“Dear Evan Hansen” is everything you want in a musical. Music that emotionally grips you and takes you on a ride throughout paired with moving performances that balance laughter and happiness with heartbreak. The production premiered at Nashville’s TPAC on Wednesday (March 2) to a lengthy and well-deserved standing ovation from the Music City crowd.
For more than two hours, we were dazzled by the music and lyrics from Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. This isn’t just any musical score, this is the type of music that finds its way into your heart and never leaves. First-time “Dear Evan Hansen” goers will probably have the catchy songs in their heads for days to come.
The production is based on the book by Steven Levenson and it follows awkward teenager Evan Hansen (Stephen Christopher Anthony), who becomes wrapped up in a lie following a fellow student Connor Muphy’s (Nikhil Saboo) suicide. Stephen Christopher Anthony was the perfect Evan Hansen, dividing my emotions as the lies snowball despite Hansen’s seemingly good intentions.
“Dear Evan Hansen,” directed by Michael Greif, is a modern-day tale of self-discovery, isolation and mental health, and the problems with social media. The six-time Tony Award-winning musical is at TPAC until March 6. Get your tickets here. There will also be a $25 digital lottery for every performance. Find out more about that here.
