REVIEW: Dear Evan Hansen Was Best Left on the Stage
Dear Evan Hansen crashed on to the Broadway scene in 2016 when the show opened at the Music Box Theatre in New York City. The story of high schooler, Evan Hansen, a loner who doesn’t quite fit in until a tragedy leaves him playing a role that thrusts him into the spotlight. As the spotlight intensifies, Hansen begins to find this new role isn’t as comfy as he once thought it to be. Universal Pictures is now releasing the movie adaptation of the musical but this is one musical adaptation that is better off left on the stage.
Having never seen the musical, I was a blank slate. The only thing I knew about this musical was the song, “Waving Through a Window” which after I first heard it back in 2016 it quickly became one of my favorite musical numbers. I was excited to see if the feelings I felt when first listening to this song would translate on screen, I was sadly disappointed.
Ben Platt returned to reprise the role of Evan Hansen that earned him a Tony Award, and his take on this role on screen just didn’t work. Ben Platt definitely has a great voice, but he comes across as far too old to play this role. Kaitlyn Dever is Evan’s love interest Zoe and, for her first musical role, she does a wonderful job. Dever continues to impress me with her range and her talent. I love that she opted to take on this role and show off not only her acting chops, but her vocal chops as well.
Amandla Stenberg plays High School class president, Alana and while Stenberg does well bringing Alana to life, and has a great voice, her character certainly makes some odd choices. Amy Adams (Cynthia Murphy), Julianne Moore (Heidi Hansen), and Danny Pino (Larry Mora) round out the cast, but there is not enough interaction or substance to any of their characters to create a connection.
That may be reflective of a larger problem, the audience struggles to create a connection with any of the characters, whether it be their choices or their development, there was something missing. Perhaps the stage version sets up the story a little better or the characters come off more likeable on stage, but the only character I came out liking in this movie was Evan’s friend, Jared Kleinman (Nik Dodani).
After some Googling there are apparently some changes made in this movie that were not in the original musical. The musical’s opening song, “Anybody have a Map?” is not featured and scenes with Evan’s therapist were left out entirely. It left me wondering if some of what was left out of the movie would have better helped the audience connect with these characters.
I will just have to catch the musical the next time it is in town to see if my musings are justified. Until then, I will continue to listen to “Waving Through a Window” and hope that the next musical Universal tackles is better than this.
Grade: D