A story about a socially awkward teenager who writes fake emails about his fake friendship with another teenager who committed suicide would never show up anytime but now.
"Dear Evan Hansen," the hit phenomenon on Broadway, sheds light on issues that no one will really talk about.
Evan Hasen, an 18-year-old, has severe anxiety. At the start of the show, we can see his twitching and nervous gestures around other people. I don't want to give anything away, but Evan writes letters to himself as a pep talk of sorts.
The letter gets into the wrong hands, and Evan becomes the recipient of a fake friendship.
Does anybody have a map?
Now, the plot only plays a partial plot in the overall theme and message. Anxiety and mental illness are very prominent in today's society. It seems like everyone has it, and it has ceased to get better. It's been portrayed as a bad thing to have, and unfixable. But Evan Hansen shows us that it's okay to have anxiety.
It's not something you are born with, it just happens. Evan grows so much over the course of the show, he stops taking his anxiety medications. The transition of his confidence shows us that things can potentially get better.
Is anybody waving back at me?
"Waving Through A Window" is a particularly emotional song. The staging is phenomenal. Evan is standing alone in the middle of the stage, and while he is singing everyone is walking around him, ignoring him. I feel like this is very relatable.
People with anxiety are generally ignored, and that shouldn't be happening. But this show can change that, it really can.
Have you ever felt like you could disappear? Like you could fall and no one would hear?
The show further addresses mental health with Connor's suicide. As an audience, we don't know exactly how he died, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that that happened, and it shouldn't have. Connor's death could have been preventable.
No one deserves to be forgotten, no one deserves to disappear...
I feel like Evan Hansen's mother is worth mentioning. She basically neglects Evan in the beginning of the show, only concerned about his anxiety. She doesn't really see him as a person but as a victim. But by the end of the show, she truly understands him and embraces him.
Your mom isn't going anywhere, your mom is staying right here no matter what...
The song "You Will Be Found" made me sob when I first heard it. It gave me hope that things could get better. It inspires every kid around the globe who is going through something unimaginable.
That's what this show does.
I could go on and on, but that's what this show is for. A glimmer of hope for someone just like Evan, or a prevention of what happened to Connor.
Evan Hansen is a lifesaver, and a piece of gold in a sea of silver. It has truly become the voice of our generation.
