Dear Evan Hansen Touring - Chicago thoughts

[kishane]

Posted: 2/15/19 at 9:50am

So I saw the tour in Chicago last night and I have to say for some reason I am disappointed. I cried buckets of tears when I saw Ben Platt and cast in NY and this production felt flat. All the big emotional moments felt by the numbers or I just couldn't related to this Evan. Less anxious, more nervous, but great comedic timing. I also really missed Mike Faist and Will Roland's portrayal (even if the new character seems more likely to commit suicide. The new family friend character seems so annoyingly Jewish). New Connor Murphy just didn't seem as silly/active as a ghost and the emon look kinda just stayed there the rest of the production. I did like everyone's voices and this Evan is funnier/more normally awkward nerd - it bought to mind Jesse Eisenberg in Social Network, if he was a lot less confident.

Maybe it didn't help that I was up in the balcony and couldn't see the faces really well and pick up on any interesting acting. The mom's were different because they felt like younger moms, I hadn't really liked Evan's mom in the original run, she seemed very callous and not understanding at all, and then her songs hit you like a truck in the 2nd act. New mom just seems to want to do her best and is hammered by their financial ability, and seems less angry about Evan basically wanting a new family. I think the two cast members that I did like were Zoey and Alana.

Everyone mentions how good the touring cast is though - and I had been looking forward to this all year, but now I see why some people said Ben Platt carried the original Broadway run. I'm not sure if there was original thread for thoughts already but I did a search didn't find it. Updated On: 2/15/19 at 09:50 AM

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 2/15/19 at 12:01pm

The tour has been getting rave reviews in each venue, so I'm assuming it's not a cast issue. And, as is now pretty evident, Ben Platt, as remarkable as he was, did not carry the Broadway run. So I'm left to assume that it was the size of the theater and the location of your tickets which led to your disappointment. It's understandable, especially if you were sitting close to the stage when you saw it in NY.

 

[kishane]

Posted: 2/15/19 at 12:09pm

Well, I posted because I felt I was the only one that felt that it wasn't as emotional or as good as I remember being on my second rewatch. I know others have loved the tour but the people in my section definitely had more muted reactions. My tickets in NY were standing room tickets which in the MusicBox is closer as it is a smaller theatre than the what is the Nederlander theater. Ah well, I'll just chalk it up to a difference in opinion. The tour has been a success as all tickets have pretty much sold out, but I've enjoyed Tootsie more and that's never something I thought I would say since I've been hyping this musical since it was announced it was stopping in Chicago.

[BuddyStarr]

Posted: 8/5/19 at 9:57am

kishane said: "Well, I posted because I felt I was the only one that felt that it wasn't as emotional or as good as I remember being on my second rewatch. I know others have loved the tour but the people in my section definitely had more muted reactions. My tickets in NY were standing room tickets which in the MusicBox is closer as it is a smaller theatre than the what is the Nederlander theater. Ah well, I'll just chalk it up to a difference in opinion. The tour has been a success as all tickets have pretty much sold out, but I've enjoyed Tootsie more and that's never something I thought I would say since I've been hyping this musical since it was announced it was stopping in Chicago."

We just caught the closing night in Boston for the DEH tour.  I was initially concerned, because like Kishane, the Opera House in Boston is huge and this is show to be more intimate like the Music Box.  Needless to say the place was packed and while we were in Row 0, the bed looked teeny tiny on that big stage.

The regular Evan wasn't one, the one that does the matinees did the closing night which was odd to me.  His name was Stephen Christopher Anthony.  He was in great voice but there were things that just wasn't right about his character (like using his broken arm for pretty much everything in the first act)  The remainder of the cast was very strong with the exception of Conner.  This Conner's presence never seemed strong.

it was a good production and we're glad we saw it but we are also incredibly fortunate to have witnessed the original production.  While I have many issues with the moral intentions of the show and the lies throughout, Ben Platt brought to the character a vulnerability.  It was like he was just spitting these lies out of the air and had no control of them.  He was wrong but you felt empathy for him regardless of how awful it was.  No one else has been able to capture that pathos.  

Conner, on the other hand, was like a shlub.  Didn't carry the weight of the original character with me and really seemed like an after thought.

I really loved the mother, although from our seats she didn't look that much older than Evan, though she killed her numbers.

I must also admit that throughout the show, Evan, Stephen Christopher Anthony, is a dead ringer for Michael Urie who I love. All his acting choices were similar.  He had great timing but didn't make the emotional connection most people felt to Platt.

[inception]

Posted: 3/1/20 at 11:19am

Saw this last night here in Vancouver. Stephen Christopher Anthony, who in the last post in this thread from last August was then the understudy, is now the main Evan on the tour. And wow! Is he ever f'ing terrible. His entire characterization is just a bunch of tics. It felt like it was a SNL spoof or something.

Some of the cast, especially all the parents were good. But the Evan, Connor, and Jared all looked like they were 35 years old.

It was sold out on a Saturday night, & was the 1st time most people here would have seen the show, so they ate it up. But I feel fortunate to have seen this with a better cast.

Updated On: 3/1/20 at 11:19 AM

[Luminaire2]

Posted: 3/1/20 at 1:53pm

inception said: "Saw this last night here in Vancouver. Stephen Christopher Anthony, who in the last post in this thread from last August was then the understudy, is now the main Evan on the tour. And wow! Is he ever f'ing terrible. His entire characterization is just a bunch of tics. It felt like it was a SNL spoof or something.

Some of the cast, especially all the parents were good. But the Evan, Connor, and Jared all looked like they were 35 years old.

It was sold out on a Saturday night, & was the 1st time most people here would have seen the show, so they ate it up. But I feel fortunate to have seen this with a better cast."

Wow. I thought he was incredible. In fact I found the entire cast to be outstanding Friday night. 

[mikey2573]

Posted: 3/1/20 at 4:51pm

I saw Stephen Christopher Anthony in Boston and I though he was fantastic.  I thought the whole cast of the touring show was amazing.  

[inception]

Posted: 3/2/20 at 10:15am

It isn't the same show I saw in NY. It seems like to play in the massive places it tours, everything has been exaggerated & all subtlety has been lost. Every line reading and action is exaggerated. You can see Mr. Anthony working - you can see where he thinks to himself, "Now is when I'm going to shake my foot." Jared is played like he's some version of George Costanza, and Connor's ghost might as well be Kramer crashing into Jerry's apartment.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 3/2/20 at 10:28am

Not to excuse the supposed exaggerations in acting, but is it possible it was a choice so that the action reads all the way in the rafters of larger touring venues? Or is it something that developed among the cast along the way that's been unchecked as of late?

[BwayinVan]

Posted: 3/2/20 at 10:49am

Saw the closing performance in Vancouver last night. The Evan alternate was on and I thought he got better as the show went on. I’ve been spoiled having seen this off broadway and with the OBC but the cast was strong. I agree with people who said the actor playing Jared seems a bit too old. I know that the actors playing Jared have been in their 20s but I found it hard to believe he was a high schooler. I thought that the whole cast really ramped it up from Good For You onward. From my seat in row 9 you could really see the emotion but I could see how that could be lost from the rear of some of the big houses it will play to. I think this show works much better in an intimate setting like the Music Box. That being said this was a very good tour. For me the weakest character Cynthia Murphy, I found her a bit robotic but again I may be jaded having seen JLT. If you have the chance this on tour definitely go.

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 12/20/22 at 10:04pm

Intermission at the tour of Dear Evan Hansen.

 

Anthony Norman has handsome nerd looks, a sweet nasal voice and a nervous, snorting laugh. Evan Hansen as Seymour Krelborn. He’s also in the middle of a long tour so he’s giving a controlled performance. Not marking. But there’s no sign that there’s anything particularly wrong with this Evan.

 

The first hour of this show is the best. Things get wobbly once the snarky teens, Jared and Alana, come in to propose the Connor Project. They don’t feel as human as the rest of the characters. They’re leftover from early drafts when this show was a satire. The film made some efforts to soften them and those edits are missed here.

Updated On: 12/20/22 at 10:04 PM

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 12/20/22 at 11:35pm

Act two was a respectable Tuesday performance. Well sung and understated. It didn’t quite reach me in the balcony.


There’s something to be said for a performer who can give a convincing nervous breakdown on stage. It’s why YouTube clips of Patti Lupone, Jennifer Holiday and Elaine Stritch  get celebrated. Platt had that at the start. The sense that he could fall apart any moment. It’s unhealthy and unsustainable.  But Words Fail is less interesting when it’s well sung. A lament rather than a panic attack. I’d like to watch Anthony Norman from a main floor seat on a Saturday night. This evening I didn’t get the full effect.