REVIEW: Dear Evan Hansen at the Everyman Theatre

Cheltenham

Dear Evan Hansen fans, or those not yet familiar with this musical like me.

I know the film so was aware of the slightly depressing and sensitive storyline but this show packs a punch! With a relatively small cast, but first time with ensemble, who were very adept at scene changes as well as performing, great costumes, scenery, use of props (which can be a rarity these days), the cast delivered believable characters with pathos or comic timing as appropriate and some fantastic singing.

 

 

If you're unfamiliar, without giving much away, here's the plot... Evan is a highly anxious kid who wants to do and be more, has a soft spot for the sister of an angry loner and becomes the centre of attention by being kind OR not telling the whole truth when perhaps he should... you decide! Of course it all comes out in the end after a catalogue of events involving Evan, his mum, the other boy's family and many students. It is a story of connection, weakness, identity, strength, mental health, ideas, individuality, the power of a crowd and the internet. The use of online messaging was cleverly incorporated using single people facing the audience as 'narrators', phones or laptops at the start and end of conversations and multiple screens.

 

 

There were clearly some big fans in the audience who were ready to clap, cheer and whoop at the end of big songs, not just the well known You Will Be Found, and many of us joined in. On opening night the roles of Connor Murphy and Jared Kleinman were played by Will Forgrave and Daniel Forrester respectively, and we would not have known if they were long familiar with their roles or last minute substitutes as they played their morose(yet cheeky) and jokey roles with much confidence, as did Lauren Conroy as Connor's sister Zoe. The whole cast was great so it seems unfair but two stand out performances were Ryan Kopel as Evan who we believed was an awkward, socially unaccepted high school teenager with his own demons to face, and Alice Fearn as his mother giving a great display of motherly affection, concern, stress and love, both with beautiful and powerful vocals throughout. [It was also good to see a sneaky glimpse of what looked like a Libre glucose sensor on an arm as it fitted in as a 'normal thing'].

 

If you want to see it be quick as the tour nears its end at The Everyman Theatre 6-10th May 2025, then onto Norwich and Blackpool.

Review by Tracy

 

For More Information & Tickets Click HERE

 

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