Theater: Dear Evan Hansen—a millennial musical with a heart

Dear Evan Hansen

Book by Steven Levenson

Music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

Starring Michael Lee Brown, Garrett Long, Michael Park, Mike Faist

August 26, 2017

In my review of last year’s hit film La La Land, I commented on how it looked backwards to the big film musicals of the 1950’s but also conveyed a uniquely millennial sensibility, in which the lovers sing, dance, part, but don’t get back together, since their individual goals trump an old fashioned off-into-the-sunset relationship. The current hit Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen now takes us to some millennials in their formative, angst-ridden teen years. This topic has a long history of portrayal in generationally-specific films (from Rebel without a Cause to The Breakfast Club to Boyhood), and at least a few musicals, most recently the 2015 Broadway Spring Awakening, a dark rock musical about tortured adolescence based on a nineteenth century German play.  Dear Evan Hansen plays quite an emotional distance from this, with a largely upbeat tone. The plot centers on a socially awkward teen who becomes popular by capitalizing on the suicide of a classmate, spinning it into social media tributes, YouTube videos, and all the current trappings of millennial “fame”. In another era, when the scheme inevitably collapses, this would have been the time for an object lesson in humility, or newly gained appreciation for higher truths of honesty or loyalty. Not in 2017! The musical sort of peters out without a big finish (just like La La Land), and the message seems to be that, well, even if your efforts to be famous fail due to your own flaws, at least you tried--at least you were yourself and aimed to stand out from the crowd and be somebody. As the catchy Act 1 closer “You Will be Found” confidently states:

So let the sun come streaming in

Cause you’ll reach up and you’ll rise again

Lift your head and look around

You will be found

Romance somehow never seems as important as self-fulfillment in the art of our era, despite the fact that teems obsess about sex just as always. It’s a little hard for me to respond to all this as a triumph of modern humanity, but the millennial parents and kids at the performance certainly seemed to (tears, overwhelming ovation). Such is the state of inspiring messages in our era.

While Dear Evan Hansen’s message was not my cup of tea, the production was generally satisfying. The score is better than that of most contemporary musicals, featuring a series of pleasant guitar-style ballads of the sort that you hear by Shawn Mendes, or in the background in Parenthood or Felicity. Thankfully, it was not overamplified. While not of the quality of Sondheim or Rodgers, the score well fit the introverted quality of the show. What was lacking was enough contrasting upbeat numbers (and choreography), eventually making the experience monotonously navel-gazing. The book presented clear motivations and convincing dialogue, and transitions between dialogue and singing were natural, meeting the “Why are these people singing?” test (it’s amazing how often modern musicals fail this test). The interesting set reminded me a bit of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, providing a techy backdrop with constant social media streaming to the live interactions on stage.

There was considerable disappointment before the Saturday evening performance, when understudies were announced for both Tony-award winners Ben Platt (Evan) and Rachel Bey Jones (his mother Heidi). However, I was very impressed with the performance of Michael Lee Brown (left, below) as Evan. His looks are angular, less cherubic than those of the now-famous Platt (right) and his upcoming replacements on Broadway.

There is less star quality, but more teen angst and more authenticity, at least evidenced by the excerpts of Platt I have seen online. Brown played Evan with a great balance of introversion, hope, cluelessness, and haplessness, and all the nuances were clearly portrayed. He managed the tricky vocal solos well. They are written in a high baritone range, with frequent high extensions that use the currently in vogue falsetto range (e.g. a common interval is G, rising to high F# then G, pushing the male voice into falsetto, especially when singing softly). Compared to Platt, Brown has a higher tenor range, so could sing some of these notes full voice, not falsetto. In crescendos and loud passages this added some vocal excitement not present in the online versions I have heard from Platt. Evan is a really demanding role, with the lead onstage for 90% of the show, much like Mama Rose in Gypsy. If Brown is not a prototypic star, he fully held the stage and made me believe the character. He deserves the lead in a touring or later Broadway production, perhaps in a smaller house where a big name is not as financially critical. Other standouts in the cast were Mike Faist as bad boy Connor and Michael Park as Evan’s father, and Laura Dreyfuss as his on-off girlfriend. Each one’s interactions with Evan were dramatically vivid.

Overall, while I did not really respond to its millennial message, Dear Evan Hansen was an entertaining and well-executed musical, deserving of its awards. Michael Lee Brown is an outstanding young singing actor. It hits most of the modern social trends: social media, media bullying, teen pressure to succeed and stand out from the crowd. With La La Land, it will be a good document of our era’s young adult sociology, for better or worse.