There’s quite a critic’s dilemma happening at A.C.T. of Connecticut where they are closing their season with the Tony Award winning musical Dear Evan Hansen. The question at hand is can you have a successful production of this acclaimed musical without the title character? I really don’t think so.
Dear Evan Hansen is one of the saddest but best original musicals in recent Broadway history. With music/lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and a sensitive book by Steven Levenson, the show concerns socially awkward teenager Evan Hansen (Kenny Lee), a lonely, anxious high schooler who fabricates a friendship with a troubled classmate, Connor Murphy (Erick Houck). When Connor commits suicide and becomes a social media cause célèbre, Evan is identified as his best friend and drawn into the spotlight. Upon his death, Connor was found with one of Evan’s letters which the dead boy’s parents (Heather Ayers and Gil Brady) find and immediately assume a friendship of which they were unaware. They embrace Evan into their family, which includes daughter Zoe (Olivia Fought, perfect), Evan’s secret crush.
Obviously any production of Dear Evan Hansen only succeeds with the right actor portraying the flawed but endearing title character. Unfortunately, the otherwise appealing Kenny Lee, is misdirected so seriously in the role his performance self-destructs before his first song. Director Scott Schwartz has apparently felt that Evan is on the autism spectrum with mental issues and the result is an off-putting performance of tics and mannerisms. His exaggerated facial expressions upstage every song he sings, which is a shame since the actor has quite a good voice. But it was hard to appreciate his vocal abilities when you are continually distracted with an overly mannered performance. By the second act he is clawing at his shirt so aggressively I half expected the costume to be in shreds by final curtain. No professional theatre should ever allow such shameless, relentless mugging.
Even with a less-than-ideal Evan at the helm, however, the rest of the Dear Evan Hansen cast does not have a weak link. Fought is perfection as Connor’s conflicted sister, still harboring anger towards her brother while stuck between warring parents. Both Ayers and Brady expertly play the grieving parents who find it hard to rely on each other at the worst moment in their lives. Houck effectively embodies the type of bullying student with a vulnerable core he’s afraid to show. I also loved Amaya White as an overachieving student desperate to improve her social standing in school by arranging Connor’s memorial. Maya Days is tremendously moving as Evan’s divorced mom striving to understand her son. Her performance of “So Big/So Small” late in the show will break your heart.
The scenic design by Christopher & Justin Swader seems too busy at times with the cast called upon to constantly move portable platforms, but it still works fairly well. The crucial video designs by Camilla Tassi are superbly integrated into a series of upstage windows. Music director Cole P. Abod has a terrific band at his disposal who also get introduced via a very clever touch at curtain. In all, I still love this musical even under lesser circumstances in Ridgefield.
Dear Evan Hansen continues at A.C.T. of Connecticut, 36 Old Quarry Rd, Ridgefield, Connecticut through June 21. For further information or ticket reservations call the theatre box office at: 475.215.5497 or visit: www.actofct.org.
Tom Holehan is one of the founders of the Connecticut Critics Circle, a frequent contributor to WPKN Radio’s “State of the Arts” program and the Stratford Crier and former Artistic Director of Stratford’s Square One Theatre Company. He welcomes comments at: tholehan@yahoo.com. His reviews and other theatre information can be found on the Connecticut Critics Circle website: www.ctcritics.org.
