Royal & Derngate Northampton – until 18th January 2025
Reviewed by Amarjeet Singh
4****
Dear Evan Hansen centres around themes of isolation, pressure, sadness, frustration, loss and most importantly hope. Evan Hansen is an adolescent struggling with fitting into school, making friends, talking to girls and coping with his lonely home life. A twist of circumstances finds him making some sudden decisions which catapult him into a world he never thought he would find himself in and building friendships and relationships he could have only dreamed of. With well-meant intentions, its only a matter of time before things begin to unravel. Afraid to go back to what once was but understanding he can no longer continue with this house of cards, Evan is caught in character purgatory. What will he decide to do?
Evan is played sensationally by Ryan Kopel who convincingly and passionately navigates his way through a myriad of emotions. His physical touches of anxiety, the nuanced nods, finger flicks and slight stutters are utter perfection. The other members of the cast are not as well fleshed out. Their emotional responses to situations occasionally fall flat or are not realistically sustained. But as a whole they all come together to pull off a thought-provoking piece of theatre.
The staging is sparse, with sets rolled in and out. Utilising mirrors and sliding frosted doors, designer Morgan Large appears to be embracing masking motifs. Ravi Deepres’ video designs show us, on occasion, numerous screens descending from the heavens and side of the stage, helping us to engage with what the characters are seeing on their phone’s, laptops and tablets. A live band directed by Michael Bradley gives wonderful performances of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s score, consisting mostly of solos and ballads. Accompanied by the gorgeous singing voices of the cast, they all fully deserved the rapturous applause they received after every song.
Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s rendition of Adam Penford’s story divide’s opinion by theatre goers. There are those who wholeheartedly identify with the poignant topics presented and have steadily enabled Dear Evan Hansen to have achieved cult status, whilst others wonder why a musical would explore such themes, occasionally making light of such painful subjects and they just don’t get it. Whichever side you fall, it’s an interesting production, peppered with incredibly strong performances, wonderful vocals and a strong message to those experiencing difficulties. There is hope that things will get better.