Theater Review: Dear Evan Hansen Gets Younger—and Better
Dear Evan Hansen
Music and Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
Book by Steven Levenson
Directed by Michael Greif
Starring Andrew Barth Feldman
Music Box Theater, Manhattan
June 28, 2019
Dear Evan Hansen continues on Broadway in its third year, still playing to sold out houses (and now touring around the US). Its combination of catchy ballads, millennial angst and strong interpersonal relationships is seeming mothers’ milk to millennial youth, millennial parents, and the millennials’ own kids (yes, some millennials are approaching 40). The show has become a popular smash, with some songs like “You Will Be Found” and “Waving Through a Window” achieving pop hit status. I first saw it a couple years ago soon after the departure of 23 year old lead actor Ben Platt, famed for his twitchy, exhausting performance as the insecure 17 year old Evan, who uses internet manipulation of the suicide of a fellow high school student to gain first fame, but ultimately notoriety. When I saw the show before, I enjoyed it’s genuine emotions and fearless portrayal of modern adolescence, replete with over-achievement, resume building, and end-justifies-the-means philosophy. I remember being disgruntled, however, with the rather neutral amoral message left at the end of the show. The ending cuts directly from the trauma of Evan’s being discovered as a fraud to one year later, when he has moved on, no one seems to mind much what he did, and in which the morale seems to be “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”. Stated another way, yes, his actions were mendacious and perhaps immoral, but at least he tried to stand out and make something of himself. This seemed to acquiesce to a cynical view of millennial child development. I wondered how I would respond seeing the musical again, with a mostly different cast.
The most striking thing about the current Broadway production is how much younger the leads have become in two years. Evan is now Andrew Barth Feldman, a 17 year old high school student who took over the role while still 16. He is a far cry from the 23 year old originator Mr. Platt Feldman is on the right below).
Not only did Mr. Feldman seem more physically right for the part (he is skinny and more nerdy looking), but he seemed truly and genuinely a teenager. This is rarely the case with most plays and movies about adolescence—I think that in this age group even a couple extra years makes for such a difference in maturity that its hard for most 20-somethings to play high school roles convincingly, no matter how youthful their looks. Mr. Feldman was discovered by the show’s producers at the 2018 National High School Musical Theater Awards (“Jimmys”)—and you can see that performance here. This clip gives a great sense of how successful he is as Evan Hansen. Note the smooth, funny transitions between speech and singing, especially with the neurotic charm at 1:15. This fluency of speech-singing transitions is integral to this part, and his consistent success at this convincingly answered my usual question at musicals (or operas) of “Why are these people singing”. I was very impressed by Mr. Feldman’s mastery of the role, his appearance of spontaneity, and his nuanced depiction of the angst, turmoil, and indecision of youth. The role is difficult vocally--there are often high extensions into head voice/falsetto. While these were sometimes a bit rough vocally (especially at the opening of the show), this lack of polish just made him seem even more like an insecure teenager. I really enjoyed his performance of “If I Could Tell Her”, a love duet in the conditional tense, rather like “If I Loved You” from South Pacific, well suited to portraying adolescent sexual insecurity and almost painful here. Each of his songs seemed an integrated story rather than a canned “aria” to be milked for its popularity. When I compared him to YouTube videos of Mr. Platt, I heard and saw here a younger, perhaps less developed voice, but an actor who convinced me more of Evan’s turmoil, and who sang the songs not to shine the spotlight on himself, but to tell a story and draw us into the world of this play. The role of Zoe, his girlfriend (for a while, at least), skewed younger in this production too, and was well filled by 19 year old Mallory Bechtel, very affecting in her duets with Evan. I think the show really gained authenticity by casting two real live teenagers in the leads.
Otherwise, the show seemed even tighter and better directed than before. Scene changes were lightning quick, and the minimalist set design made changes of locale instantly clear. The hyperkinetic screens on a black backdrop which showed constant social medial responses to the show’s events were even more animated than before. This made the sudden transition from the over-animated trials of high school to the placid epilogue (where Evan returns to talk to Zoe, now as a freshman in college) even better. Here the magically becomes a technology-free, placid, blue-sky backdrop with growing trees (symbolizing Evan’s rebirth, I think). That takes us back to the ending which disturbed me last time. This time, because I was more convinced and sympathetic with Evan’s pressures and journey into immoral behavior, the calm ending that basically says “yes, you screwed up, but life goes on, and you will be a better person for it” seemed just right for the play. While it was still not exactly inspiring, neither was it offensive. The play has sometimes been mocked as an overly optimistic gloss on dysfunctional millennial behavior, but it should be remembered that irony is at the heart of this play, just as it is in Sondheim’s Company, another musical that puts a microscope on contemporary culture. The song “You Will Be Found” out of context seems sappy, unrealistic, even dismissive of the struggles of many kids (e.g. “Have you ever felt like nobody was there, have you ever felt that you could disappear… And when you’re broken on the ground, you will be found”). But in the context of the play it’s ironically sung by teens who are doing their utmost to further their own resumes, using trumped up sympathy for a dead classmate to do so. Additionally, when we find out later that Evan (after a likely suicide gesture) fell out of a tree and did lay “broken on the ground” he was not found, and had no support. Taken in this context, the song is a masterful double-edged construction, and an example of why this show has so many layers of psychological depth. I appreciated this much more the second time around. Sometimes, even with a hit show, it takes the producers a while to figure out just the right balances. In finding a younger, more convincing, less overtly virtuosic Evan, the creative team behind this excellent, thought-provoking show have made it even better, a worthy successor to the social commentary musicals of Sondheim.
Music and Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
Book by Steven Levenson
Directed by Michael Greif
Starring Andrew Barth Feldman
Music Box Theater, Manhattan
June 28, 2019
Dear Evan Hansen continues on Broadway in its third year, still playing to sold out houses (and now touring around the US). Its combination of catchy ballads, millennial angst and strong interpersonal relationships is seeming mothers’ milk to millennial youth, millennial parents, and the millennials’ own kids (yes, some millennials are approaching 40). The show has become a popular smash, with some songs like “You Will Be Found” and “Waving Through a Window” achieving pop hit status. I first saw it a couple years ago soon after the departure of 23 year old lead actor Ben Platt, famed for his twitchy, exhausting performance as the insecure 17 year old Evan, who uses internet manipulation of the suicide of a fellow high school student to gain first fame, but ultimately notoriety. When I saw the show before, I enjoyed it’s genuine emotions and fearless portrayal of modern adolescence, replete with over-achievement, resume building, and end-justifies-the-means philosophy. I remember being disgruntled, however, with the rather neutral amoral message left at the end of the show. The ending cuts directly from the trauma of Evan’s being discovered as a fraud to one year later, when he has moved on, no one seems to mind much what he did, and in which the morale seems to be “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”. Stated another way, yes, his actions were mendacious and perhaps immoral, but at least he tried to stand out and make something of himself. This seemed to acquiesce to a cynical view of millennial child development. I wondered how I would respond seeing the musical again, with a mostly different cast.
The most striking thing about the current Broadway production is how much younger the leads have become in two years. Evan is now Andrew Barth Feldman, a 17 year old high school student who took over the role while still 16. He is a far cry from the 23 year old originator Mr. Platt Feldman is on the right below).
Not only did Mr. Feldman seem more physically right for the part (he is skinny and more nerdy looking), but he seemed truly and genuinely a teenager. This is rarely the case with most plays and movies about adolescence—I think that in this age group even a couple extra years makes for such a difference in maturity that its hard for most 20-somethings to play high school roles convincingly, no matter how youthful their looks. Mr. Feldman was discovered by the show’s producers at the 2018 National High School Musical Theater Awards (“Jimmys”)—and you can see that performance here. This clip gives a great sense of how successful he is as Evan Hansen. Note the smooth, funny transitions between speech and singing, especially with the neurotic charm at 1:15. This fluency of speech-singing transitions is integral to this part, and his consistent success at this convincingly answered my usual question at musicals (or operas) of “Why are these people singing”. I was very impressed by Mr. Feldman’s mastery of the role, his appearance of spontaneity, and his nuanced depiction of the angst, turmoil, and indecision of youth. The role is difficult vocally--there are often high extensions into head voice/falsetto. While these were sometimes a bit rough vocally (especially at the opening of the show), this lack of polish just made him seem even more like an insecure teenager. I really enjoyed his performance of “If I Could Tell Her”, a love duet in the conditional tense, rather like “If I Loved You” from South Pacific, well suited to portraying adolescent sexual insecurity and almost painful here. Each of his songs seemed an integrated story rather than a canned “aria” to be milked for its popularity. When I compared him to YouTube videos of Mr. Platt, I heard and saw here a younger, perhaps less developed voice, but an actor who convinced me more of Evan’s turmoil, and who sang the songs not to shine the spotlight on himself, but to tell a story and draw us into the world of this play. The role of Zoe, his girlfriend (for a while, at least), skewed younger in this production too, and was well filled by 19 year old Mallory Bechtel, very affecting in her duets with Evan. I think the show really gained authenticity by casting two real live teenagers in the leads.
Otherwise, the show seemed even tighter and better directed than before. Scene changes were lightning quick, and the minimalist set design made changes of locale instantly clear. The hyperkinetic screens on a black backdrop which showed constant social medial responses to the show’s events were even more animated than before. This made the sudden transition from the over-animated trials of high school to the placid epilogue (where Evan returns to talk to Zoe, now as a freshman in college) even better. Here the magically becomes a technology-free, placid, blue-sky backdrop with growing trees (symbolizing Evan’s rebirth, I think). That takes us back to the ending which disturbed me last time. This time, because I was more convinced and sympathetic with Evan’s pressures and journey into immoral behavior, the calm ending that basically says “yes, you screwed up, but life goes on, and you will be a better person for it” seemed just right for the play. While it was still not exactly inspiring, neither was it offensive. The play has sometimes been mocked as an overly optimistic gloss on dysfunctional millennial behavior, but it should be remembered that irony is at the heart of this play, just as it is in Sondheim’s Company, another musical that puts a microscope on contemporary culture. The song “You Will Be Found” out of context seems sappy, unrealistic, even dismissive of the struggles of many kids (e.g. “Have you ever felt like nobody was there, have you ever felt that you could disappear… And when you’re broken on the ground, you will be found”). But in the context of the play it’s ironically sung by teens who are doing their utmost to further their own resumes, using trumped up sympathy for a dead classmate to do so. Additionally, when we find out later that Evan (after a likely suicide gesture) fell out of a tree and did lay “broken on the ground” he was not found, and had no support. Taken in this context, the song is a masterful double-edged construction, and an example of why this show has so many layers of psychological depth. I appreciated this much more the second time around. Sometimes, even with a hit show, it takes the producers a while to figure out just the right balances. In finding a younger, more convincing, less overtly virtuosic Evan, the creative team behind this excellent, thought-provoking show have made it even better, a worthy successor to the social commentary musicals of Sondheim.
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