Ryan Kopel, centre, is outstanding as the title character in Dear Evan Hansen. Image - Marc Brenner
Dear Evan Hansen ... thank you.
Thank you for being a love letter to the power and magic of musical theatre with one of the most absorbing, raw and gut-wrenching shows in years, packed with the most memorable, haunting songs around.
Thank you for a story that doesn’t flinch from bleak themes of teenage mental health, suicide, and grief, played out with honesty and compassion – and even humour.
Thank you for a night that will give the audience a powerful experience at His Majesty’s Theatre that they will remember and talk about for some time to come.
Dear Evan Hansen is all of the above and more, which makes you realise it deserved every one of those six Tony Awards on Broadway and three Olivier Awards – including Best New Musical – in the West End.
Dear Evan Hansen is a powerful and wonderful experience at His Majesty's Theatre. Image - Marc Brenner
The story has a dark heart. Evan Hansen, a teen tortured by anxiety and isolation, claims he had a close friendship with a classmate – one he barely knew - who commits suicide.
From that lie, done with the best of intentions to soothe the boy’s grieving family, grows a tangled web of deceit, building one fib upon another, spiralling out of control.
Evan finds himself all but adopted by his dead classmate’s grateful family, but also at the mercy of the pernicious power of social media with all its pity-mining, faux grief and instant outrage.
Always waiting in the wings is the inevitable unravelling and fall out that follows.
It’s a riveting, at times uncomfortable and for some possibly triggering, story from the pen of Steven Levenson. But it has a massive heart, finding light among the shadows and ultimately the hope that ordinary people can come through the worst of times.
Dear Evan Hansen offers light and shadow in its compelling story. Image - Marc Brenner
The soundtrack to all this is, quite simply, sublime, courtesy of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the songwriting geniuses behind The Greatest Showman and La La Land.
Anybody Have A Map is an anthem for parents of teenagers around the world, while Waving Through A Window perfectly encapsulates teen angst and isolation.
For Forever is an instant tearjerker about friendship (even one that is a lie), while Requiem is a scream of grief and rage.
And I dare anyone to sit though So Big/So Small, as Evan’s mum talks of the day his dad left them when he was seven-years-old, without blubbing.
Every single song is on point, giving emotional heft to the story at every turn.
An outstanding musical demands an outstanding cast and this touring version of Dear Evan Hansen is blessed with performers at the top of their game, making every character real and believable.
A tender moment in Dear Evan Hansen with Ryan Kopel as Evan and Lauren Conroy as Zoe. Image - Marc Brenner
Alice Fearn as Evan’s mother Heidi, essays beautifully a mum trying to balance working and studying to give her son the best she can, while endlessly worrying about his anxiety and mental health.
Kudos too to Lauren Conroy (as daughter Zoe Murphy), Helen Anker (mother Cynthia Murphy) and Richard Hurst (father Larry Murphy) as the family on the verge of being torn apart until Evan enters their lives after the death of their troubled son, Connor (a wonderful turn from Killian Thomas Lefevre).
But the undoubted star of the show is Kirriemuir-born Ryan Kopel as Evan Hansen who puts in a performance that should add another award to the raft of gongs the show has garnered.
He captures the inner turmoil of Evan in every head twitch, restless hand gesture and nervous stream-of-consciousness prattle, subtly dialling down the ticks and stammers as the character grows in confidence.
Ryan also makes what should be an unlikeable character into someone you warm to, relate to and spend the whole show worrying where his big lie is going to leave him when it inevitably falls apart.
Lauren Conroy is compelling as Zoe Murphy in Dear Evan Hansen. Image - Marc Brenner
On top of that he has a soaring voice with an incredible range that imbues every song with deeper meaning – you can see him feel every lyric and make the audience feel it too, be it the anthemic You Will Be Found or the heartbreaking Words Fail.
You could hear a pin drop as the inevitable collapse of the house of cards his lies have built is played out in the last 15 minutes of the show.
And as the last note of a For Forever reprise faded away, the audience responded by getting to their feet as one to clap, cheer – and wipe away the odd tear.
Dear Evan Hansen... thank you.
Dear Evan Hansen runs until Saturday, March 8. You can find information and tickets here.
Review by Scott Begbie