Oh, Dear

Over the weekend, I saw the musical Dear Evan Hansen, which won the 2017 Tony Award as Best Musical.  I liked the second act quite a lot, much more than the first, when the drama and conflicts really kick in and take the story to another level.  In fairness, you do need the first act to set up the conflicts in the second act.  So, I accept that.  I just thought that for my taste the first act was a bit repetitious and maybe 10-15 minutes long.  I also thought the songs, good as they were, had a bit of sameness to them.  Overall, I thought it was a very good show that I enjoyed, and I’m fine with that.  And it was especially nice to see an original story, not one based on a movie. 

(I won't try to describe the story in detail, since the point of the tale is how things get out of control and keep going in other directions.  But basically it's about a young, crushingly-awkward kid who has a crush on a girl, Zooey, and writes a letter to himself, when it gets into the wrong hands, and...conflicts ensue.)

By the way, the time I went it had the understudy, a fellow named Stephen Christopher Anthony, which at first disappointed me – but then I saw he wasn’t like most understudies who only perform a rare once in a while and you hope he’s up to speed, but rather in this production he actually plays the show four times a week, which is virtually like being the alternative star.  Further, he has strong credits, including having played the co-lead in the national touring company of the musical Catch Me If You Can, in the Leonardo DiCapprio role, as 'Frank Abignale, Jr."  So, all was well.  And he was extremely good.

This is the show's original star, Ben Platt, who won the Tony Award as Best Leading Actor in a Musical for the show.  It's the song, "Waving Through a Window," which he performed on the Tony Award broadcast, but here he does on Seth Meyers' program.