Dear Evan Hansen

 

I have always been a devoted fan of the musical, Dear Evan Hansen, ever since I saw Ben Platt give his final performance at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway on November 19, 2017. I will never forget that experience. I, as Evan Hansen does, suffer from Social Anxiety, generalized anxiety, depression, and ADHD. I could so relate to Evan and all that he was going through. I remember when I was in high school back in the mid-eighties, when these disorders had such a stigma around them. I went into the original Broadway production only having heard the one song, “You Will Be Found.” I was so moved and at the same time, almost emotionally destroyed by this musical. How the playwright, Steven Levenson; the composer and lyricists, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul were able to portray what these disorders are like for the sufferer was nothing short of miraculous. They did it with such compassion and respect. I will love and adore them for the rest of my life for what they did with this beautiful musical. Ben Platt’s performance moved me so much. I had the distinct honor and pleasure of meeting him and telling him how much his performance meant to me. He so deserved the Tony award he was given for this incredible performance.

On September 24, 2021, the motion picture version was released, and Ben Platt was cast to recreate his performance of this character for film. I will say this, I am so glad he was chosen. No one could have played this role other than him for this film version as far as I am concerned. So many complaints of he was too old were bantered all over social media and it angered me immensely. A lot of criticism has arisen about this film adaptation, mostly from audience members who never saw it on stage, that the character is a sociopath and never receives any just retribution for his actions. I completely disagree with this sentiment and that is the reason for this story. Too many misconceptions about social anxiety have been bantered all over social media and I for one am sick of it. Evan Hansen is a high school senior with a child’s mentality. His social anxiety is on the high end of the spectrum, and he has been through so much in his short life and he really doesn’t understand, at first, the repercussions of his actions. In the end, he decides to come clean to the family he has deceived as well as the public on social media in general to stop the unjust demonization of the family, which by the way, is caused by the character of Alana, exploiting Connor’s supposed suicide note online, to raise the funds for a memorial in his name, which is very manipulative and terrible. In the end, Evan loses everything he gained: the surrogate family as well as the love of the one girl who saw him for, who he truly was and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. In the end, he learns from his mother, that he is of infinite worth and doesn’t need to live in a fantasy world and lie to get people to like him. In the end, all is forgiven, not forgotten, and the family moves on and becomes closer because of the experience. So, in the end, hope endures.

Ben is brilliant in this film along with the rest of the incredible cast: Julianne Moore as Evan’s mother, Heidi; the beautiful Kaitlyn Dever as Zoe; Amy Adams and Danny Pino as Zoe and Connor’s parents, Cynthia and Larry; Colton Ryan as Connor; Amandla Stenberg as Alana; and Nik Dodani as Jared, Evan’s only friend. Congratulations to everyone involved with this film. I was once again, like the stage musical, moved and touched by this incredible story. I am so glad that the producers brought this wonderful musical to the big screen and to an even wider audience, who needs the message of this beautiful story. The stigma surrounding mental disorders and illness needs to stop now.