At its tenth anniversary, the award-winning Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen has ripened beautifully. Gen Z audiences, who are now adults, are processing the themes in an enriched mature perspective. Meanwhile, the newest generation of Gen Alpha theatergoers, many of whom have started college within the last couple of years as well as those either in high school or at the cusp of high school, have been introduced to the musical behind the global hashtag #YouWillBeFound and can relate to a show that uses social media so effectively as a storytelling device.
Making a phenomenal Utah premiere with exceptionally nuanced character interpretations, the Pioneer Theatre Company (PTC) production of Dear Evan Hansen, with exceptionally smart directing by Karen Azenberg, demonstrates powerfully how the performing art form of theater becomes just as relevant and engaging to a new generation as it has for others.
Winner of six Tony Awards, the Grammy Award and the Olivier Award for Best Musical, Dear Evan Hansen, with book by Steven Levenson and music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, was destined to be a boffo Utah premiere. Azenberg assured that it would be, thanks to outstanding performances in every character portrayal. Four, in particular, deserve exceptional mentions: Kyle Dalsimer as Evan Hansen; Donna Vivino as Heidi Hansen (his mother); Marika Aubrey as Cynthia Murray, whose son Connor has committed suicide, and Khadija E. Sankoh as Alana Beck, Evan’s go-getting classmate who steers the viral sensation that emerges with The Connor Project.
The story focuses on a teen who struggles to overcome social anxiety and in the process, his therapist encourages him to write himself letters. Tensions ensue when Evan lies about his supposed friendship with Connor Murphy, the musical’s deuteragonist (in an excellent performance by Jordan Briggs) who had taken his own life. The story expands upon the facts of Evan’s fabrications and how they spiral out of control and more broadly the influence of social media in contemporary society. This coming-of-age story becomes a window of redemption not only for Evan but also for those who feel lost or intimidated by the challenges of overcoming loneliness and isolation in a world, where genuine connections and friendships are more complex than what could ever be substituted in a world of influencers and hashtags.
As Evan, Dalsimer has the gestures down pat. He is credible as an uncomfortable awkward teen whose posture and slouching shoulders shield him from becoming visible, even as he yearns for some connection or recognition. Early in the play during their first encounter, Dalsimer and Briggs set the stakes perfectly, when it becomes evident just how much they share in terms of their depression and anxieties. The teen character portrayals are outstanding throughout the cast, including Elyse Bell as Zoe Murphy, Connor’s sister who eventually becomes Evan’s love interest, and Larry Saperstein as Jared Kleinman, a “family friend” of Evan whose unfiltered sarcasm belies his own social insecurities. Their portrayals illuminate these undercurrents that likely will feel acutely familiar for many theatergoers.
The most arresting of the supporting teen characters is Sankoh’s excellent interpretation of Beck, the African-American student and overachiever who takes the reins for the Connor Project and the efforts to raise $50,000 to restore an orchard in his memory. At first, we see the impression of an über-eager Beck in stereotypical form, but when we acknowledge how she is trying to cope with her own pains of invisibility, we see Beck in richer textures and Sankoh extracts an earnest, heartfelt rendering. In the second act, the exchanges between Sankoh and Dalsimer are captivating, as she gradually unravels the threads of lies that Dalsimer tried to hold together. Shocked and angered, Beck is determined to shepherd the project to its goal.
The second act is the crown jewel in this production. The scenes between Dalsimer and Vivino, who plays his mother, percolate with natural authenticity, as they do with Marika Aubrey, the mother in the Murphy household. Aubrey expertly extrudes the confounding dimensions of her character traits, which swing from intelligent resilience to aching voids of grief and uncertainties about whether or not she could have been a better mother to prevent her son from ending his life. In the epic musical moment of the evening, Vivino’s performance of So Big/So Small is astounding in her poignant confession and grief that she will never be the mother that she had hoped to be. It is one of the most incisive revelations of truth in tge show. Also worthy of honors is the eight-piece orchestra, led by Helen Gregory and featuring keyboard, strings, guitar, bass and drums.
Vivino’s dynamic performance also has reverberating effects for Dalsimer as the titular protagonist. In subtle moments, one can begin to realize that Evan Hansen is, in some key respects, our contemporary Holden Caulfield from J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye.
There are historical parallels worth noting. Coming from an upper middle class household, Caulfield was smart but also terribly antisocial and was hopelessly stuck in a disempowered state. Yet, in the middle of the 20th century, that cultural conception of youth who felt disempowered and isolated did not line up with the expanding political engagement of student activists who were protesting for civil rights and school integration and later against the Vietnam War. In a 1958 speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., praised the “young people’s march.” He said, “You are proving that the youth of America is freeing itself of the prejudices of an older and darker time in our history…. Keep marching and show the pessimists and the weak of spirit that they are wrong. Keep marching and do not let them silence you. Keep marching and resist injustice with the firm, non-violent spirit you demonstrated today.”
Photo Credit: BW Productions.
Indeed, it is Beck, despite the revelations that Hansen had fabricated everything about his friendship with Connor, who successfully sees the Kickstarter campaign through to realize the Connor Project. Some audience members gasped loud enough to be heard when both Beck and Kleinman, in blunt manner, individually rebuffed Evan Hansen for his lies. Brilliant at every turn, the PTC production transcends a persistent cultural construct of youth as being in retreat or of being mired in selfish, narcissistic behavior in order to be visible with the hip crowd. A recent example is Greta Thunberg, who has subverted stereotypical representations of youth, by effectively chastising adults as selfish and foolishly irresponsible for refusing to acknowledge or to act on measures for adapting to or mitigating impacts of climate change. Another is the visibility of youth groups in providing humanitarian aid and advocating for the cause of Gaza sovereignty. In Iran, the death of the young woman Mahsa (Jina) Amini on September 16, 2022, three days after her detention by morality police for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly, catalyzed the most sustained and widespread challenge to the Islamic Republic’s gender regime in the Woman, Life, Freedom Movement, which went viral globally. These events and others have coincided with productions of the musical going international in the last few years..
Again, this emphasizes how this musical has ripened to be even more urgent and relevant to younger audiences than perhaps when it premiered in 2015. The implications even go further, which magnifies the significance of this particular Dear Evan Hansen production. PTC’s 2025-26 season presents several opportunities for precisely connecting to demographic generational groups that should be on any arts organization’s radar. This season also includes Rajiv Joseph’s King James, a play about two fans of the N.B.A. legend LeBron James, and Ten Brave Seconds, an upcoming world premiere musical about the day that a 16-year-old male comes out of the closet and the cosmic changes that affect his family, friends and community.
Dear Evan Hansen’s success on Broadway opened the gates to delve deeper into the challenge of cultivating a Gen Z audience. Those lessons are just as important for cultivating the Gen Alpha demographic as new theatergoers. In a report released earlier this year, No Guarantees Productions, the Tony Award-winning production group, summarized the findings, in the following: “It shows us that Gen Zs and millennials aren’t walking away from Broadway because the product isn’t good enough. In fact, when they understand what actually goes into creating a show — the artistry, the scale, the craftsmanship — they’re not only impressed, they’re willing to pay significantly more. That’s not a content issue, it’s a communications issue. We don’t need to reinvent what makes Broadway special; we need to tell its story better, more creatively, and in the places where young people will actually see it. The next generation is already interested. Our job now is to close the gap between interest and attendance by reframing the conversation around what Broadway truly offers: not just entertainment, but a luxury cultural experience worth investing in.” Some variation of that could be said for every performing arts organization in Utah.
PTC consistently comprehends this message. In fact, Dear Evan Hansen directs us to consider what should be the most tantalizing experience of the show-going experience, especially what happens when the performance is just coming to an end. For two-and-a-half hours, we have reveled in the euphoric and gratifying kinetics of live performance and now as we leave and re-enter our ordinary worlds of existence, how do we process the ephemeral impacts of the epiphanies we have just witnessed and manifest them in our ordinary worlds.
A couple of examples are in play here. PTC has partnered with the University of Utah School Mental Health Collaborative for this production. Mental health experts from the Collaborative conducted a series of workshops with the cast of Dear Evan Hansen, guiding them in the sensitive portrayal of the story’s complex themes. In addition, the partnership provides a direct line of communication for the actors throughout the run of the show. “At the Utah School Mental Health Collaborative, we are thrilled to partner with Pioneer Theatre Company in support of Dear Evan Hansen. This production highlights themes of isolation, connection, and hope that resonate deeply with the work we do every day in Utah schools,” USMHC Program Director Sean Weeks said. “Working with the cast, providing mental health resources, and coordinating ways to engage with the community ensures that the story connects with the lived experiences of many Utahns. We are always excited to find ways to work together within the University of Utah and are honored to collaborate with PTC in bringing both artistry and awareness together on stage.”
The partnership will culminate with a special community conversation. “Strength in Connection: A Conversation About Mental Health in a Hyperconnected World.” The event will take place on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 4:45 p.m., following the matinee performance of Dear Evan Hansen. This community conversation is free to the public and will feature moderator Aaron Fischer, professor at the School of Psychology in the College of Education, adjunct professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute, and executive director of the Utah School Mental Health Collaborative.Panelists include Olivia Holter, assistant professor (clinical) and child and adolescent psychologist in the University Developmental Assessment Clinics and the West High School Clinic; Aimee Winder Newton, senior advisor to the Governor and director of the Utah Office of Families, Salt Lake County Council Member, and member of the Behavioral Health Services Advisory Council and Dr. Karen Manotas, director of mental and behavioral health services at West High School Clinic, Huntsman Mental Health Institute, Utah School Mental Health Director of School Based Psychiatry.
Performances continue through Nov. 8. For tickets and more information, see the PTC website.