Rating: ★★★★★
Venue: New Victoria Theatre, Woking
Cast: Ryan Kopel, Lauren Conroy, Alice Fearn, Helen Anker, Richard Hurst, Killian Thomas Lefevre, Tom Dickerson, Vivian Panka and Sonny Monaghan
Meet Evan: an anxious high school kid who wants nothing more than to fit in. The thing is, on his way to fitting in, he didn’t tell the whole truth. And now must give up on a life he never dreamt he’d have. As events spiral and the truth comes out, Evan faces a reckoning with himself and everyone around him.
“Today is going to be a good day and here’s why".
Dear Evan Hansen is back after a successful run in London's West End but this time it's touring around the UK with a brand new cast. I had the chance to watch this musical at the beautiful New Victoria Theatre in Woking, where it will be playing until Saturday 2nd November, before moving onto the next location of the tour.
Dear Evan Hansen is a stage musical with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and a book by Steven Levenson. The musical follows Evan Hansen, a high school senior with social anxiety who is struggling to connect in a hyperconnected world. He invents an important role for himself in a tragedy that he did not earn, which quickly spins out of control. However, it brings up such an important subject and the story has such a powerful message.
The story itself may be farfetched, in particular how he fabricates a relationship with a deceased classmate for personal gain, but this is due to Evan's mental health and in his own way, wanting to be a part of something and not feel so invisible. While the lie quickly spirals out of control, we do see him through the entire journey, and in a strange way he does help the family of the deceased classmate and while Evan knows what he did was wrong, he seems to fix a part of him that he thought was broken. This is why this story is so important as I’m sure we have all suffered with mental health at some point; particularly during the pandemic. This helps to brings awareness in suicide in teens which is sadly more common than you might realise.
This musical will most certainly have you on a rollercoaster of feelings, with some epic and powerful vocal performances from the cast. While mental health is the focal storyline, it also tackles themes such as performative activism, the pros and cons of social media and how terrible circumstances can bring people closer together, through parenthood, relationships and loss.
I really enjoyed Morgan Large's set design which is filled with mirrors with sliding doors that help to expand and condense the audience’s view of the story. It's incredibly effective and works really well as there are times when we are really drawn into the heart of the story and the families emotions. which for a touring show is hard to do through a set design. I also felt Matt Daw's lighting design worked exceptionally well.
I very much enjoyed Ryan Kopel's take on as Evan; he was such an absolute joy to watch, I felt everything that his character was going through and Kopel made his portrayal of Evan so believable. He also has such incredible vocal range, “You Will Be Found” and “Words Fail” brought me to tears, which is no small feat!
In fact, the entire cast was sensational; especially Alice Fearn, Lauren Conroy, Killian Lefevre and Tom Dickerson as they all brought their characters to life and fit the roles perfectly. Their performances were engaging and the delivery on songs were pitch perfect and full of heart, humour and emotion.
You can book tickets to Dear Evan Hansen, here.
Review by Sarah
No comments