"Dear Evan Hansen"

Nottingham Playhouse.

By now, most people will know all about "Dear Evan Hansen" as this new production of this big multi Tony Award winning musical opened at The Playhouse on 9 September. The show premiered in July 2015 in Washington DC and has been a big hit with theatre goers ever since. 

I've seen the film, got the soundtrack but until tonight, had not seen the stage version.

If anyone has told you that this production is the best thing they've seen, I have news for you! Believe every single syllable they tell you!

Evan Hansen, a bullied 17-year-old with social anxiety, depression, and a recently broken arm, is assigned by his therapist, Dr. Sherman, to write letters to himself, starting with "Dear Evan Hansen......", detailing what will be good about each day. Evan's overworked mother, Heidi, suggests that Evan ask people to sign the cast on his arm to make friends, although that doesn't always work with some of the people at his school.

One of Evan's letters, which he had left on a printer at school was picked up by another boy in school, Connor, who is also depressed and a drug user. Days later it is reported that Connor had committed suicide and, having found Evan's letter to himself in Connor's pocket, jump to the conclusion that Connor and Evan are close friends. This results in Connor's parents inviting Evan over for dinner and telling them what he thinks that they want to hear in order to make them think that Connor was more popular than he really was. 

As the untruths grow, Evan and some of his school friends set up The Connor Project and raise funds to restore an apple orchard, which ties in with one of the fibs that Evan has told, but soon the truth is out, thanks to the power of social media, and Evan's image of friendship is not quite as rosy, or believable, as first believed.

Ryan Kopel plays Evan Hansen. This young man is ridiculously talented, well the whole cast are really, but this man seems to dig so deep into his being for every shred of emotion, not only with his incredible singing voice, but his acting and his awkward and embarrassed character playing is insane. I honestly do not know what else to say about his talents. I've never heard of Ryan until tonight, but what this show has done for Ben Platt and Sam Tutty, I honestly believe it can do for Ryan Kopel.

Killian Thomas Lefevre plays the part of Connor Murphy. If I don't gush as much over every actor after Ryan, it's just that you'd be incredibly bored just seeing the word "ditto" because this amazing ensemble piece of theatre is practically perfect. Don't ask me what would make it more than practically perfect, because I couldn't tell you. Even though Connor is a depressive druggie with no mates, there are some great scenes, especially with Evan and Jared that are really light hearted and immense fun, especially in the song "Sincerely Me".

Zoe Murphy, Connor's sister who Evan is infatuated with, is played by Lauren Conroy. Again, there's that full gamut of emotions that is run from start to finish with Zoe. There are two beautiful duets that Lauren performs with Ryan in "If I Could Tell Her" and "Only Us" that send tingles everywhere a tingle can travel to, thanks to the melting of their two voices on these songs.

Cynthia Murphy, Connor's mother, is played by Helen Anker. You really feel the belief and relief in this mother that her son, who she thought did not have a friend in the world, actually had such a close friend in Evan, only for those emotions to be dashed in the second act. An emotional piece of character acting from Helen, and as with the above, "ditto".

Larry Murphy, Connor's father, is played by Richard Hurst. Larry shows that he feels that Connor has wasted everything that has been given to his late son, and there's a sadness that you find when he almost becomes a replacement father for Evan. This is no more evident than the beautifully touching scene when the pair are together talking about baseball and the way to break a baseball glove in. Another smooth sounding blend of voices with Ryan and Richard in the duet "To Break In A Glove".

Heidi Hansen, Evan's mother, is played by Alice Fearn. Heidi is a hard working mother who never seems to find quite enough time for her son, feeling guilty about this, especially as she is all that Evan has at home. There's a particular heart-breaking scene when she finally discovers the extent of the emotions Evan has been experiencing while she has been hard at work keeping the family home running and earning a wage. 

Any parent will always worry over their kids and want to protect them from hurt, and we often don't see the red flags that kids show, or don't show in some cases, and Alice's performance of that realisation of Evan's hurt is something that all of us parents ought to think twice about when we look at our kids; no matter what age they are. Just listen to the words of "So Big So Small" as performed by Alice as Heidi.

Tom Dickerson plays Jared Kleinman, Evan's sarcastic and droll friend. He helps Evan and Alana found The Connor Project. This is where we get the lighter side of this musical with this character. Tom's stage laughter is infectious, the character is blunt as well as course in his language, but you will love Jared, and you will love Tom's portrayal of him as well.

Vivian Panka plays Alana Beck, one of Evan's classmates and one third of the triangle that makes up The Connor Project. Alana is also the one who spots the irregularities in Evan's stories and eventually brings down the web of lies, turning Evan the hero into a zero commodity. This results in the emotive "Words Fail", sung by Evan.

The ensemble are Sonny Monaghan, Lara Beth-Sas, Will Forgrave, Daniel Forrester, Jessica Lim and Elise Zavou. This group also get cameo spots throughout but also make sure that the scenes are skilfully changed, sliding props on and off with speed and accuracy. The pace and smoothness of this musical would not be as good as it is without this hard working ensemble. Neither would the big chorus parts, especially in "You Will Be Found".

Directed by Adam Penford, this surely has to be the best thing that Adam has done while at The Playhouse. I mentioned the pace, the acting, the timing and the emotional involvement from every cast member and that surely has to be the vision of every successful Director. Well, Mr P, you ticked every box for me.

Set and Costume Designer is Morgan Large. I'm going to focus on the set design because this section just blew me away. the smoothness of the sliding screens, the sections that opened up and illuminated, the way that the props just slid into place without a human hand in sight, pure theatrical magic. Every scene was as you'd expect from a big touring production, which is what this is going to be after leaving the Playhouse. But my favourite scene would have to be the final scene set in the apple orchard, which as I said earlier plays a large part of the storyline. It was like I had seen HD television for the first time, but the trees appeared to be real, and when I say that I mean they were not on a screen because the actors touched the trees. The clarity of just that one scene just jumped off of the stage; I think the term may be it "popped". 

Choreographer is Carrie-Anne Ingrouille. What I absolutely loved about the choreography, as well as the musical score, for this show is that the ballads were so delicate, they were like a fine spider web covered with early morning dew, afraid that if you brushed against it, it would disintegrate. Ok, flowery I know but the choreography for these delicate numbers was simply beautiful. And then there is that fun number with Connor, Jared and Evan in "Sincerely Me"; brilliantly fun and a lovely contrast.

Lighting design by Matt Daw. I have always found the lighting at The Playhouse some of the best in local theatre, irrespective of which company or which lighting designer and operator is in charge. It shows the quality of the lighting in the theatre which must be for the designer and operator akin to being like a child in a candy shop. A wonderful design and operation of that design.

Sound design by Tom Marshall. I could just say "ditto" again for the above. The Nottingham Playhouse's acoustics are some of the best I've heard and that lends itself so well to performing musicals. The sound is crystal clear and the mix is excellent. With a soundtrack such as "Dear Evan Hansen", the quality of the sound is imperative because of the gorgeous use of instruments like the cello, viola and violins, and you could hear every single instrument perfectly. The vocal mix for all the actors was excellent allowing the big notes to soar and the quiet notes to nestle within the comfort of your ear.

The Video Designer is Ravi Deepres. This is another area which is of the finest quality. Sometimes I find the inclusion of a video design either obtrusive or I don't really pay attention to it, preferring to focus on the actors. This video design was like having another actor on stage as you could not ignore it, nor was it obtrusive. I even recognised a few of the faces on the videos which gave a lovely local feel to this section.

Michael Bradley is the Musical Director. There are some gorgeous musical theatre songs in this piece of theatre, the most well known being "Waving through A Window", "For Forever" and "You Will Be Found", which is a really big production number in the show. I just know that if you don't already have the soundtrack to this show in your collection, you will want to remedy that after seeing this show.

Anyway, I'll round off by reiterating what I said at the start. If anyone tells you that this production is the best thing they've seen, believe every syllable, because I have, and let's face it, would I lie to you? 

"Dear Evan Hansen" will be found at the Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 28 September, after which it will be found at Leicester Curve and then on an extensive tour all the way around the country right up to May 2025. Please don't miss out on this beautifully emotional piece of theatre gold.