Book Your Tickets – And Make Today a Good Day!

DEAR EVAN HANSEN. Ryan Kopel (Evan Hansen), Tom Dickerson (Jared Keinman) and Killian Thomas Lefevre (Connor Murphy). Photo Marc Brenner

Naomi MacKay watched Evan Hansen at Milton Keynes Theatre – running until Saturday 1 Feb.

Meet Evan Hansen – an anxious high school kid who just wants to fit in. Nothing works for him though – until tragedy strikes, Evan gets caught up in a massive lie, and his life changes for the better – but for how long?

This Grammy-award winning musical has at its heart hard-hitting themes – teen suicide, mental health issues and the struggles of the gulf between parents and their teenagers. Doesn’t sound like a recipe for a fun night at the theatre does it? But thanks to its strong cast, fantastic score (by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Oscar-winning composers for The Greatest Showman and La La Land), and a massive dose of humour, it offers an emotional triumph that had many of the audience reaching for their hankies.

Ryan Kopel (Newsies) is stunning as Evan Hansen, the angst-ridden teen, and plays him with so much pathos that you can’t help but feel sorry for him, even when he gets caught up in a lie that could hurt so many people. When Connor Murphy (Killian Thomas Lefevre, Bat Out Of Hell) takes his own life, his parents latch on to Evan, who they mistakenly believe was Connor’s secret best friend.

Joining him in maintaining the pretence is the comically vile Jared Kleinman (Will Forgrave), who helps Evan compose a series of emails to show how close he and Connor were. The brilliant Sincerely Me offers the pair, along with the reanimated Connor an opportunity to inject humour into the whole sad sorry tale.

Other standout performances come from Vivian Panka (Alana Beck), the eager student keen to add extra curriculars to her resume for her college application, who latches on to the Connor Project and unwittingly takes Evan’s lie to the world with her social media platform, and Lauren Conroy as Connor’s sister Zoe, who struggles to make sense of her parents’ grief for her difficult-to-love brother.

And Evan’s Mum (Alice Fearn, Wicked, Come From Away), who brings the emotion of a single mum struggling to keep her head above water while trying to connect with her anxious teenager – what a powerhouse!

Evan’s therapist encourages him to write to himself about why today is going to be a good day – your choice is easy – book a ticket to this emotional rollercoaster of a musical and yours is guaranteed!

Book your tickets now at atgtickets.com/MiltonKeynes.

Image: Ryan Kopel (Evan Hansen), Tom Dickerson (Jared Keinman) and Killian Thomas Lefevre (Connor Murphy). Photo Marc Brenner