The first scene opens up directly to Evan writing a letter to himself as an assignment from his therapist. He breaks into singing “Waving Through A Window”, which I found to be surprisingly an appropriate opening song. Do I think, “Anybody Have A Map?” is a better opening song? Yes. “Anybody Have A Map?”, does a great job of setting up the plot because it introduces all the characters, rather than just Evan. The viewer immediately understands that both Evan and Connor struggle with mental illness and their families reaction to said illnesses. Through this song and the dialogue in-between it, Connor immediately becomes a much deeper character. He’s not only depressed, but he is funny, witty, and constantly high. I’m happy to say that Steven Levenson was writer to adapt the book to the screenplay. Not that anyone else would do a subpar job, but Levenson is one of the few people who knows the ins and outs of this story, simply because he wrote the original dialogue. This is his story as much as it is Pasek and Paul’s. Things tend to get lost in translation when adaptations are written by new writers.
For some reason I expected Evan to be wearing his iconic blue-striped polo as soon as the movie began, just like in the musical. However, this would obviously be impossible as this story takes place over a number of months and it would be silly to have Evan constantly wear the same outfit. The costuming was not exact to the staged production, but I appreciated the updated wardrobe. I think this was beneficial as the original show was created around 2014. If one is unfamiliar with the staged version, as the show goes on, Evan changes costumes. Evan’s wardrobe gets darker throughout the show. This is to almost compare him to Connor. As the story moves forward, Evan endures more and more depression and anxiety. His clothes are supposed to reflect this. And though many of the outfits were comparable, the viewer does not get to notice this aspect in the movie.
Throughout the years Dear Evan Hansen has struggled with its diversity in casting. The original cast (as seen in previews) was completely white. The Original Broadway Cast does a slightly better job of this, by making the character “Alana Beck” strictly POC. In more recent years, Evan Hansen has been played by a black actor (first played by Roman Banks. And now by Jordan Fisher). Cynthia and Larry Murphy have both been played by hispanic actors. In the movie Larry Murphy is played by Latin actor, David Pino. I think this is great, however Larry was changed to the step-father of Connor and Zoe. I find this especially problematic because it’s simply unnecessary. It’s almost as if the creative team doesn’t trust the integrity of their audience to understand that Larry is just their dad. Why would it be impossible for him to be their dad? This issue also created a bigger problem, being that now there needs to be some explanation of why Larry is a step dad. What happened to the Murphy kid’s original father? Zoe explains that he died in the film. Zoe does not go into depth about how. This leaves the viewer with unanswered questions, drawing the attention away from the scene at hand. This scene is supposed to display Evan and Zoe making a connection, but this is distracted from. Another thing this situation adds is an element of imperfection to the Murphy family. From the outside the Murphy’s are expected to be this perfect family with no problems, making the loss of Connor even worse. But again, personally I believe the ‘father situation’ draws away from this. Some could look at this situation, seeing that it adds to the story, as everyone already knows the family is struggling. Either way I do not think making Larry a step-father helps, as it is racist, but I digress.
During the movie the school displays “Diversity” and “LGBTQ” signs everywhere in the school. I’m left to question, where? Where is this diversity and inclusion Dear Evan Hansen speaks of? Are they referring to the two characters who are POC? Or the only two queer actors being cast? I think both the Broadway and film industry needs to step it up with diversity casing. Evan is written as a character who everyone is supposed to relate to, but how can so many relate when the only character that looks like them is Alana? Or Larry? The signs placed around the school remind me of the misleading ones that were plastered all over the walls in mine. These signs shouldn’t be ironic. These signs shouldn’t just be shown in the previews or on the billboards as a cruel marketing tactic.
The most notable thing the film has done in the way of inclusion is to make Jared gay. I’m sure the “Klein-sen shippers” all over the internet are thrilled, but it confuses me as this is only mentioned once when Jared lies about hooking up with a boy at his camp. His sexuality is irrelevant to the plot. If there are going to be gay characters written in they should be ones with depth. I’m not saying sexuality should be used as a device to further the plot. I am saying if there is going to be gay representation make it real. Make it relatable, otherwise it is useless.
Speaking of Jared, he is a deep and emotional character in the musical. He’s there for Evan more than people think. As we know, he goes out of his way to create fake emails for Evan. He’s a little bit of a jerk, constantly conjuring up lies about the amount of friends he has and how cool of a person he is. In the background everyone knows that Jared is as lonely as Evan. He clings to Evan to hide this. This is something that the viewer loses in the movie as well. In, “Sincerely Me Reprise” (only sung in the staged production) Jared begins to force his way into the faux friendship of Evan and Connor’s. This proves how lonely Jared is, desperately wanting the attention of the whole school and Connor’s family (which ultimately he doesn’t end up getting). The musical also proves Jared’s loneliness through a song called “Good For You”, where Jared is incredibly angry about Evan’s betrayal. Evan ignores Jared, Alana, and his mother after finding newly-found love in the Murphy’s. Without this song Jared’s anger is lost. Jared becomes just another character to move the plot along when in actuality he is dense. And he supports the message that Dear Evan Hansen is hoping to exhibit: many who face mental health issues and isolation are still important.
In the movie after Evan’s letter is stolen by Connor, Evan is left to worry. Evan begins googling his letter for some reason. Was he expecting it to be posted online by Connor himself? Was he expecting a million people to have viewed it within hours? Who knows? This is strange to me. Though I suppose this is something that the staged production lacks. At that point the audience doesn’t see Evan’s anxieties about the letter being stolen. They are only left with Evan’s regular and consistent anxiety. Anxiety is irrational and that is the only reasoning I can come up with to support this scene. I don’t believe it was important enough as the movie has already come up with numerous ways to save time. I don’t think this was more important than the songs that were cut, yet they are the biggest place where one discovers the true emotions of these characters.
Despite the many issues of the film version, the casting and acting choices were amazing. Colton Ryan’s (former understudy in “Dear Evan Hansen” for Ben Platt) acting was phenomenal. He is able to express his emotion so well, whether that is sadness or happiness. He plays ‘the kid who sit in the back of the classroom, hardly speaking’ perfectly. He’s also able to be that upbeat and energetic friend that Evan longs for. You can see this through his perfectly timed smiles and laughs. He has such a bond with Evan. It is impressive that he can display all these emotions in so little time, as he is missing from the other half of the movie. Unlike in the staged production, Connor constantly comes back as the voice in Evan’s head. Though it would have been difficult to portray, I wish this was included in the movie somehow. Without it, it makes Evan look even more like a jerk when lying to an entire family about their dead son because there is less motivation for him. Now Evan is mostly motivated by popularity, not wanting to keep Connor’s memory alive. Maybe Connor could have came to him in a dream, explaining how Evan needs to make sure the lonely kids aren’t forgotten. I suppose this writing decision was for good or worse. Many believe Evan is simply a bad person and he had no reason to manipulate a family. And others believe Evan was motivated by his anxiety and that he was more so caught up in a couple lies. They believe that Evan just wanted to support a grieving family and the love that came with it was only beneficial.
One who is familiar with the show can recall the sounds of notification dings and seeing all of the powerful messages projected on large screens. This is something that does not disappear on screen. Seeing these messages and videos appear on a huge black screen makes it just as powerful as on the stage.
The movie closes out with a song written specifically for the film. A song from Connor’s perspective, which we get to see little of during the musical. I think this song could have replaced the finale song all together. The watcher can see that Evan goes out of his way to research Connor and send out packages of a USB containing Connor’s song on it. This already proves that Evan feels bad for what he did. But it is a nice touch to see Evan at the orchard in the end. It shows his remorse for his actions and how he’s trying to better himself. Additionally, it shows that Evan truly did care about Connor because he wants to do all that he can to learn about Connor’s life.
No matter what form you decide to view “Dear Evan Hansen” in, stage, novel, or movie, the message is long lasting. The message preaches that everyone struggling with mental health in the digital-age is not alone, they’re just waiting to be found.
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