Dear Evan Hansen
You Will Be Found
Dear Evan Hansen
music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, book by Steven Levenson
Nottingham Playhouse Productions at the New Wimbledon Theatre until 29th March, then on tour until 5th July
Review by Thea Diamond
Trigger alert: themes of mental health, bullying, drug use and suicide.
Having previous Broadway and West End runs, and being the recipient of multiple awards, this musical will not disappoint. Pasek and Paul, the award winning duet behind the Greatest Showman, provide the lyrics and music and have produced yet more stand out anthems, making many of their songs staples of modern musical theatre. Under Adam Penford’s direction, this new production started it’s tour in Nottingham in September, and will visit multiple UK and Ireland theatres before cumulating in Edinburgh in July. The 2 hours 40-minutes fly by, as each and every actor gives a fantastic performance, completely becoming their character and portraying extremely believable and engrossing characterisations.
Dear Evan Hansen tells the story of seventeen year-old American, Evan, a self-proclaimed ‘loser’ and chronic people pleaser, who is crippled with social anxiety and struggles with his mental health. Ryan Kopel’s standout portrayal of Evan is top notch. His mannerisms and body language, cowering from any simple interaction and struggling to speak, powerfully depicts the challenges he faces in navigating the world around him. One of the musical’s most well known songs, Waving through a Window, describes how he has learnt to deal with his insecurities by putting on the brakes to avoid failure or drawing attention to his own shortcomings. Many who have struggled with anxiety or depression will find that the powerful lyrics completely resonate with their feelings of emptiness and isolation.
Evan lives with his single mum Heidi (Alice Fearn), after his dad moved out ten years ago and started a new family in a different state. His mum works all hours as a nurse to support her son single-handedly, and studies in the evening to become a para-legal. She encourages him to apply for college scholarships and engage with tasks set by his therapist. Although taking the role of both mum and dad, she struggles with knowing how to overcome the challenges of parenting (Anyone Have a Map), feeling that she is pretending and is flying blind.
After one of Evan’s therapeutic self-affirming letters is taken by the year group’s troubled teen, Connor (Killian Thomas Lefevre), Evan gets caught up in a snowballing fabrication of their fictitious friendship. Following Connor’s tragic death by suicide, a mix-up with his shocked and grieving parents means that Evan is overcome with anxiety. Unable to speak coherently to explain himself and succumbing to an awkward stutter, he goes along with their assumptions that Evan was Connor’s only friend.
Although Evan has been branded a serial liar for these actions, this feels like a simple and one dimensional explanation for his actions. One of the beauties of this musical is that that the characters each have deeper motivations than initially obvious, with defence mechanisms abounding. They are complex and multi dimensional and, as in real life, there’s no obvious ‘goodies’ or baddies’.
Evan’s ‘family friend’ Jared (Tom Dickerson) views himself as too cool and superior to be known as an actual ‘friend’ to Evan, and his constant mordant quips perhaps hide his lack of socially skilled interactions. Jared volunteers to create an email account to pen fake emails between Evan and Connor, as he seems to have too much time on his hands rather than hanging out with his supposedly many friends he’s made at summer camp.
Evan realises that this re-writing of the past gives Connor’s parents hope and comfort in their loss, and the frequent apparition of Connor, most memorably and humorously in Sincerely Me spurs Evan on to provide a re-invention that will show that Connor loved his family and was trying to overcome drug use and turn his life around.
Evan’s fellow classmate Alana (Vivian Panka) becomes the co-president of the Connor Project, a website with blog and fund raising platform for The Orchard, a place where Connor’s parents enjoyed family picnics. Alana initially finds purpose in her frequent postings and the many ‘likes’ her posts receive, before becoming desperate that Connor’s memory must be kept alive whilst projecting her own anxieties and insecurities that she would become forgotten and obsolete in the event of her own death. Morgan Large’s set and video designs perfectly draw the audience into the frantic and instantaneous world of social media posting, reposting and commenting (along with trolls).
In For Forever Evan’s stabbing pain at being alone and isolated is re-authored as he imagines what it’s like to have true friendship and support through adolescent struggles, and in the world he so evidently longs for, he had a friend in the moment when he most needed one. This is an excruciating sequence as the audience recognise his pain but also know he is falling down the rabbit hole of telling Connor’s parents what they so desperately want and need to hear.
The complexities of bereavement and internal conflict stemming from loss after suicide are captured in Requiem,where Connor’s sister Zoe (Lauren Conroy), mother Cynthia (Helen Anker) and father Larry (Richard Hurst) each struggle with their grief from different perspectives. Zoe resents the image her parents are getting drawn into, as for the first time in her life she now feels safe at home following years of being frequently hurt through Connor’s aggressive outbursts. Larry resents Connor for throwing away everything he has been lucky enough to have been born into, and Cythnia remains in denial about the person her son became.
Despite the story having drawn mixed reviews due to the sensitive nature of the content, all the songs (not only those described here) give the audience empathy, insight and deep understanding of the character’s inner worlds and turmoil they face, whilst also becoming a vehicle for exploring and processing their own experiences and emotions. The dark humour in Dear Evan Hansen cleverly has the audience lurching between tears and laughter, and reminds us that music and the arts have the power to provide emotional catharsis for many in the audience. Bring your tissues and be ready to become gripped by this powerful, poignant and impeccable spectacle!
Thea Diamond, March 2025
Photography by Liam Rudden Media
Mark Aspen 