Dear Evan Hansen review: It’s a heartfelt show whose originality is its trump card

Dear Evan Hansen

Noël Coward Theatre, London                                Until May 2, 2hrs 30mins

Rating:

This is a show about America’s young generation of lonely introverts, glued to their phone screens, thinking suicidal thoughts. In New York the show was an award-strewn hit. 

I doubt it’ll prove so popular here because we are behind the US – if only a bit – in encouraging children to believe that they are utterly special geniuses, even when they are plainly average or dim.

The young British newcomer Sam Tutty here plays the painfully shy, desperately awkward teenager living with his often absent single-parent mum (Rebecca McKinnis). 

When a scary fellow student, Connor Murphy (Doug Colling), kills himself, Evan (Sam Tutty) is mistaken for being his one true friend. He plays up to it

When a scary fellow student, Connor Murphy (Doug Colling), kills himself, Evan (Sam Tutty) is mistaken for being his one true friend. He plays up to it

Evan’s therapist has told him to write motivational letters to himself, hence the show’s title.

When a scary fellow student, Connor Murphy (Doug Colling), kills himself, Evan is mistaken for being his one true friend. He plays up to it. His fake memorial tribute goes viral on social media and he is warmly adopted by Connor’s bereaved parents and Zoe, his sister (Lucy Anderson), on whom Evan has a secret crush. 

Evan’s well-meant lies work a sort of healing magic – for a while.

The young British newcomer Sam Tutty here plays the painfully shy, desperately awkward teenager living with his often absent single-parent mum (Rebecca McKinnis)

The young British newcomer Sam Tutty here plays the painfully shy, desperately awkward teenager living with his often absent single-parent mum (Rebecca McKinnis)

The big upside here is a quality score by the composers of La La Land, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. There’s nothing as catchy as the latter film’s Oscar-winning theme song but the show’s pleasing numbers go hand in glove with Steven Levenson’s quirky story.

Tutty’s self-effacing, contorted, shy-boy performance is admirable but I didn’t feel for him. Indeed, I can’t have been alone in occasionally wanting to kick dear Evan Hansen and his equally isolated, brainiac schoolmates. 

It’s best, perhaps, to concentrate on the music and the stunning stage design of words projected on to panels of twinkling tweets.

It’s a heartfelt show whose originality is its trump card. But it’s also a bit wet. It had me despairing of a country once home of the brave, now increasingly the land of the lonely nerd.

 

Thursford Christmas Spectacular

Thursford Steam Engine Museum, Norfolk      Until December 23, 3hrs

Rating:

They’re not lying: this show is extraordinarily Christmassy, and totally spectacular. A steam engine museum in Norfolk is transformed for a festive extravaganza, breezily mixing carol concert, variety show and Las Vegas revue.

Now in its 43rd year, selling out to coachloads, Thursford is the brainchild of John Cushing, who has assembled the top-notch performers – about 90 in each show, effortlessly filling the stage and managing dizzying costume changes.

The dancers in particular are tightly drilled, whether as high-heeled toy soldiers or high-kicking showgirls. They’re almost eerily synchronised and identically pert. Cushing is clearly unbothered by diversity – Thursford presents an almost entirely white Christmas.

A steam engine museum in Norfolk is transformed for a festive extravaganza, breezily mixing carol concert, variety show and Las Vegas revue

A steam engine museum in Norfolk is transformed for a festive extravaganza, breezily mixing carol concert, variety show and Las Vegas revue

There’s real range in the acts, though, from astonishingly acrobatic roller-skaters to a cheeky ventriloquist, to a good-time, ragtime orchestra. And prepare to be blown away by Phil Kelsall’s virtuosic mastery of a vast old Wurlitzer organ.

After three hours you’ll surely have had your fill of festive sentimentality – but when was Christmas ever about restraint?

Holly Williams  

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