2 Globes

On Thursday, Sept. 23, I sat down in the Manor Theatre in Squirrel Hill to watch the newly released “Dear Evan Hansen” in its leap from the stage to the screen. “Dear Evan Hansen” is the story of a severely anxious high school student (unconvincingly played by Ben Platt) who gets caught in a web of lies surrounding the suicide of fellow outsider, Connor Murphy. When Connor is found with a letter Evan wrote to himself as a therapy assignment, the Murphy family (specifically Connor’s mother) finds solace in the fact that perhaps their son did have a friend after all. Evan quickly becomes welcomed into the Murphy’s family life, and gets closer to their daughter Zoe.

In an attempt to spread awareness about Connor’s suicide, Evan partners with an activist at the school, Alana Beck, to start a fundraiser and host a memorial. He is convinced by the Murphys to give a speech, which goes viral. The movie is all about the struggles of today’s anxious teens, and how easy it is to get tangled in the lies of social media.

In July of 2018, I was lucky enough to see “Dear Evan Hansen” at the Music Box Theatre in New York City. Upon its release in 2016, “Dear Evan Hansen” quickly gained popularity in the theatre community, bringing in fresh topics to Broadway such as social media and suicide awareness. The live show did a great job of balancing the severity of mental health with the comic relief of the world of high school. However, the movie failed to do so.

One of the first things I noticed (only about ten minutes in) was the lack of audience participation. Obviously, in a movie theatre, you will not get the same participation as in a live theatre housing thousands of guests.

However, I felt that part of what added to the success of this musical on the stage was the gasps, laughter, and cheering of the audience. There were certain moments in the movie where, for example, Evan would say something embarrassing, which was supposed to be a moment of comic relief. There was even a pause, which like in the live show, was meant for audience participation. However, no one in the Manor Theatre laughed at the big screen. This made for a rather uncomfortable, almost second-hand embarrassment experience.
Another thing I noticed pretty early on in the movie was the timing. In the live show, scenes were quickly changing so as to keep the show moving at a fast pace. In the movie, it was severely slowed down. Now I understand the changes in pacing between live theatre and cinema, but the quickness of the show is what I felt added to keeping it light-hearted. I felt very somber while watching the movie. Now, this is a somber topic—it is very normal to feel sad when hearing about a young 17-year-old taking their own life. However, part of the story of “Dear Evan Hansen” lies in how to continue living after that. Those moments of comedy are what help to give the audience hope. Because the pace was so slow, the moments of comedy failed to get laughter, and actually made me as an audience member feel uncomfortable.

How can I neglect to mention the change in the soundtrack? One of the things “Dear Evan Hansen” is popular for is its well-written musical score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. However, I noticed a few songs from the original soundtrack missing in the movie, as well as new songs added in. I feel that if the producers of this movie wanted to recreate the show to the best of their ability on screen, they would not have changed one of the crucial points of the whole show.

This leads me to my next point–there were many small, seemingly unnecessary changes to the movie. For example, Connor and Zoe have a step-father in the movie whereas in the live show he is their biological father. Part of the plot of the movie is that Zoe begins to accept him as her “real” father. While a special moment, it did not feel like a necessary change to the core plot of the movie. This is only one of many minor changes.

To conclude, I was obviously disappointed with the movie version of “Dear Evan Hansen.” After being a fan of the live show, I had high hopes for this movie. Even after the backlash received after the trailer (because, come on, we all know Ben Platt cannot play a high schooler), I was clinging to the hope that they would pull through. They did not. I will continue to be a fan of and praise the original Broadway production of this show, but I just cannot support the remake up on the live screen.