Dear Evan Hansen - Noel Coward

[HereForTheatre]

That's the problem with shows coming over that are so hyped and you already know several of the songs from, sometimes it can be a bit of an anti climax actually seeing the show. Though that did't happen with Hamilton or Come From Away for me, bit it did a little with this show.

[alece10]

Dec 8, 2019 12:45:55 GMT HereForTheatre said:

That's the problem with shows coming over that are so hyped and you already know several of the songs from, sometimes it can be a bit of an anti climax actually seeing the show. Though that did't happen with Hamilton or Come From Away for me, bit it did a little with this show.

Agree totally.

[stevemar]

I was really impressed with this at the Saturday matinee with alternate Marcus Harman. I never really see musicals during their early run (more into plays and off the West End) but have been listening to the cast recording, and loved the songs already. The performances lived up to the recording - yes, maybe once or twice a little shouty or stage school-like, but otherwise a great show.

I am certainly not the “target” demographic - actually, I don’t think this show is just for teenagers, but anyone who can empathise with maybe not always fitting in now or when they were growing up, or who has been affected themselves or friends/family by anxiety, depression or the events referred to.

I see some posters have commented that the ending is a little disappointing - there don’t seem to be any consequences to Evan of his actions, but more an understanding of the loss of his father, a new closeness forged with his mother and self-realisation, which I think it fair enough. But I can certainly see why some posters felt this was distasteful.

Thanks Theatremonkey for the tip re the side Royal Circle seats B1/2 - about a half or a third of the price of seats nearby. Great view, and we saw Angelina Jolie and family in central row B of the Royal Circle.

[stevemar]

Nov 13, 2019 1:56:30 GMT @tbfl said:

Obviously the OBCR is studio produced, but i'm wondering if Ben Platt's performance was as it is on the recording. His Evan sounds very confident and there is absolutely no sign of his anxiety or lack of social skills there, where as Sam Tutty performed that side of Evan during the songs. Ben Platt sounds like he's standing centre stage and belting it out. Was his performance toned down for the recording? Anyone see him on Broadway?

Also, during the show, as i was watching the Murphy's sing 'Requiem' it made me think that Lauren Ward, Rupert Young and Lucy Anderson would all be perfect as the Goodman's in Next To Normal.

Just posting the recording from the 2017 Tony Awards, which maybe of interest in the “compare and contrast” stakes.

[Deleted]

So I liked this more than I thought I would. Though from what I'd heard did go in expecting very little. It was definitely a "glad to have seen, wouldn't go back" experience for me though.

The main thing that struck me that I wasn't expecting was really how depressing it was, especially mid second act, lots of emotion. Thing with most of the 'sad' American musicals is they tend to do misery in a slightly saccharine or very earnest way - whereas this actually was genuinely quite depressing. So I was glad they didn't shy away from that.

Having read comments on here I did think I would find the treatment of what Evan did very distasteful - but actually I didn't. I saw someone very troubled who got carried away with a lie until it was too late. His redemption was also not as nailed home as I was expecting. Was just in the last scene after clearly some time had passed.

Thought Sam Tutty was amazing. Truly talented, I hope he gets the Olivier. He must be exhausted doing that every night! And all the cast were incredibly strong.

Stand by my views on the music. It isn't for me. I just find it awkward and to my taste there is no pleasing melody and not enough range. Too many minor chords. And not in an interesting Sondheim way, just rather generic. I really felt the same in Come From Away. Both shows for me made me feel emotion in spite of the music not because of it. Which is not what I really want in a musical. I didn't particularly dislike the music - and much of it works in context - but I would never reach for the CD. And I kind of felt the show wouldn't lose much if it was a play.
That said I had two young girls next to me who were beside themselves with excitement at hearing the first bars of every song, so what do I know. Maybe it's a generation thing.

But yes, a challenging evening that I would recommend. But not a repeat one for me.
3 stars (would have been 4 had there been more melody that got in to my head).

Oh - why are there more understudies than actual cast? Are they expecting illness to sweep through at a moment's notice? I mean I know this can happen but never seen so many covers for such a small show!

[alison]

Dec 12, 2019 16:06:54 GMT @sharpe12 said:

Oh - why are there more understudies than actual cast? Are they expecting illness to sweep through at a moment's notice? I mean I know this can happen but never seen so many covers for such a small show!

Because of the range of roles, even within such a small cast - they need to be able to cover both male and female teenagers, and male and female adults.  And they need to have two people covering each role - so many tales of shows having to cancel shows or pull in last minute covers because the wrong two people were sick at the same time.  It's the covers for Larry (the dad) I feel for - two of them covering only one role and doing nothing else.  At least everyone else covers two roles at minimum so will probably get on at some point.

[Dr Tom]

Made visit #3 last night, thanks to one of the bargain price tickets I booked the first day these went on sale.

Now this isn't selling so fast I probably wouldn't book in advance any more. There are some excellent late deals with dynamic pricing, particularly for matinees.

Sat at the end slip of the Grand Circle, which was an excellent view. You could lean forward without blocking anyone and see all of the stage, with perhaps 10% at the edge of the stage (hardly used) with the safety rail in view. Doesn't seem too distant either.

Not really anything to add to my previous reviews. It's a decent show, probably aimed more at a younger audience, performed well but not always easy to feel sympathetic to the main characters, drags a bit in the second half.

The main note was that Natalie Kassanga made her debut as Zoe last night (she'd previously covered her other role as Alana). She did well and it's a credit to how well rehearsed the whole cast must be that the covers can slot right in. There is the slightly weird dynamic of a white middle class family with a white son and a black daughter, but that also adds depth to the whole angle of the family not getting on.

I get the impression they're cycling through the covers so that everyone at least the experience of performing their roles. As others have commented, this is a show with more standbys with main cast members, so it's good they are getting that opportunity.

The crowd last night was pleasant, nice and restrained, clapped in the right places. So if you're worried that this is one of those teen musicals packed full of screaming super fans, don't be (at least not in the UK).

[theatre241]

I really enjoyed Marcus's performance and at times I did think he sounded like Ben Platt but his performance was fantastic wow! I really loved this show and the act 1 finale moved me to tears, the song just crescendos and its such a special moment. The design was great and seeing it from the balcony was good to see everything on the floor. I was in Row D and I thought the view was really great! No heads got in the way and I would defiantly take this row over any other row in the balcony because this is the row where the seats aren't high and they are just normal seats which have really good legroom. Also the rake is the biggest is this row which minimises the heads in the way problem. You dont feel far away but you sometimes will just see the tops of peoples heads but it just feels like a very high up upper circle. The grand circle has such a good view, I went down there in there interval and you feel really close to the stage.

[dgjbear]

Saw this Saturday afternoon with Marcus (Sam doesn't do days apparently) and he and the cast were great! As was the band, songs and design. But the direction and book were pretty woeful. Very traditional telling - scene then song. Had hoped music would flow more organically from the text. The spoken scenes have a habit of grinding everything to a halt - maybe some recitative would have helped with the flow. I was with 2 other people and each of us fell asleep at different points. We were in the minority though as everyone else seemed to love it so good for them. Cant believe this beat Come From Away to the Tony!

[danb]

America 🙄

[Mark]

Very easy to get lottery tickets for this. Row R Stalls for Sat 4th Jan - £25 each.

[somnorific]

I was just going to post a question around that ..

I've "won" the lottery twice, but there have only ever been Stalls R seats available. Has anyone ever been able to get a better seat using the lottery system?

[edi]

Dec 18, 2019 12:10:09 GMT somnorific said:

I was just going to post a question around that ..

I've "won" the lottery twice, but there have only ever been Stalls R seats available. Has anyone ever been able to get a better seat using the lottery system?

Yes it seems only row R stalls are included, which were the day seats during previews.

I will wait until the spring. I think the hype will die by then and maybe better lottery/day seats will be available.

[Jonnyboy]

Well, I saw this last Saturday matinee. I went in a tad wary given that a) it wasn’t the star lead, and b) some on here have found Evan’s apparent ‘getting away with it’ problematic.

I was blown away.

Marcus is sensational in the title role. He profoundly moved with me, and I totally bought what happened and why it happened. He is one messed up kid and I don’t think it’s an excuse for how he behaves but it’s at least a valid explanation. Even after all he did, I still felt deeply for him, and I feel this is largely down to Marcus’s superbly moving portrayal. And he hit those high notes and then some!

The whole cast are excellent, the set and lighting simple but right.

Yes, the ending is perhaps a little too neat. Would it be more effective if the community uniformly shuns him? I think so. But never mind, because by the end I felt I’d lived his journey and Evan has been changed by what he’s been through. That matters.

I’d like to see this again very much. And am intrigued to see Sam’s portrayal. But you know what? I’m half inclined to go for Marcus again. This guy is a star.

[AddisonMizner]

I saw today’s matinee. I have listened to the Original Broadway Cast Album constantly since it came out, and really do enjoy the music, so I had high hopes for this. Well, ultimately it didn’t really meet my expectations. Don’t get me wrong I liked it, but didn’t love it.

My main problem, as I see others have cited from a quick glance through the thread, is the book. I just couldn’t get on board with the story, and ultimately I think that is why I failed to emotionally connect. To say I seem to cry at anything nowadays, I didn’t even well-up at most of this. The only exception was the Act 1 Finale, “You Will Be Found”, which is genuinely the best moment in the entire show and worth the price of admission alone. I was in bits, and practically shaking in my seat. It particularly got me at the moment when Connor’s Dad sees some of the posts and finally lets go of his emotions to cry about his son’s death. However, the second act is a massive let-down and highly implausible. The whole show builds towards the revelation of Evan’s lies, but doesn’t really go anywhere with it once all has been revealed, and I can’t believe this is what would happen if it was to happen in real life. The characters don’t behave as people in this situation would, and it leads to a massive disconnect.

One of the other reasons I believe I failed to emotionally connect to the material was the character of Evan. To be frank, he began to grate after a while and I found him rather irritating, so I ultimately didn’t care about him. I do not know whether this was how he was being played though, even though the little ticks and hyperventilating did get extremely annoying, or whether it was how the role is written, as I did enjoy Marcus’ acting in what is quite a difficult role to get across. Evan is just extremely unlikeable. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as I don’t have the same feeling about Frank in MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG for example, but I just didn’t get Evan at all.

Vocally, I didn’t think it was very strong either. Like I said above, I saw Marcus, the alternate Evan, and don’t know whether he was having an off performance, but I felt he really struggled with the songs, and don’t think any of the others faired much better. Now, this might not be all his fault, because as much as I love them, I think the songs are poorly written for the voice. They jump all over the place, and often have closed vowels on higher notes. However, I would have liked the songs to have been a little stronger.

Finally, I would like to mention the direction. I just don’t think it is very good. Yes, the staging is fluid, and the lighting and design are highly effective, but the detailed character work isn’t there. They resort to either stock gestures - such as pointing to their jeans when singing about drawing on them - or just plain overacting, which again took me out of the moment somewhat. This fault lies with the director and not the actors though.

So, to sum up, a highly flawed piece, but with moments to enjoy, and it was great to finally see the songs played out in context. However, I may just stick to listening to the Cast Album in future.

[shep94]

Dec 27, 2019 21:16:20 GMT AddisonMizner said:

I saw today’s matinee. I have listened to the Original Broadway Cast Album constantly since it came out, and really do enjoy the music, so I had high hopes for this. Well, ultimately it didn’t really meet my expectations. Don’t get me wrong I liked it, but didn’t love it.

My main problem, as I see others have cited from a quick glance through the thread, is the book. I just couldn’t get on board with the story, and ultimately I think that is why I failed to emotionally connect. To say I seem to cry at anything nowadays, I didn’t even well-up at most of this. The only exception was the Act 1 Finale, “You Will Be Found”, which is genuinely the best moment in the entire show and worth the price of admission alone. I was in bits, and practically shaking in my seat. It particularly got me at the moment when Connor’s Dad sees some of the posts and finally lets go of his emotions to cry about his son’s death. However, the second act is a massive let-down and highly implausible. The whole show builds towards the revelation of Evan’s lies, but doesn’t really go anywhere with it once all has been revealed, and I can’t believe this is what would happen if it was to happen in real life. The characters don’t behave as people in this situation would, and it leads to a massive disconnect.

One of the other reasons I believe I failed to emotionally connect to the material was the character of Evan. To be frank, he began to grate after a while and I found him rather irritating, so I ultimately didn’t care about him. I do not know whether this was how he was being played though, even though the little ticks and hyperventilating did get extremely annoying, or whether it was how the role is written, as I did enjoy Marcus’ acting in what is quite a difficult role to get across. Evan is just extremely unlikeable. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as I don’t have the same feeling about Frank in MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG for example, but I just didn’t get Evan at all.

Vocally, I didn’t think it was very strong either. Like I said above, I saw Marcus, the alternate Evan, and don’t know whether he was having an off performance, but I felt he really struggled with the songs, and don’t think any of the others faired much better. Now, this might not be all his fault, because as much as I love them, I think the songs are poorly written for the voice. They jump all over the place, and often have closed vowels on higher notes. However, I would have liked the songs to have been a little stronger.

Finally, I would like to mention the direction. I just don’t think it is very good. Yes, the staging is fluid, and the lighting and design are highly effective, but the detailed character work isn’t there. They resort to either stock gestures - such as pointing to their jeans when singing about drawing on them - or just plain overacting, which again took me out of the moment somewhat. This fault lies with the director and not the actors though.

So, to sum up, a highly flawed piece, but with moments to enjoy, and it was great to finally see the songs played out in context. However, I may just stick to listening to the Cast Album in future.

I went to the matinee on Friday too and all these points I agree with. At no point did I feel any empathy or connection to any character. I tried with the putting myself in different character’s shoes, how I would feel if this person was my mum going through x,y or z and I just couldn't connect to any of it.

I was saved at the end of Act 1 with you will be found. That was extremely good. I did then wonder how the show was going to progress (not read the synopsis or any spoilers) and 10 minutes into Act 2 I could predict most of what was going to happen. When Evan and Zoe sang their duet together I had completely checked out and started to just focus my attention on the strings section of he orchestra (they sounded blooming marvelous) and then wondered whether that is where the orchestra were for half a six pence.

I do think as well that not having a chorus did kinda make it suffer. I don’t feel you got the hype of Connor’s death or Evan’s loneliness with only the principal players. I do think it would have given songs like ‘you will be found’ even more energy. It was not staged how I had it in my head either.

So yea all in all I too found it to be all hype and no wow product

[chess]

Saw this show Saturday evening. My expectations were sky high, so I was prepared to be disappointed, esp as I had seen #juliet the night before which I really liked.
Well I was not disappointed. I was really into the story and the characters. I struggled whether to hate, dislike, like or love Evan, but I believed his motivations. In the end I loved him. I was a little surprised by the ending, but considering the relationship he builded with connor’s family, I accepted that and I found it refreshing that it ended rather well, while I expected that dramatic finish.
I was very moved by the story. Everyone who had a difficult time at school will understand Evan’s way of working out things. I always love a set design with as little as possible on stage. Combined with lights you don’t need big sets to create great moments.

All in all this been one of the most moving nights in theatre in a long time. I accept it wil not be everybody’s cup of tea. But in 35 years of visits to London, having seen hundreds of musicals/plays, I think Dear Evan Hansen is one of the best.

[danielwhit]

Saw the performance tonight, generally very impressed. Technically they didn't have the best show, one of the projectors for the floor started flickering so the entire downstage section was turned off.

Performances I can't fault, they worked together well. It is an ambitious and inspired set design, kudos to whoever initially dreamt up the idea. Lighting equally very strong in concept and execution.

Some women in the audience clearly went in knowing they needed to enjoy it, the instantaneous wooping before songs finished was a little too eager to be genuine.

Will definitely go back one day. How soon depends on ticket prices coming down a bit, I was surprised to discover how much I spent on this evening..

[greeny11]

I saw the matinee - thought Marcus Harman was excellent, as were the rest of the cast, Lauren Ward being particularly great I did not find Evan to be particularly dislikeable in this, but maybe that was because of how Marcus played it, though of course what he does is very wrong. For me, all the memorable songs are in act 1, so found act 2 to be weaker. The set was working fine this afternoon, and was impressed with the design. I really liked the use of lighting throughout - it is not a technical aspect I usually pay attention to, but I did enjoy how it was used.

[dgjbear]

I cant see this lasting that long once the fans have seen it a few times. A good score is killed by a book with problems and mediocre direction

[undeuxtrois]

Anyone sat in Grand Circle AA10?

[danielwhit]

Jan 2, 2020 11:53:45 GMT dgjbear said:

I cant see this lasting that long once the fans have seen it a few times. A good score is killed by a book with problems and mediocre direction

The book is very formulaic, I'd agree, most songs are signposted a mile off.

[properjob]

I thought this was really good. It may have been helped by the fact that I booked on its Broadway reputation and knew little about it apart from the basic premise and had deliberately not listened to the sound track other than the bits on the radio.

I was sympathetic to Evan as it felt like a Greek Tragedy in that he made one bad quick decision that then spiralled and spiralled out of control and he felt trapped and at 40 I still remember really really really wanting a girl at school to like me.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler - click to view}
I did think Zoe was too forgiving

Earwigging to conversations around me it clearly spoke a lot to a teenage audience around me and any show that reaches any part of audience that deeply is a good show.

I think it will have a decent run as like Avenue Q which played the same theatre, it has a relatively small cast and band so will be economic to keep going even after the first rush for tickets (which will probably last for while) dies down.

[sydneyboi]

Hello friends

Sorry if this has been mentioned but is Sam on
For the Wednesday matinee performances normally

Thank you 😊

[greeny11]

Sam only does evening shows