Dear Evan Hansen first opened in 2015 and made its Broadway premiere in 2016 to great critical acclaim. The book was written by Steven Levenson, with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, earning the team numerous awards, including the Tony Award for Best Musical.
It was the release of the cast recording in early 2017 that garnered the musical international attention. For the following year nearly every school concert or choir performance included a rendition of ‘You Will Be Found’. It’s one of those rare, inspirational songs that manages to have a life outside of the musical. It’s been a long wait for the musical to finally reach Australian shores, but finally, Dear Evan Hansen has made its Australian debut in a co-production by Sydney Theatre Company and Michael Cassel Group.
It was worth the long wait. This Australian show is a completely new production, by Australian creatives and featuring an Australian cast. It feels fresh and relevant. It both challenges and inspires. In a word, this Australian production of Dear Evan Hansen is outstanding.
The success of Dear Evan Hansen is the culmination of every single element.
Director Dean Bryant has found the complexity in each character – balancing the moments of humour and warmth, the anxiety and fears, the frustrations and turmoils, but ultimately delivering a message of hope. Life is a complicated journey for anyone and audience members will relate to different characters depending on their own place in life. Young adults will relate to the challenges faced by not just Evan Hansen, but indeed all the teenage characters. Indeed, there is no clear villain in this story, each character has their own challenges – their loneliness and turmoils just play out differently. Indeed, there is a lot to unpack and consider in Dear Evan Hansen.
The set design (Jeremy Allen), costume design (Isabel Hudson), lighting design (Matt Scott), sound design (Andrew Poppleton), video design (David Bergman) and movement direction (Shannon Burns) all work beautifully together to enhance these character complexities. Detailed and realistic sets move on and off stage. Sometimes, audiovisuals are used to enhance the story, and at other times, the stage is bare, with the audience focus solely upon the performance on stage. Colour hues change. Costumes change. It’s not predictable, and each element is used to enhance and not distract from the story. Every single element has a purpose.
And then there is the nine piece band under the musical direction of Zara Stanton (and musical supervision by Laura Tipoki) that bring this glorious score to life. The closing number of Act One (‘You Will Be Found’) is a show highlight.
Key to the success of this production is the stunning cast. This is a musical that demands strong vocals but equally strong acting skills.
Beau Woodbridge already had an enviable childhood stage career, performing in numerous professional musicals. Having recently completed a Master of Arts in Musical Theatre in London, Beau Woodbridge has returned to the stage to make his professional leading adult role debut as Evan Hansen – and he is just perfect in the role. Woodbridge has a beautiful voice that effortlessly masters the complex score with surprising ease. Woodbridge brings a warmth and charm to the role that makes him endearing to the audience, while still being believably awkward and anxious. As the show progresses, Woodbridge’s portrayal evolves as Evan blossoms into a more confident young man.
As the parents, Verity Hunt-Ballard plays Heidi Hansen, while Martin Crewes and Natalie O’Donnell play Larry and Cynthia Murphy. The experience of all three shines through, delivering outstanding performances. While younger audience members will identify with the challenges of navigating the world through the eyes of Evan Hansen, older audience members will identify with the struggles of parenting.
Making her professional debut, and fresh from NIDA, Georgia Laga’aia is a revelation as Zoe Murphy. Her voice is stunning, and her performance of ‘Requiem’ is tender and heartfelt.
Carmel Rodrigues is delightful as Alana Beck. Jacob Rozario is excellent as Jared Kleinman, often bringing some humour to the show. Harry Targett is brilliant as Connor Murphy. All are vocally strong, and the full ensemble performances are incredibly rich and powerful.
This is a flawless production. It’s an intelligent, thought provoking and inspiring theatrical masterpiece.
Dear Evan Hansen is now playing at the Roslyn Packer Theatre in Sydney before moving to Melbourne in December. Don’t miss this one!
For more information and tickets: https://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/whats-on/productions/2024/dear-evan-hansen
Photo credit: Daniel Boud