Theater Review: Love Him or Hate Him: The Inescapable Complexity of Evan Hansen

Dear Evan Hansen is one of those musicals that you're just expected to have watched as a film (2021), caught on Broadway (2016) / West End (2019), or—at the very least—listened to through the cast recording on Spotify, especially if you're covering the theater beat for a while now. But, having missed the press conference earlier in the day, I went in (almost) blind to Dear Evan Hansen on gala night last September 5. Not completely, of course, because I did have to rewrite its synopsis when the show's Manila run was first announced. All I know is that there's a boy with crippling social anxiety who created an elaborate lie about a dead classmate to become popular. If that sounds wrong, it does—on so many levels. Judgment passed—easily.

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'Dear Evan Hansen' Manila cast Helen Anker as Cynthia Murphy, Ellis Kirk as Evan Hansen, and Tom Dickerson as Jared Kleinman

But, if there's anything that we know to be true about people, it's that our fundamentally complex selves are just trying to survive every minute of every day—and so are Evan and all the characters in Dear Evan Hansen. This particular staging at The Theatre at Solaire—by ATG Productions, Gavin Kalin Productions, and Nottingham Playhouse; and presented by GMG Productions—raises the often stigmatized issues of mental health, especially in the current plagued world of social media, as told in a warm and compassionate story of friendship and family.

Evan Hansen on Center Stage

At the center of Dear Evan Hansen is its titular character, played by Ellis Kirk, who handles the character with respect and depth. His body language can easily fall into the fictional stereotype of a socially anxious teenager, especially when overdone, but it does not. Instead, every stutter and hair touching makes him more and more human, that you almost want to give him a hug. His mother worries, constantly reminding him about taking his meds and doing his assignment for therapy—writing himself a daily letter that starts with "Dear Evan Hansen, this is gonna be a good day and here's why..." (thus the title). He struggles to make social connections in school, ignored by classmates as he sings, "Can anybody see, is anybody waving back at me?" He is shoved into the lockers by the school bully and drug abuser, Connor Murphy (played by Rhys Hopkins), who mockingly signs the cast on his arm and makes fun of the therapy letter he saw Evan writing. We feel pity, we feel compassion, we feel that Evan could actually be (or was) every one of us—the one who was ignored, made fun of, or struggled. That actor’s ability to show hesitation and restraint adds to the feigning of a deluge of emotions that Evan’s character is trying to convey. Kirk captures this complexity, all while hitting every note with ease and delivering the varied tones of every song (with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul): from almost whispering the mellow and heartwarming lyrics of “For Forever” to rocking it out in the comical “Sincerely, Me.”

It was also in these songs when the wheels start turning, the inciting incident that would make us question our feelings about this actually very f*cked up kid. Connor dies by suicide, then his parents find Evan’s therapy letter in his pocket, thinking that it’s actually their troubled son’s letter to his best friend. It doesn’t help that Connor’s name, in big bold letters, is on Evan’s cast. Evan stutters through an explanation, and before he could fully tell the truth, Cynthia and Larry Murphy had already invited him to dinner, with hopes of knowing more about their son through his "best friend." He pretends, talks about him and Connor being "two friends on a perfect day," and gets entangled in a mess of a lie that has grown from the Murphys’ home to the whole school, and then to followers on the Internet. Even Kirk’s and Hopkins’ chemistry onstage makes us believe that they’ve been best friends for life. From an anxious and awkward Evan, the main character becomes the center of attention, even co-leading an Internet-wide initiative called The Connor Project.

As Evan gets deeper into his fabrication, he is no longer a lone voice on a stage. He becomes linked to the Murphys and his classmates, whose intricate performances are crucial to giving the lie a human and heartbreaking reality.

The World They Build

Much like Evan, who’s just trying to survive high school (but with questionable life decisions), his and Connor’s moms are also just grasping at straws. The musical, after all, starts off with them in "Anybody Have a Map," where they talk about "flying blind" and "making this up as I go" and asking "how the hell to do this."

Rebecca McKinnis portrays Heidi Hansen as a frustrated mom. She shines in "Good for You," you could almost hear your own guilt-tripping mother; but also vulnerable and truthful in "So Big/So Small," something we can wish all mothers could be.

Helen Anker as Cynthia Murphy is the face of a desperate mother, while Hal Fowler as Larry Murphy is a firm but guilt-stricken father who eventually loses in the game of acting tough and in control, as in the track “To Break in a Glove.”.

Zoë Athena as Zoe Murphy, like the teenage characters in the narrative, accomplishes putting all the annoyance and anger with the world, disorientation after his brother’s death, and even young love’s kilig in one bowl of a character.

All these characters are contained at Solaire Theatre's stage—which is usually physically large—but this time, made intimate with the set design. Instead of other DEH productions with several layered frames that fill the stage for projection, Morgan Large's mirror backdrop that also resembles the insides of a box complements the production's tone of being trapped and boxed in. Evan, Connor, and Larry, for example, are all trapped in a box that toxic masculinity has made.

This single backdrop (rather than having several ‘screens’) is as functional as it is evocative for video projections designed by Large and Ravi Deepres. It’s the perfect space for dreamy backgrounds that are almost indicative of moments of calmness in Evan and Connor’s pretend-friendship vis-a-vis chaotic pop-ups of social media screens of similarly pretend-friendships on the Internet.

Zoe Athena as Zoe Murphy and Ellis Kirk as Evan Hansen

The Truth in the Lie

Did Evan take advantage of the situation? Yes, definitely. But maybe the whole point of Dear Evan Hansen is not to judge Evan, but to see beyond the lie to the warning it presents. We later find out the truth about how he hurt his arm (with his cast as the proverbial Chekhov's gun)—a call for help. While it is not an excuse, it’s a somber reminder that everyone is fighting a battle we know nothing about.

Heidi, who missed the signs, is a single mom. Zoe, who held on to Evan, is just missing his brother. Jared (played by Tom Dickerson), who connived with Evan, is drowning in isolation behind his video games. Alana (played by Olivia-Faith Kamau), a straight-A student, is likewise feeling alone and looking for validation through the strangers of the Internet. The Murphys, while we can judge their gullibility, are coping with loss.

Dear Evan Hansen, while not overtly telling us to do so, challenges us to wave back to the people who are “waving through a window.”

Dear Evan Hansen runs until October 5 at The Theatre at Solaire, 1 Asean Avenue, Entertainment City, Tambo, Paranaque City.