Tepid Reviews for Dear Evan Hansen?

4.5 stars

It was rather surprising to me that the majority of the professional reviews for Dear Evan Hansen, the Broadway juggernaut that just made its way to the West End stage, have been rather tepid. Unlike its Broadway counterpart, which was showered with endless praise and a plethora of five star reviews, it seems that in London, most reviewers have enjoyed the show, just not enough to give it the glowing 5 stars that everyone was convinced it would be getting.

Over the last month or so, I was lucky enough to see the show twice (thank you, random stranger on Twitter who gave me his extra ticket). And I loved every second of it.

With the music and lyrics written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (the writers behind the music of The Greatest Showman), and book by Steven Levenso, Dear Evan Hansen tells the story of an anxious teenager, Evan, who finds himself in a web of lies, pretending to be best friends with a classmate who commited suicide. One of the show’s main strengths is the witty, sharp songwriting which takes the audience on a rollercoaster of emotions. The show isn’t overtly sad, however there are some undertones that touch on very sensitive topics that successfully manages to get an emotional reaction from the audience. None of it is overly soppy despite exploring heavy themes with sufficient depth.

It is also gorgeously staged, reflecting images of social media platforms on the stage and on many screens, driving home its point regarding the impact of technology on today’s teenagers’ lives. The choreography is also quite gorgeous, with constant callbacks to earlier bits of the performance, perfectly supplementing the lyrics.

My only complaint about the show is that the first half of the second act kind of drags, mainly because it contains some of the weaker songs in the musical, but this doesn’t take away much from the overall viewing experience. My least favourite song in the musical is easily ‘To Break In a Glove’. While I get why song is placed where it has been placed, and the purpose it serves in the story. The metaphor is crystal clear (maybe a bit too on the nose at times). it’s just a bit of a dud in comparison to what comes before and after.

Despite falling in love with the show head over heels, I’d like to put my own two cents in and explore why the reception has been rather lukewarm on this side of the pond.

Without a seed of doubt in my mind, I believe that the main reason for the rather lukewarm reception is rooted within the sky-high expectations of the show. Having opened on Broadway in 2016, the original cast recording has been available on every music streaming service for 3 years now. It is unlikely that those who are well versed in the world of musical theatre haven’t heard at least some of the show’s music, given the amount of positive publicity the show has received over time. Therefore, when the show finally made its way to London, it was… old news?

Having mentioned the original Broadway cast recording, I would be remiss if I did not talk about the original London cast. Sam Tutty, fresh out of drama school, does a commendable job as Evan, executing the emotional depth of the character perfectly. However, vocally, he is no Ben Platt. Don’t get me wrong, Tutty is a great vocalist and probably a more believable high school student, but whoever was cast as Evan would have most likely been a step down from Platt, whose vocals still blow me away every time I listen to the original cast recording. Platt’s career was propelled to new heights, releasing an album and starring in a Netflix original show, which doesn’t come as a surprise given how much buzz there was around Dear Evan Hansen in the States, mainly surrounding Platt.

Some reviews pointed out that the show’s storyline is too far-fetched, which I wholeheartedly disagree with. The show does take some leaps here and there, sure. However, when Aladdin and Jasmine flew on a magic carpet, no one called it out for being too far-fetched. Suspension of disbelief is an important part of the theatregoing experience, and Dear Evan Hansen makes use of this in the best way possible to touch on so many important problems plaguing today’s youth, such as anxiety, depression, suicide and the role of technology in all of this. Perhaps one of the reasons why the same plot was seen as far-fetched in the UK while being called groundbreaking in the States may be the vastly different high school experiences between the two countries. Who knows.

Overall, Dear Evan Hansen is an excellent show, touching on many important issues surrounding the youth in this day and age. It is a show that is written about young people, for young people. I would jump at an opportunity to get to watch the show again (and again), but I do understand why middle aged reviewers who’ve been familiar with the material, performed by a completely different cast, for years would be slightly let down by the final product on the London stage.