Tuesday, 5th November 2024 at Leeds Grand Theatre
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
When a show wins six Tony awards and three Olivier Awards, it’s a pretty good sign that it’s a show well worth seeing. It turns out Dear Evan Hansen absolutely does live up to the hype – it’s an important show with a lot to say about our world, and it’s a very modern story told beautifully.
Directed by Adam Penford, the show follows Evan Hansen, who is socially anxious with a capital “A”. The world is intimidating and he overthinks to the point of oblivion. He’s also a teenager, so all that angst is amplified by hormones and inevitable teen awkwardness. When a classmate dies and he is given an unexpected opportunity to feel seen and valued and important, he grabs it tightly with both hands, leading him into a web of ever-developing lies.
Ryan Kopel gives a powerhouse performance as Evan. Troubled and sympathetic; problematic and barbed when backed into a corner. It’s a tricky role, having to win hearts with a comic awkwardness and a clear vulnerability – but also to keep our support, even as the character racks up victims in that web of lies. Not only does Kopel manage such a feat – he does so just as readily through song as in scenes, with a fantastic, powerful voice which is just as powerful in its emotional, gentle moments.
But when the plot looks at the exploitation of a tragedy by another tragic figure, there is going to be a lot of high emotion, and it’s captured skilfully by Helen Anker as the grieving mother desperate for connection to a wayward son, Richard Hurst as the resentful grieving father, and Lauren Conroy as the torn grieving sister, Zoe. Alice Fearn is also wonderful as the mum at her wit’s end, with her vocal power giving Heidi’s songs all the more emotional impact as she tries to support a floundering Evan.
It’s certainly not all darkness though – the show takes a bravely comic look at the trickery at hand, namely through the hilarious Jared (Tom Dickerson) – opportunistic “family friend” to Evan who loves nothing more than to take the mickey. Vivian Panka is also utterly brilliant as Alana Beck, absolutely nailing the do-gooder internet personalities (well-intentioned or otherwise) who latch on to causes to give themselves a sense of meaning – or those who “chase tragedy” out in the real world.
Killian Thomas Lefevre is also a cracking source of light relief as Connor Murphy – with a look that aptly screams The Breakfast Club, he may be the angsty teen who gave up his fight, but the witty writing of this show bravely highlights the issues at hand with a cynical lens and at times biting sarcasm – brilliantly captured in songs like “Sincerely Me”. There’s a lot of playfulness and light-heartedness along the way here, despite the subject matter, and that skilful balance is perhaps the crowning glory of this show.
Musically, the production carries some of the best new writing of recent years thanks to music and lyrics from the gifted duo, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. The pair have contributed two beautiful titans to the modern musical theatre songbook with this show: “Waving Through a Window” and “You Will Be Found”. Other music ensures that the score matches, note for note, a book by Steven Levensen that runs the gamut of everyday normalcy to unimaginable audacity beautifully. It is a show full of humour and pain and sarcasm and buoyant hope – and it’s an enthralling watch.
Morgan Large’s set is a constantly shifting affair, highlighting the ebbs and flows of connections made and lost as the cast fleetingly make themselves seen before disappearing again during transitions. In the second act, screens become an overwhelming feature as Hansen begins to lose control of his story and the gremlin that is social media takes hold – Ravi Deepres’ video designs provide perfect snapshots of that enveloping online world of the everyman’s commentary, highlighting how devastatingly quickly the tide can turn in a cyber bubble where true connection is redundant.
Dear Evan Hansen is a very impressive show. It’s not difficult to see how the Hansen craze took hold – not just because of the musical brilliance of those now-iconic songs, but also because it reminds us to take a real look at those around us and to consider the silent struggles we might be overlooking, particularly in our young people. It’s an emotional ride full of beauty – and it’s absolutely worth a trip for anyone musing on the notion of connection in our hyper-connected yet woefully disconnected world.
Dear Evan Hansen is at Leeds Grand Theatre until November 9th 2024 – more information and tickets can be found here.
Always Time For Theatre 