Teen angst has been a worthy dramatic subject long before social media became so toxic that countries around the world began legislating its use for young people. And debilitating social anxiety requiring medication has skyrocketed in the tumultuous years since “Dear Evan Hansen” hit Broadway in 2016, became a cultural phenomenon, and was awarded six Tonys.
It remains a deeply troubling, moving, and complicated show, and the Farmers Alley Theatre production directed by Kathy Mulay is truly excellent, carrying a more intimate and powerful emotional punch than the national tour that traveled to Kalamazoo in 2024.
The story, book by Steven Levenson with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, focuses on high school senior Evan Hansen, an isolated teen who longs to fit in but his palms sweat at the thought of having to speak to the other kids at school. When his classmate Connor Murphy dies by suicide, a misunderstanding leads Murphy’s family to believe Hansen was their son’s best friend, and Hansen keeps up the ruse, comforting the grieving family, winning over their daughter Zoe, finding the kind of family he wishes he had, starting a movement of acceptance, and becoming internet famous and a popular kid at school as a result of the lie.
The show raises difficult and important questions—about loneliness, mental illness, class, parental responsibility, the immorality and consequences of lying, social and cultural pressures, among others—without fully answering them, and does so while riding impressive emotional waves, never getting too bogged down in darkness or sentimentality, and rising to sweet moments of levity as well as redemption.
The anthemic “You Will Be Found” unironically declares “Even when the dark comes crashing through/ when you need a friend to carry you/ and when you’re broken on the ground/ you will be found” even though the most troubled characters on stage were “found” only by dying and lying.
But the writing, music, and performances are so strong, these problems feel true to life and well worth grappling with.
Keegan Sells is a remarkable Evan Hansen: utterly sympathetic, complex, and believable as an anxious teenager struggling through deep waters. He sings the complex music full of frequent changes in register beautifully and emotionally connects and disconnects palpably with the other actors on stage who are all terrific and capture difficult emotions and wonderful realness: Carly Rose Mulay as Zoe, Braeden Davis as Connor, Jacob Tyler Reinsten as Jared, and Jacqueline Boynton as Alana.
As much as the story is about teenagers, it’s also very much about the challenges of parenting and the devastation of grief. Denene Mulay and Danny Gurwin are wonderful navigating the desperation of losing a child, and Lauren Singerman is a force, with marvelous subtlety at times, as single mom Heidi Hansen, and sings a powerful “So Big/So Small”, one of the most moving songs in the show.
Music Director Scott Patrick Bell’s 8-piece live orchestra makes the most of these fine orchestrations that leave these tunes playing in the audience’s mind long after the show ends.
The production is also visually appealing, largely thanks to projections and videos by David Clemens that appear on the 12 screens surrounding the stage in the round. With minimal set pieces by Eric Perry and a few key props by Savannah Draper, scene changes are quick, seamless, and move dramatically and effectively in location—from home interiors to school to an apple orchard and a wide, open sky. Less effective are static images of Google and Facebook with words overlaid on them to represent text conversations, but it communicates the message albeit in a somewhat clunky and out of date way.
However, Farmers Alley Theatre’s “Dear Evan Hansen” is hugely successful, making difficult material and subject matter feel real and urgent as well as beautiful. The questions it raises and the songs and performances it delivers far outlast the length of the show.
Dear Evan Hansen
Farmers Alley Theatre
July 9-Aug. 2
farmersalleytheatre.com
