Dear Evan Hansen

Its been a couple of weeks since I sat down and wrote a blog post, sadly I’ve just not felt up to writing. To bring me out of the slump I’m I thought I would write about why I love Dear Evan Hansen so much.

Dear Evan Hansen is a musical that I heard about a couple of years ago now. I instantly loved the songs and now that I’ve seen the show both on Broadway and the West End I’m more obsessed than ever. I have so many reasons why I love the show but here is some of my top reasons!

Songs

My number one reason to see Dear Evan Hansen has to be the songs. I wouldn’t be sat here today telling everyone why I think you should see the show if it wasn’t for the songs as they’re what got me truly hooked to the show. I actually heard Waving Through A Window and instantly loved it so then started to look at what show it came from and the rest is history. It’s one of the few cast recordings where you get a tiny idea of how emotional the show is and the lyrics are so relatable at times. Every single song is fantastic and I can guarantee that you’ll only enjoy it more once you’ve seen the show. I have listened to this cast recording probably more than any other album I own so I really recommend you listen more and its only proved how much I listen to it when Ben Platt was my artist of the decade on Spotify. Plus the cast recording is the original Broadway cast which includes now well known names such as Ben Platt, Will Roland and Laura Dreyfuss.

Relatability

I’ve said this time and time again but I relate so much with Evan and that is entirely why the show is so good. I think everyone watching will be able to draw parallels from characters to their own lives. You have a single parent mum working hard to do what she can to ensure her son has the best life she can give, a family suffering a loss of a loved one, a sister struggling to get to terms with the death of her brother, the dynamics of how a school reacts to the events of a suicide, a kid who so badly wants to fit in but every time he tries he worries about getting hurt…the list is endless. I’m sure every single person watch the show can relate to so many moments and that attachment is exactly what helps to make this show so good.

Important Messages

The show features so many important moments. For one, the show touches upon mental health in such a normal, believable way and I believe that it’s so important to have such a popular show that highlights these issues. Then you have moments such as You Will Be Found which reminds you that no matter what you’re not alone and Disappear which shows how no one should be forgotten no matter how insignificant you may feel you are.

Of course you have the popular quote, ‘Dear Evan Hansen, today is going to be a good day and here’s why…’ I say that quote in my day to day life more often than I should admit, to the extent that people around me now start the day with that quote without even realising they’re actually quoting a musical. It’s crazy how one line in a show can really hit home to you and personally the last monologue with this in it is the final heartbreak moment in the show but it’s so wonderful.

Social Media

Social media is something that I’m sure most of us couldn’t imagine life without nowadays. Dear Evan Hansen is one of the few musicals that taps so heavily into social media. It launches a whole campaign on the internet / social media and you seen see the horrible side of it when the Murphy family are hit with the backlash from the Connor Project being online. So many of us use social media but Dear Evan Hansen portrays the positive and negative aspects of it so wonderfully. I feel that I don’t post horrible things aimed personally at people online but since seeing the show it’s certainly made me think about what I do share and post online.

I think with everything going on in the world today it’s fantastic that a show does feature something as relevant as social media and focusses on the negative aspects as well as the positives.

Sam Tutty

My final reason only sadly relates to the UK’s London production of Dear Evan Hansen and that is Sam Tutty who currently plays Evan. I’m embarrassed to admit that I judged him instantly when the cast list was announced as I felt he looked far too cool to play Evan, but boy I have never been happier to have been proven wrong. Sam Tutty was truly born to play the role of Evan Hansen and his performance absolutely emotionally destroyed me in the best possible way imaginable. Tears were uncontrollable pouring down my face at multiple points during the show due to the incredible acting from Sam Tutty. His acting skills are second to none and if you’re half familiar with the show already, be prepared for his Words Fail! I may be bias as I adore this show but personally I think his performance as Evan is the best thing you can see on the West End at the moment and if you’re in the area do try to get a ticket to catch him in Dear Evan Hansen. Obviously no matter who you see perform as Evan the show is incredible but personally Sam Tutty is my favourite that I’ve seen in the role.

Have you ever seen the show? If so I’d love to know if you liked it or didn’t and why!

I’ve been waiting to see Dear Evan Hansen for so long. I absolutely adore every single song, I love the book and story, I just have never seen the musical on stage as it was only open in America. Sadly the last time I went to America it wasn’t open yet and currently (though not for much longer) it isn’t in the UK. Well, during my recent trip to New York I finally got to see the show! It completely and utterly met my high expectations that I had in my head for the show so naturally I have to write a post about it.

If you’ve never heard of Dear Evan Hansen, it revolves around a seventeen year old called Evan. Evan has really bad anxiety and in order to try and combat that, his doctor suggests writing letters to himself, hence the name Dear Evan Hansen! One day, Evan’s letter is discovered by his classmate and before he knows it he gets tangled up a web of lies that he just can’t get out of.

People seem to have a difference in opinion of Evan when you read reviews of this show. However, I really like the character as I feel like if I was in Evan’s position I would’ve done the exact same thing and I think that we can all relate to Evan’s longing to be accepted. For me personally, I find that the relatability of Evan gives me far too much of an emotional attachment to this show as at so many points I can imagine myself as Evan. However, the other point of view is that Evan is entirely at fault for lying so they struggle to feel sorry for him.

I have to admit that now Dear Evan Hansen is coming to London this month (and I do have tickets for it) that part of the reason I saw the show in New York instead of waiting a few weeks for my London show, was to see Andrew Barth Feldman playing Evan. Andrew Feldman is scarily exactly like how I imagined Evan to look like so I really wanted to see him do the role. However, the show I saw actually had one of the understudies, Josh Strobl playing Evan. Thankfully, my brief disappointment of missing Andrew Feldman was quickly forgotten! Josh Strobl was an unbelievable Evan and I do believe it was his Evan Broadway debut! I felt that he really captured Evan well and I felt so moved by his performance. If you live in the States and can catch one of Josh Strobl’s Evan shows I would highly recommend his performance! My show also had another understudy, Kaitlyn Santa Juana playing Zoe. Again, she was incredible for the role and I particularly enjoyed her version of Requiem. I felt like Josh Strobl and Kaitlyn Santa Juana had good on stage chemistry and I just can’t believe they’re both the understudies as I would never have known they weren’t the main cast actors.

I knew I would get emotional but I was not prepared for just how much I did. I had a few (and by a few I mean alot…) weepy moments throughout but my throat felt like it was burning as I tried to hold back the tears during You Will Be Found before I completely just broke down in uncontrollable crying. You Will Be Found comes across so strongly on stage. For me, that song on stage is one of my favourite end of act 1 scenes in any musical I’ve seen. That moment came as such a heartbreaking surprise for me as I hoped I would make it to Act 2 without having an emotional breakdown in a theatre but when you see the whole of act 1 on stage and this is the moment that even despite his lies Evan started to make a real difference and some of the words and performance just really affected me.

Dear Evan Hansen is such a simple concept for a musical but it provides so many story elements people can relate to which is why personally I get so attached to Evan. The waiting to be accepted, Evan’s longing to have friends, his need to help make people happy when given the opportunity, Evan’s dad leaving him and his mum working so hard to make a good life for Evan, Zoe’s reluctance to accept her brother was anything but a monster, a grieving family…I think every single person in the audience will manage to connect with at least one part of this story which is what I feel helps contribute to its success.

The set is quite interesting too. On the one hand it’s very basic, at the most you might just have a bed or table on stage. However, the screens permanently on stage play a massive part of the show frequently showing social media messages on them. The so heavy inclusion of social media is quite unique still in shows and I think Dear Evan Hansen uses it effectively. I think the heavy inclusion of social media completely makes it relevant to today’s society and it’s interesting to see how it can be used both for positive reasons and then flip for negative in the same breath. I’m sure everyone has had some degree of experience in the good / bad effects of social media and that really helps to connect the show to the audience.

Dear Evan Hansen is the first show that I’ve seen where I’ve been completely obsessed with everything around it but have never seen the show, normally I’ll know the odd thing or have casually listened to a couple of the songs then see the show and become obsessed that way. I’m so thrilled that it was every bit as good as I imagined it to be. Now, listening to the songs gives a whole new element of enjoyment as I can imagine them being performed on stage. I can completely see why Dear Evan Hansen gets all the hype as despite getting so upset watching it (and I wasn’t the only one as I certainly heard other people crying!) I enjoyed every single second and would see it again tomorrow in a heartbeat.

Have you seen the show? Would love to know what you thought!

Tag: Dear Evan Hansen

Top Reasons To See Dear Evan Hansen