Dear Evan Hansen in Las Vegas

This weekend I went on my first road trip of 2019 and I had so much fun!  I love road trips so when I found out that the musical Dear Evan Hansen was playing at the Smith Center in Las Vegas I got a ticket the day they went on sale.  I have wanted to see this musical for a really long time and, even though it is coming to the Eccles Theatre next season, I didn't want to wait!  I packed my car Thursday night so I could leave as soon as school was out on Friday to make it to Las Vegas for the Saturday matinee.  It was a quick trip but worth it because I loved this show so much!  Evan Hansen (Stephen Christopher Anthony) suffers from anxiety and feels insignificant and all alone ("Waving Through a Window").  Heidi (Jessica Phillips), his busy single mother, doesn't know what to do to help him ("Anybody Have a Map?").  His one friend, Jared (Jared Goldsmith), is only nice to him so his parents will pay for his car insurance and he is too scared to talk to Zoe (Maggie McKenna), the girl he likes.  His therapist encourages him to write letters to himself to help build his confidence but Connor (Marrick Smith), a deeply troubled young man, intercepts one from the printer because it mentions his sister Zoe.  When Connor takes his own life, his parents, Cynthia (Christiane Noll) and Larry (Aaron Lazar), find the letter, and assuming it is a suicide note, reach out to Evan.  To comfort Connor's parents, Evan pretends that they were friends ("For Forever").  When Cynthia and Larry press for more information, Evan asks Jared to create a history of emails between him and Connor ("Sincerely, Me").  Larry and Zoe struggle to reconcile Evan's version of Connor with the difficult son and brother they knew ("Requiem").  Zoe tells Evan that the only nice thing Connor ever said to her was in his suicide note, which Evan wrote ("If I Could Tell Her").  Alana (Phoebe Koyabe), another lonely girl at school, wants Evan to do more to keep Connor's memory alive ("Disappear") so they create The Connor Project.  Evan gives a heartfelt speech at an assembly ("You Will Be Found") about loneliness and it goes viral.  He begins a relationship with Zoe ("Only Us") and bonds with her family ("To Break in a Glove") to the exclusion of Jared, Alana, and his Mom ("Good For You").  When the truth is finally revealed ("Words Fail"), Evan realizes that he was never really alone ("So Big/So Small"). This story is incredibly powerful and anyone who has ever felt like they don't belong will be moved by Evan's story (the people in my audience were so overcome they started applauding before the final song was over and didn’t stop).  I loved every song and how they are staged but my favorite was "You Will Be Found" which brought tears to my eyes.  I also really liked the set because it consists of a series of moving panels on which computer screens and social media posts are projected.  This is now one of my favorite shows and I can't wait to see it again when it comes to SLC.