Dear Evan Hansen

I really love the musical Dear Evan Hansen.  I've seen the Broadway touring production twice (in Las Vegas and SLC) and I think the music, staging, and message are absolutely brilliant.  I was looking forward to the movie adaptation until I heard all of the negative reviews and, I have to admit, they gave me pause.  I finally went to see it last night and it was both better and worse than I was expecting.  Evan Hansen (Ben Platt) suffers from anxiety and feels insignificant and all alone and his single mother Heidi (Julianne Moore) means well but struggles with how to help him.  His one friend, Jared (Nik Dodani), is only nice to him because their mothers are friends and he is too shy to talk to Zoe (Kaitlyn Dever), the girl he likes.  His therapist encourages him to write letters to himself to help build his confidence but, when he does, a deeply troubled fellow student named Connor (Colton Ryan) intercepts it from the printer because it mentions his sister Zoe.  When Connor takes his own life, his parents Cynthia (Amy Adams) and Larry (Danny Pino) find the letter and, believing it to be a suicide note, reach out to Evan.  To comfort Connor's parents, Evan pretends that they were friends.  This falsehood eventually spirals out of control, particularly when Alana (Amandla Stenberg), another lonely girl at school, wants to do something to keep Connor's memory alive.  When the truth is finally revealed, Evan realizes that he was never really alone.  Much of the criticism about this movie has to do with the issue of mental health and the fact that the entire narrative centers on a lie.  However, in my opinion, Evan is so lonely that he will do anything, even perpetuate a lie, to form a connection with someone and this response rings very true to me (I think most of the questionable actions taken by several characters, including Connor’s family and Alana, are in order to find a connection).  I find Evan to be an incredibly sympathetic character and I personally relate to his need to be seen and accepted.  Another criticism is that Platt, at age 27, is much too old for the role.  While I did find the makeup worn to make him look younger to be a bit disconcerting at first, I think his vocal performance more than makes up for it and I especially loved his renditions of "Waving Through a Window" and "You Will Be Found."  I also enjoyed the powerful performances of Dever and Moore.  My biggest disappointment with this movie is the staging.  One of the biggest themes of the musical is that, while the world is increasingly connected by technology, so many people struggle to form a connection.  This is emphasized on stage by large moving panels depicting various social media platforms throughout the show and these overshadow the minimal set pieces.  I don't think the use of social media translates as well on the screen so this message is somewhat diminished.  Even though several songs are eliminated (which is also problematic in regards to character development, especially Heidi), the pace is sometimes incredibly slow and it feels overlong.  I definitely prefer Dear Evan Hansen on the stage but I didn't hate this adaptation (it is certainly not as bad as Cats).