and received a flutter of applause before it had even finished.

These two teenagers are accompanied by Vivian Panka as Alana Beck, Tom Dickerson as Jared Kleinman and Killian Thomas Lefevre who plays Connor Murphy. All three characters contrast each other, but each has a unique relationship with Evan. They all provide some great vocal performances in their supporting roles.

Alice Fearn is Heidi Hanson, and it was a delight to see Fearn live for the first time - she is one of the West End’s greats. Though this is one of her smaller roles, she says she is “embracing her new age bracket” and provides a heartful and important perspective to the musical through the eyes of Evan’s mother. Fearn’s performance of “Good For You” was particularly exciting - I just wish there was more material there for the character.

Helen Anker and Richard Hurst play the Murphy parents and they are perfect in these roles. They effortlessly portray grief in different ways, unknowing that by searching for answers for Connor’s death, they become overbearing in Evan’s life - causing a split in all of the core characters we journey with throughout the show.

Though performances were strong overall, and the new staging for the production was refreshed - there were some elements of the reproduction that I felt let the storytelling down. For example, there wasn’t enough of a divide between the Murphy’s and Hansen’s to really drill down into how different these family networks are, not helped by the shared set pieces so each home looked similar. I missed the dissimilarity between the mothers at the end and think this was an unfortunate oversight.

Otherwise, the set design is by Morgan Large (one of my favourite set designers), with lighting by Matt Daw and the use of videos by Ravis Deepres and Large simultaneously. Fans of the original production will recognise that everything is brighter: there are more colours, set pieces and clever nods to the digital world in this version, and it seems more visually appealing overall. The movement of the show, directed by Penford, is drawn together by choreographer Carrie-Anne Ingrouille. For a show that has social media at its very heartbeat - this was captured perfectly within the non-replica’s craft.

“Dear Evan Hansen” should be commended for the conversation it starts, and I fully applaud the staging and scoring behind the show. But, no matter how I try to understand the foundations of the piece, I just can’t shake off that something doesn’t feel right about the story. I am however glad to see so many theatregoers moved to tears last night, and another standing ovation for a well-deserving cast. Upon researching the show, I found a quote by the original Evan, Ben Platt, and I feel it is a particularly fitting note to end on: “the things that make you strange are the things that make you powerful”.

Sincerely, me.

Credits

Instagram links: @theatregramuk, @aberdeenperformingarts, @dehwestend

Review by Joel Simpson cc: theatregram@gmail.com

Production photos supplied by Aberdeen Performing Arts