Dear Evan Hansen dazzles at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre

Matthew Murphy

Dear Evan Hansen began its life on stage in Washington DC on July 10, 2015, then made its way Off-Broadway on March 26, 2016 before opening on Broadway on December 4, 2016, all with Ben Platt in the title role. The show went on to win six of its nine Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Actor. The show was forced to shut down at the height of the pandemic, but productions resumed in December 2021 with Jordan Fisher in the lead. 2021 also saw the release of a film adaptation, again starring Platt, that was far less successful for many reasons, including the unfair attacks on Platt because of his age, and the extensive rewriting and re-arranging of songs and storyline that fans of the show were not happy with. Until this point, I’ve only ever seen the movie, which I did not hate because I had no reference to judge it against, but now I can make a fair comparison.

If you don’t know the story of Dear Evan Hansen, this is it in a nutshell: Evan Hansen is a high-schooler with severe anxiety issues. To help, his therapist has assigned him the task of writing letters to himself saying what a good it was. Evan’s single mom is either off to work and attend law school, often leaving Evan home alone to fend for himself but his anxiety is so great that he can’t even order a food delivery. One day at school Evan is accosted by another student, Connor Murphy, who also seems to know Evan is as much a loner as he is. So he writes his name — as large as possible — on Evan’s arm cast, then he finds Evan’s letter to him which he believes Evan purposely left on the printer for him to find because it mentions his sister Zoe. He takes the letter and the next day Evan is called to the principal’s office where he is greeted by Connor’s parents, who have the letter and want to meet Evan … because Connor took his own life and they believe the letter was a suicide note to his ‘friend’ Evan. Evan tries to explain but his anxiety gets in the way and the Murphy’s only want to hear what they want to hear. They invite Evan to their home for dinner, where Zoe questions that friendship since she never saw them together, and one innocent story to help make the Murphy’s feel better spirals out of control as they want to know more and more about their son. The lie leads to Evan and his ‘family friend’ Jared creating fake emails for the Murphys, and to the creation of a memorial service at school and a project to raise money for Connor’s ‘favorite’ place, an orchard where he and Evan supposedly hung out, and where Evan broke his arm falling from a tree (and his story was that Connor was the one who took him to the hospital). But the lie begins to get too big and some facts are not adding up, so Evan has to decide whether to continue to do what he thinks is right — comforting the Murphys (and entering into a relationship with Zoe, which he dreamed about) — or coming clean and having the world hate him.

As I said, I didn’t dislike the movie as much as most people did but I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy the show any better. I’m an old school Broadway musical person, enjoying more the shows with big sets, costumes, large casts and music and choreography. Seeing images from the show did not pique my interest with a bunch of video screens around the stage (and having just seen Summer: The Donna Summer Musical with its often cheesy video screen background, I was less than thrilled). But from the second the show started, I was riveted by those screens, the images and video projected on them, and the fact that they also moved across and up and down the stage made it even more fascinating (kudos to production designer David Korns and projections designer Peter Nigrini). A key scene in Act II even uses live video with Evan and Alana taking to social media to promote ‘The Connor Project’. I also loved how the few key set-pieces (Evan’s bed, a sofa, the Murphys’ dining room table, Connor’s bed) glided on and off the stage as if by magic, and in sync with the screens and projections to give the whole stage a sense of movement. I am a bit of a techy, so I found all of this very fascinating and it added so much to the production, as did the stunning lighting design by Japhy Weideman and sound design by Nevin Steinberg. Everything just worked together so well that I didn’t mind the absence of actual sets. And then in the final scene when it all goes away as Evan visits the orchard, with rows of new trees and an electric blue sky was breathtaking in its simplicity. It was also interesting to see the show’s orchestra on an elevated platform to the left of the stage. Compared to the Summer show which had a very similar design aesthetic, the team on Dear Evan Hansen was very, very thoughtful and creative in every aspect of what happened on stage.

Matthew Murphy

And speaking of what’s happening on stage, director Michael Greif employed every trick in the book to artfully and skillfully combine the production and lighting design with the movement of the actors (Danny Mefford is the show’s choreographer, but this wasn’t really about dancing, it was more about how and where the actors moved on the stage in relation to the set-pieces and screens). There are often only two or three characters on stage at one time, and it’s only an eight-person cast, so there is a lot of space to fill and thanks to those screens (and for the most part the back wall is a completely black void until the end, with just a few brief moments of bright color on display), even when it’s just Evan or Zoe or Evan’s mother Heidi on stage alone, they never feel like they’re being swallowed up into the void. There are also a couple of times where Connor is singing — he becomes Evan’s ‘Jiminy Cricket’ of sorts — when the song is interrupted and he freezes in place, usually in a hilarious pose. Greif certainly earned his Tony Award nomination back in 2017 (losing to Christopher Ashley for Come From Away).

One of the main criticisms from the show’s fans of the film was the music — specifically the removal of key songs from the show, with the addition of new material from the show’s original team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. One of the most important songs omitted from the movie was the very first one in the show, ‘Anybody Have a Map?’, which was sung by the mothers of Evan and Connor as they tried to navigate their sons’ emotional upheavals. ‘Disappear’ was also omitted from the movie, as were the ‘Sincerely Me’ reprise and the important ‘To Break in a Glove’ which shows Evan bonding with Larry Murphy, a father figure he never had. I can see why this had people upset because these songs are integral to the plot and the original score is beloved by the fans. Each of the actors performed the songs with true conviction, powerful when they needed to be, and quietly emotional when called for. The Act I finale, ‘You Will Be Found’, with the entire cast and hundred of images and videos projected on the screens had me in tears (and with mask policies still in place in crowded theatres, it’s not good to get so emotional that your nose is running like a faucet and no opportunity to blow it!). There are tears in Act II as well, so be prepared. The cast really brought those songs to life.

And that cast. Yes, Ben Platt originated the role of Evan Hansen on stage and film, but Stephen Christopher Anthony is no second rate imitator. Yes, he’s got many of the same mannerisms that Platt brought to Evan — perhaps that was all in the direction — but he is never just imitating Platt. Every bit of Evan’s anxiety feels real through Anthony’s performance, and it’s interesting to see how his body language changes after Evan suddenly discovers he’s ‘someone’ now, or as Jared snidely puts it, he’s ‘popular’ now, and all because of a lie. Anthony does a magnificent job of bringing Evan Hansen to complete life, and he’s got a great voice which does evoke Platt’s vocals, but again it doesn’t just feel like an impersonation. Stephanie La Rochelle is very soft-spoken as Zoe, sometimes difficult to hear (someone turn up her mic, please), but she also makes the teenager feel like a real person. I watched how she seemed almost disinterested in Evan (as he sang) the first time he came to the Murphy house. I like when actors have their own little bits of ‘business’ when they aren’t front and center. Like Evan, Zoe also changes from the first act as she begins to buy more into Evan’s stories, and La Rochelle gives Zoe a much lighter, upbeat tone. Of course there are truths and betrayals to contend with in Act II and both actors handle their characters’ changes with great skill.

Matthew Murphy

The supporting players are also all fantastic from Nikhil Saboo as Connor to Jessica E. Sherman as Heidi Hansen. We only get to see Saboo as the jerky Connor for a few minutes in the first act and then he has to change to an idealized version of Connor in Evan’s head … which is really just Evan’s subconscious so in effect Saboo is also playing Evan Hansen. He does a great job and the freeze poses he does are hysterical. Sherman is also very good as Evan’s harried mother who really has no idea who her son is. Evan’s ‘friends’ played by Alessandro Costantini (Jared) and Ciara Alyse Harris (Alana) are terrific as well. Costantini really has a hard job because Jared is a real jerk and he has to not make you hate him for how he relishes in Evan’s downfall, calling out Evan for his lie after Evan tells him not to lie (or not to make the lie even bigger). Harris is funny and a bit overbearing when we first meet Alana, but she also changes in Act II when it’s her character who really begins to question Evan’s story, noting that the emails between him and Connor have a lot of inconsistencies. Both of the actors are great at selling the illusion that they are in high school, and both have fantastic voices. Rounding out the cast are John Hemphill and Claire Rankin as the Murphys. Rankin is often as soft-spoken as La Rochelle, but she pours so much emotion into her role. Hemphill’s character of Larry Murphy is often quite brusque, but his scene bonding with Evan over a baseball glove gave him the chance to make Larry a little more human. Both he and Rankin also have great voices.

I really did not go into Dear Evan Hansen with the highest of expectations or even that much interest, but after seeing this show live on stage, with its fantastic production and stellar cast, I am sold. I know now why people have gone to see the show dozens of times on Broadway. I know why those fans were so disappointed with the movie. This is a vibrant, funny, emotional, hopeful show that also has a message for teenagers or anyone else who feels like they don’t fit in anywhere. Don’t give up hope, don’t fall into despair, because #YouWillBeFound. I’m glad I found Dear Evan Hansen.

Dear Evan Hansen runs about 2 hours and 30 minutes with one 15 minute intermission. Recommended for ages 12 and up. Be aware there are quite a few instances of adult language spoken by the teen characters.

Dear Evan Hansen runs through March 20 at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre. Other cities on the schedule include Hartford, CT; Providence, RI; Indianapolis, IN; Los Angeles, CA, Philadelphia, PA, Washington DC and more. Visit the official website for more information.