Farmers Alley Theatre recently opened its production of the musical, “Dear Evan Hansen.” WMUK’s Gordon Bolar has this review.
Those attending “Dear Evan Hansen” might note from the show’s opening number, “Has Anybody Got a Map?” that this musical features an adolescent lead character who is on anxiety medication, deeply flawed, and seemingly lost.
Evan Hansen is torn between three worlds: that of social media, the imaginative fantasies in his own mind, and the everyday harsh reality of absent parents, cruel high school classmates, and adults with little emotional understanding of their children, one another, or themselves.
The plot revolves around a misplaced letter of encouragement Evan wrote to himself under the direction of a therapist. When the letter is found on the body of school bully Connor Murphy, after Connor’s suicide, Evan fabricates a story of secret friendship with his deceased adversary.
After his accounts about Connor go viral on the internet, Evan becomes the center of school attention, boyfriend of his heart throb Zoe, Connor’s sister, surrogate son of Connor’s parents, and the key to remembering the positive life that Connor never lived.
What’s curious here is our willingness to follow and even root for this desperately needy, and untrustworthy character, despite Evan’s web of lies.
All the more remarkable is the odd sympathetic bond that developed between the Farmer’s Alley audience and the hyper-active, imperfect, and often confused character in the show’s title role at last Thursday’s preview.
Seeing this relationship develop was an enlightening experience in the theatre, and like other elements in “Dear Evan Hansen” it was a joy to behold. This bond was both palpable and audible. More than one member of the audience voiced support for Evan during the evening.
This had much to do with Evan Hansen’s perceived humanity in his misguided attempts to comfort Connor’s family albeit with falsehood.
Other reasons for this show’s success begin with the stellar performance of Keegan Sells as Evan. Sells’ self-conscious physical mannerisms and hesitant broken sentences bely one who is apologetic for his tenuous place in the social order. The actor’s rapid-fire monologues appropriately struggle to articulate and keep pace with his character’s wild racing thoughts.
Keegan Sells is a multi-faceted performer with a broad emotional range. He draws us in with intimate, poignant moments such as his soft indictment of the isolation inherent in social media, evident in his song “Waving Through a Window.” He also takes us into the tree tops for a blue-sky view of life’s possibilities, as he describes his fictional apple tree climb and alleged friendship with Connor for the Murphy family in the soaring, “For Forever (The Orchard Song).”
A gifted ensemble supports Sells’ performance. Denene Mulay and Danny Gurwin, as Cynthia and Larry Murphy are convincing as the bereft couple who receive Evan’s blessing to rejoice in Connor’s supposed goodness. Denene Mulay’s Cynthia eagerly embraces Evan’s fabrications with emotion and believable commitment to any uplifting details he might share about her son.
Gurwin, as husband Larry, presents a nuanced character who struggles to reconcile feelings that his son, and he, as a father, were failures. After his perspective on the memory of Connor improves, Gurwin’s character alters his tone for a fatherly chat with Evan in “To Break In A Glove.” Gurwin’s song is effective as Larry unknowingly plants the seed of Evan’s confession.
Carly Rose Mulay, as Zoe, also presents a character who eventually succumbs to Evan’s glowing reports about her brother. Although she is reluctant to adopt any redeeming news about Connor, Evan wins her heart with “If I could Tell Her”, pouring out his love for her through Connor’s misquoted words, in a scene reminiscent of Cyrano de Bergerac’s disguised wooing of Roxanne.
One of the show’s most complete performances is delivered by Lauren Singerman, as Heidi, Evan’s absent mother. After she establishes Heidi as a scattered single mom with minimal time for Evan, Singerman traces the character’s arc with gradual realization that Evan might have strayed due to her lack of guidance. In strong numbers such as “So Big/So Small,” Singerman clearly shows the change affected in Heidi, and her newfound commitment to her son.
Other supporting players, including Braeden Davis, as Connor, Jacob Tyler Reinstein as Jared, and Jacqueline Boynton as Alana, make meaningful contributions as they challenge Evan’s gyrating course of action, and sow seeds of doubt in a mind already conflicted.
Director Kathy Mulay’s well-paced and visually stimulating production is supported by the music of conductor, Scott Patrick Bell’s offstage orchestra.
Numerous technical elements, including Evan P. Carlson’s lighting, and an array of video screens flashing words of the dialogue or texts by characters illuminated only by their phone screens, help accentuate Evan’s sense of isolation.
“Dear Evan Hansen” suggests that given the lack of connection in Evan’s world, those who are vulnerable and grieving will forgive that which is unsavory about the departed, if they can embrace the consolation of information, including lies, on the affirmative side of the ledger.
Such is the way that martyrs and pop heroes are created and remembered in a digital society that has seemingly lost its humanity. And as imperfect as it sounds, nothing is more human than that.
