Leeds Grand Theatre – until 9th November 2024
Reviewed by Lauren Fordham
4****
Dear Evan Hansen is a poignant and passionate piece, albeit one arising from a somewhat perverse premise. It stars Ryan Kopel as Evan, an anxious, lonely, disconnected teen whose therapeutically-assigned letter to himself, printed off the school computer is taken from him by another pupil, Connor Murphy, who soon after seeing it takes his own life. The letter is seized upon by Connor’s grieving parents Cynthia and Larry as proof and comfort that Connor was not a friendless loner as they had thought and that, though ultimately unsuccessful, Evan had attempted to help Connor with his mental health. Seeing the Murphys’ delight and keen to soothe the anger of their daughter Zoe, with whom he is in love, Evan becomes increasingly close to them and enlists his friend Jared to help him make a chain of secret emails that detail his and Connor’s relationship. In the process Evan catalyses a school-wide multimedia mental health campaign christened ‘The Connor Project’ that proliferates and resonates across the US. While initially this gives him the connection with Zoe and a pseudo-powerful parasocial popularity that he craves, Evan soon finds that his lies and increasingly egotistical behaviour are being questioned by his peers and mother and he breaks down, no longer able to sustain the pretence.
For me, appreciating Ryan Kopel’s Evan was a slow burning relationship as, while vocally unequivocally excellent, he made interesting acting choices that underplayed Evan’s anxiety and instead elevated the personality change that came with his increased popularity, giving a Jekyll and Hyde feel to the role that worked well with Killian Thomas Lefevre’s gothic interpretation of Connor Murphy.
I enjoyed Alice Fearn’s Heidi Hansen because she evokes a sense of genuine care and desire to help Evan, when she recommends he invite his peers to sign his cast as an ice-breaker activity and she is proud of him already, with meaningful sincerity, unlike her Broadway predecessor Rachel Bay Jones, who utters the words on the cast recording with a sarcastic cynical air. Her vocals also soar beautifully alongside those of Helen Anker’s Cynthia Murphy in ‘Anybody Have A Map?’
I feel Helen Anker’s talents and perspective as Cynthia is underused and underrepresented in the show, I wish the cut song between Heidi and Cynthia, ‘In Bedroom Down The Hall’, where they reflect on their sons’ younger days, had been retained in order to reunify the two mothers in the same way as ‘For Good’ does in Wicked. (Fearn is a former Elphaba and ‘Good For You’ echoes the same frustrated anger of ‘No Good Deed [Goes Unpunished)
As this is such a pioneering and multimedia musical I must commend the talents and teamwork of Lighting Designer Matt Daw, Video Designer Ravi Deepres and the company Nicemonster.tv , who provided Specialist Animation. Daw’s lighting choices are simplistic but powerful. White naturalistic light complements the lyrics of For Forever as Evan sings of ‘climbing higher and higher till the sun shines on my face,’ and the warning red light alongside the scarlet cabinets of the locker room symbolises how school is a dangerous, unhappy place for Evan and other introverted students and a red rag to a bull for those who wish to oppress them.
By contrast, Deepres works with his assistant Luke Unsworth and Nicemonster tv to create an overpowering, complex and maze-like entrancing spectacle of multiple screens representing the response to Evan’s show-stopping ‘You Will Be Found’ speech.
The constantly scrolling hashtagged statements and overlapping audio succeed in making the audience empathise with Evan’s panic and sensory overstimulation as his guilt at lying reaches fever pitch.
Unfortunately, the overhang of the stage obscured my view of the screens so for me the effect of them was reduced.
This doesn’t detract from the power and prescience and necessity of this show, however, and I would happily see it again. It resonates deeply with anyone who has ever felt lost and lonely. Don’t slam on your brakes and make the hugely regrettable mistake of missing the show, put your foot on the accelerator and let it teach you how to ‘step into the sun’ before it disappears on 9th November!
