"Dear Evan Hansen" by Musicality.

Bluecoat Academy, Wollaton.

Musicality must be one of the first local drama groups in the country to present this very important musical, and it's every bit as hard hitting, powerful and sensitive as the professional touring production.

Evan Hansen, a bullied 17-year-old with social anxiety, depression, and a recently broken arm, is assigned 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 Evan is told that Connor had committed suicide and, having found Evan's letter to himself in Connor's pocket, Connor's parents jump to the conclusion that Connor and Evan are close friends. This results in them 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.

Joseph McGarel plays Evan Hansen. There's a great responsibility in playing a role like this, not only from the acting side of it, but because of the message that Evan sends out about mental health awareness, especially in young men. Both sets of responsibilities are in very capable hands as far as I can see. Musicality has a past record for having a host of excellent singers in their ranks, and Joseph's name can most definitely go down on that list. There are some brilliantly emotive songs that Evan has to sing, most notably "Waving through A Window" and of course "You Will Be Found", the latter with the ensemble behind him has that choristic sound, and gives you the tingles due to the emotional delivery.

Heidi Hansen, Evan's mother, is played by Ruby Hall. 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 emotional 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 Ruby'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" performed with such passion by Ruby as Heidi.

Charlie Higginson 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. Jared is blunt, as well as course in his language, but you will love Jared, and you will love Charlie's portrayal of him as well as the infectious laugh that Charlie provides.

Emily Hornsey 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.

Thomas Telford plays the part of Connor Murphy. 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", which also has a fun piece of choreography to go along with the song as well. I've seen Thomas in a few of Musicality's productions, every role different to the previous which shows his thespian flexibility.

Zoe Murphy, Connor's sister who Evan is infatuated with, is played by  Izzy Seager. There are two beautiful duets that Izzy performs with Joseph 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 Freya Martin. 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 Freya, and an absolute beauty of a voice that sounds good solo or with her on stage husband, Larry.

Larry Murphy, Connor's father, is played by Rory Long. 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 Rory and Joseph in the duet "To Break In A Glove". I must also mention the make up that realistically ages Rory with the grey wash in his hair - it may just be talcum powder, who knows but is certainly was effective. Vocally Rory is absolutely spot on, which is nothing less than I had expected when I saw his name in the programme, as I have seen Rory in a few other productions by Musicality.

The ensemble are made up of Agatha Meehan, Elle Green, Georgia McKenzie, Drew Boswell, Imogen Stobart and Poppy Priest. This group of people really provide, not only a beefed up sound vocally, but also create some eerie sections as visual voices in Evan's head. This ensemble really complement the main cast perfectly.

Co-Directed by Ella Chapman and Riley Halls Backler. I've never seen a Director travel so much around a theatre as Riley on opening night, and I hope that he gets a beer or two and a good rest after Friday's opening night. There was an issue with the sound system in the first half of the show, which Riley was on to, with the sound operator in the interval. There was a definite improvement in the second act. I just thought it may have been the acoustics of the performance area at Bluecoat Academy, but Riley and Dominic soon had that opening issue sorted. Ella and Riley really have managed to get the very best out of this cast.

The production is Co-Produced by Kamala Padilha and Theo Northcote.

Musical Director is Sam Ashcroft (Keys/Conductor), heading up an absolute gem of a band consisting of Sunny Joshi and AJ Hill (Guitars), Toby Heather (Bass), Simon Clark (Drums/Percussion), Franklin Baron (Violin), Natasha Roberts (Viola) and Ophelia Henstridge (Cello). A lot of this soundtrack is packed with emotional lyrics and the string section of this band just sounded so beautiful and delicate behind the vocals.

Stage managed by Louise Patterson, assisted by Sophie Baggaley and Gracie Richardson.

The set is almost bare, but that doesn't matter because you then have nothing to detract from these gorgeous performances, but there's a table and chairs to show the Murphy's dining area, a bed to depict Evan's room, a change over of the quilt serves to be Connor's room, and that's all is needed.

The sound design and lighting design and operation isn't mentioned in the programme, but I recognised Dominic Mills at the helm of a mixing desk.

There's a section near the end where Evan has a beautiful monologue about being enough, and that is a beautiful message to put over. You don't have to try and present yourself as someone else to get people to like you. I have a hoodie and a T Shirt that simply says on the front "you are enough" and I love wearing it, to get that message across. Whoever you are, you will always be enough for the people who love you, an excellent message that is projected via this show.

"Dear Evan Hansen" by Musicality is playing at Bluecoat Academy in Wollaton until Saturday 13 June. Tickets are going fast for the Saturday performance, so get them while you can.