Drama Musical Is Not Simply A Parable With An Easy Moral

Gazing up at the astonishing lighting and tech rig that loomed over an empty stage at the start of Dear Evan Hansen , its blue light suffusing the auditorium of the Artscape Opera House, I had the briefest sensation that I was underwater. It brought a feeling of quiet exhilaration peaceful, free, like a moment floating in the sea shallows before bursting through the surface into the sun.

I admit perhaps I was overly primed for such analogies this was, after all, opening night of a much-anticipated production, the kind of occasion that can send musical theatre fans into fits of lyricism. But the maritime metaphor proved appropriate, albeit in a different mood.

From the moment he introduces himself at the start of the show, young Evan Hansen is swimming in an ocean of anxiety. To put it more accurately borrowing from the poet Stevie Smith, he has been treading water too far offshore for way too long, and he is not waving but drowning.