Chris Heide
Anthony Norman as Evan Hansen
Photo by Evan Zimmerman
For those of you who have missed the multiple national tours or the movies, the plot of Dear Evan Hansen revolves around the titular Evan Hansen, a lonely teen rattled with mental health and self-esteem issues, who writes a letter to himself that it assumed to be a suicide note for classmate who unalives himself. Throughout the course of the show, Evan’s web of lies spirals out of control as his popularity increases, resulting in him being outted, leaving him alone once again. Dear Evan Hansen has always been a bit of a controversial musical.
On paper, it is hard to root for an anti-hero like Evan as his actions can been seem manipulative at worse and maladaptive at best. However, it is an honest depiction of the complexity of mental health struggles. Evan’s motivations stem from his deep seeded loneliness and displacement, which is coupled by his core belie that he will never be good enough. It takes a talented actor to capture Evan’s complexities in a way that makes him someone root for. Anthony Norman does an excellent job of portraying this character.
The Tony Award winning musical recently closed on Broadway and is now on its final national tour. It is a musical that defines the 2010’s, a decade that brough national attention to the mental health crisis affecting our country. It is a contemporary musical that depicts mental health for what it is, not what it should be. Overall, the cast gives a tour-de-force performance. You can feel the urgency in their performances; an urgency that is rooted in the inevitable ending of this show as we know it.
More than ever, contemporary society is rife with fractured and impersonal communication, a prevalence of mental health issues, and the notion that everyone feels like they do not fit in. A brilliant, powerful opus commenting on the nature and context of our digital age, Dear Evan Hansen is so much more than a limited commentary on mental health and suicide. This remarkable show touches on a plethora of contemporary topics inducing family dynamics, communication, social media, and the journey of self-discovery. Everything about this show works. There are strong vocal performances, emotionally gripping scene that are tear-jerking, and a brilliant set design that capture the frenetic anxiety of social media. These components work in perfect tandem, creating a near perfect show.