No one deserves to be forgotten. That is the message “Dear Evan Hansen” presents to its audience through the stories of the titular Evan and the people he interacts with.
Even on a stage flooded with backdrops of scrolling social media posts and notifications, the individual hopefulness and heartbreak of the characters shine through, evoking a multitude of emotions from the audience.
Like many others, I flocked to Hancher Auditorium on Saturday night to experience the first installment of its 2024-25 Broadway series, and I must say, the standing ovation at the end was well-deserved.
There were so many things to admire about this show and cast. Michael Fabisch, the actor who portrayed Evan Hansen, carried the production well.
From the first moment he stepped on stage, Fabisch’s portrayal was on point. His performance brought out the awkward and well-meaning aspects of Evan’s character.
Throughout the musical, the character, who is meant to be a socially anxious 17-year-old, breaks his arm and accidentally has a run-in with troubled teen Connor Murphy. Connor takes one of Evan’s letters to himself (which served as a therapy assignment for Evan) and then dies by suicide. This leads the rest of the Murphy family to believe Connor and Evan were best friends.
Through a series of unfortunate and panicked events that escalate in the songs “Forever” and “Sincerely, Me,” Evan allows them to believe this. This act is, on its surface, an incredibly messed up thing to do to a freshly grieving family. However, Fabisch’s acting allowed me to feel sympathy for Evan.
In his interactions with other characters and the emotion thrown into his song lyrics, Fabisch peeled back the layers of Evan, showing a vulnerable and lonely kid who takes a chance to be something more than he’s always been.
Evan does unlikable things, but he is also a hurting teenager. At his core, he wants to do something to help the Murphy family — for whom he comes to care deeply.
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In addition to Fabisch’s performance, the rest of the cast followed up with their talented takes.
Hatty Ryan King’s Zoe Murphy — Connor’s sister and Evan’s crush — pulls at heartstrings in the ballad “Requiem.” She struggles to piece together the version of her brother she knows and the one Evan tells her about, even questioning if her brother is a “monster.”
Both of Murphy parents, portrayed by Alex Pharo and Caitlin Sams, also star in the same number, voicing their own conflicting emotions about the alleged friendship between Evan and Connor. All three voices mesh well together, creating a harmonic yet melancholic tone for the song.
The hidden depths of Evan’s mother, Heidi Hansen, also come to light in the show through Bre Cade. The penultimate musical number, “So Big/So Small,” was one of my favorites from Hancher’s show.
The song sheds light on just how much Heidi cares for Evan. Cade inflects care and softness in her vocals when addressing her in-universe son, showing she will always be there for him and always tries her best to make the world more bearable.
Having been a fan of several “Dear Evan Hansen” songs for years, I massively enjoyed seeing the stage musical for the first time and think Hancher did a phenomenal job of bringing the story to life. I will be eagerly awaiting the next Broadway series installment.