By Sandi Masori in San Diego
Who doesn’t remember those awkward high school years? Thinking that you’re the only lonely kid in the school while everyone else is feeling just as awkward and lonely. Dear Evan Hansen currently playing at Cygnet takes those feelings and multiplies them by 1000.
The show starts with Evan (Aiden Meyndert), an anxiety riddled high school senior, writing a letter to himself on the advice of his therapist. He’s supposed to be telling himself why it’s a good day, but he struggles to do that. His first day back at school doesn’t help, feeling invisible and beyond awkward, he struggles to have even a small conversation with any of the other kids.
He writes himself a letter detailing why it was such a bad day, and sends it to print in the computer lab where it’s intercepted by problem child Connor (Tyler Martinez) who threatens to show it to everyone. Extra complication, Evan has a crush on Connor’s sister Zoe (Nio Russell).
Next thing Evan knows, he’s being called into the principal’s office where Connor’s parents are waiting for him. Connor has killed himself and the only thing on him is Evan’s note that Connor stole from the printer. Connor’s parents (Sydney Joyner and David S Humphrey) think that Evan was Connor’s only friend and that this was a suicide note Connor wrote to Evan.
Evan, unable to answer or speak properly due to his anxiety isn’t able to correct them and somehow lets them think that it’s true. He gets invited to their house for dinner. In a panic, he calls a quasi friend/ family friend, loner Jared (Danny Holmes) and tells him everything. Jared questions why he’s talking to him, but tells him to just smile and nod to whatever they say.
Once he gets there, seeing how happy it makes Connor’s parents to think he had a friend, he awkwardly agrees with them and then invents an elaborate lie about a good day they had together. Somehow, he tells them that they had been email pen-pals and agrees to show them some of the emails between them. Only problem, they don’t exist. He enlists Jared to help him write them, and an entire movement springs out of it. Evan becomes more and more trapped by his lies.
The themes are very relatable. Every parent will resonate with Evan’s mom’s (Bethany Slomka) struggle to connect and help her son, and Connor’s parents struggle to come to terms with their son’s life (he was mean and on and off of drugs) and death.
The entire cast brought it. There was not a weak performance in the bunch. Meyndert’s Evan was delightfully painfully awkward, as the role required. Holmes’ stood out as Jared, Russell has an amazing voice and was a perfect Zoe. Martinez’ Connor was fun to watch. Other shout outs go to Tash Gomez for her portrayal of Alana, and also to Humphrey, Slamka, and Joyner. Really the entire cast. Director Blake McCarty has good reason to be proud of this production.
There are even some Jewish “Easter eggs.” Jewish playwright Steven Levenson left us a couple of winks. Jared is Jewish and mentions Rosh Hashana in one scene, and there’s a mention of Bar Mitzvah season in another scene.
I think this is a great play to take your adolescent kids to – it may even open up some important conversations about depression, loneliness, and anxiety. It’s an emotional journey, to be sure, but well worth the time.
Dear Evan Hansen plays through Oct. 11
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Associate editor Sandi Masori is a theater and food reviewer for San Diego Jewish World