DEAR EVAN HANSEN Movie Musical - News & Discussion Thread — Page 33

kidmanboy said: "I really REALLY don't understand why everyone all of a sudden cares about 27 year olds playing high schoolers. It happens quite regularly, and often with people I think look significantly older than Ben Platt does."



I think it matters more here because Evan is supposed to be a child who gets in way over his head and it's harder for the character to be sympathetic when he looks like a fully grown man.

It's the same reason why casting the Broadway cast for Rent didn't work - the fact that they are young matters to the pathos of the story.

Thanks, rattleNwoolypenguin, your posts (#793 and #794) are pretty much spot on. I hope, that as this thread grows to the inevitable hundreds of more posts it may turn into, people will remember these two posts.

Updated On: 9/12/21 at 03:41 PM

It isn't as simple as "27-year-olds play teens all the time."

With soapy teen shows constantly veering into steamy, sexually charged territory, it just makes sense to cast older actors so adults can watch the show without feeling dirty. Secondly, the 27-year-olds playing teens are often relatively unknown, so we're more able to suspend our disbelief because we haven't been aware of them enough to go "hey, but they were playing 15 ten years ago!" One of Platt's first big breaks was playing a college freshman in Pitch Perfect in 2012. Then DEH happened and his team began an unrelenting "IT" BOY/NEXT BIG THING offensive, so the intensity with which he's been foisted on multiple spheres of the entertainment industry makes it feel like he's been hanging around forever. After nearly a decade of seeing him pretend to be below legal drinking age, yes, it's starting to feel very Matthew McConaughey in Dazed & Confused.

Finally, and this is not an insult but only is interpreted as such because of the way our society prizes youth -- some 27-year-olds look young. Platt is not one of them. He's very handsome and seems to be only becoming more so with time, but it's a handsomeness that comes with growing into your features -- aka visibly aging. He doesn't have a baby face anymore, and the weight loss the team for this clearly thought would help make him look more youthful only emphasized his lack of baby fat. When Julianne Moore earnestly says "you're a senior in high school!"... in the words of Arthur Laurents/Miss Cratchitt, "how long has that been going on?"

Nepotism I don't care much about because I do think he's very talented and nepotism ABOUNDS in this industry. The frustrating symptom that comes with nepotism at Ben's level (a wildly powerful producer father who has a lot of sway in what does/doesn't get made) is it seems like he's surrounded by nothing but yes-men who egg on his every whim and refuse to tell him like it is, especially after nearly every review of season 1 of The Politician two years ago addressed how long in the tooth he looked as a teen.

Updated On: 9/12/21 at 04:20 PM

I think DEH, plotwise, is pretty fantastic up through So Big/So Small, which is an amazing song, but the very last bit is really what whiffs it, as is the seemingly irony-free use of You Will Be Found as some kind of mental illness anthem. That song, in the show, is used really well, and functions as a good critique of vapid, viral, fifteen-seconds-of-awareness campaigns that do next to nothing, but the whole last segment has a very have cake/eat cake vibe. For two hours it's a vicious, biting satire, and then they stand around in an apple orchard and share sappy platitudes about being needed.

Essentially, the show decides for you that you should forgive him. I feel like that would take either a different ending or a really good moment with the character to bring the audience on that journey, but instead they just have Zoe say "I forgive you". That worked on stage, because the electricity of being in the audience, witnessing live actors giving it their all, tends to paper over faults (see also the phenomenon of crying at bad movies on airplanes), but there's no wiggle room for that in a movie, so I'm not surprised it's standing out so much for reviewers.

Ben Platt looking like he's in an SNL skit about Ben Platt being in Dear Evan Hansen doesn't help.

Kad said: "bear88 said: "The other big critique is Platt’s performance in the film and I can’t judge that. I haven’t seen the movie.It feels like critics are really gunning for him. Maybe he really is awful, but there’s something odd about the level of vitriol directed at a performance that got so much praise on Broadway."

I don't think that's necessarily odd. Platt's stage performance was very good and rightfully praised- but it was absolutely a very stagey performance. It was big. His gestures and ticks were pitched for the back row of the balcony. His emotions filled the space.

In a theater, that sort of thing can be very impressive. You can get carried away just being in the presence of it. It can paper over and obscure a lot of faults.

But film is a different beast. Platt can't overwhelm the same way, and the material can't hide behind him anymore.

"

I agree with that. In fact, one criticism I had of Platt’s performance in the stage musical was that it felt too stagey at times. I can easily imagine the film not working as well even if Platt modulated his performance. And that would cause the film to suffer because people will focus more on the plot holes.

Moreover, the stage musical did get away with a lot because parents could relate to Heidi. If there’s a lot less Heidi, that sounds like a mistake.

Ben Platt looking like he's in an SNL skit about Ben Platt being in Dear Evan Hansen doesn't help.

HA! This is so true.

The script was problematic when it opened on Broadway in 2016 and continues to be problematic today. I want this movie to succeed because I want all movie musicals to succeed but I do hope audiences consider the ending and acknowledge Evan's faults as a character. You can love a piece of art while also being analytical about the characters and plot.

jo said: "The AMPAS did give Les Miserables a Best Picture Nomination, an Oscar for Anne Hathaway and a Best Actor nomination for Hugh Jackman. Not bad to get theabove-the-line recognition. It also won a Best Sound Oscar. The musicalalso won Golden Globes for the movie and for Hugh Jackman.

It was truer to the dramatic passages and character portrayals in Victor Hugo's book."

Was it an adaptation of Hugo's book or the wildly successful Mega Musical? I can go chuck a rock in any direction and find an adaptation of the book from here to the beginning of film.

The Les Miz movie is bad. It's ugly to look at and painful to listen to.

It was an adaptation of both!

Btw, the English version of the musical was also an adaptation of the original Paris musical which played successfully five years earlier. It was its concept album which Mackintosh fell in love with. One of the most glaring oversights was the lack of emphasis on Valjean's two epiphanies written in great detail in the book. The first was the song of redemption ( which was very well portrayed in the Valjean Soliloquy). It was breezily treated in the English musical adaptation. The second passage that was well-emphasized in the Hugo book was the discovery of love through little Cosette (Suddenly). The book also gave a whole chapter on the full story of Fantine and the film adaptation made it a more harrowing episode.

There were some notable changes -- for one, the role of the convict was composed and sung for a baritone ( which probably was more suitable for the role of a hardened longtime convict). Fantine's song was given to Eponine to sing in the English version and retitled On My Own. Many of the songs of Gavroche were de-emphasized in the English adaptation but resurrected in the film adaptation. One key change was the unexplained connection of Eponine to Valjean with her presence in the dying scene, The film rightfully showed Valjean's dying comforted by the presence of the woman he helped ( Fantine) and the welcome to heaven by the man who helped him receive the grace of redemption.

I also like the stage musical and saw it many times -if I recall right - 10 times (including the end of first run on Bway and saw i again there...saw it in London...chased it to Theatre Mogador in Paris...and saw both the earlier and the revised versions in Asia).

But I can appreciate what each adaptation was trying to achieve.

Updated On: 9/12/21 at 08:28 PM

Pls delete - double post.

Updated On: 9/12/21 at 08:28 PM

jlindsey865 said: "My prediction is that this film won't be panned, but it also won't receive a single Academy nod in acting/directing categories. MAYBE a Golden Globe nom for Ben."



Sorry, but some of the early reviews are really panning the film. In fact, Judas Iscariot got better reviews when he betrayed Christ.

I agree with bfreak. I watched the film at 92Y last night plus the added Q&A with Ben, Amandla, Chbosky, and Levenson was an added bonus. It was better than I expected after reading some of the critic reviews a few days ago.

I loved the musical when I first watched it in 2016 and I understand there were changes made in the movie. Some I liked and some I didn't. I felt more emotional while watching the show on Broadway than I did in the movie (I got teary-eyed at times but only started crying during a moment in the altered ending.)

It was nice they added a new song for Alana but the tradeoff was less character development for both Cynthia and Heidi, which to me was a bit of a letdown.

Some dialogue and songs felt forced. I felt it when Evan started singing "For Forever" out of the blue during his dinner at the Murphys. I didn't feel that way while watching the stage version.

There were moments in the film where Ben looked like a teenager yet there were also moments Ben looked older. Ben Platt and Nik Dodani (Jared) were both born in 1993 yet somehow Nik Dodani looks a lot younger than Ben Platt when shown together side by side. Just goes to show that a 27 year old (like Nik Dodani) can pass as a 17 year old. For the record, I am still glad Ben Platt was cast in this role since his vocals were simply amazing.

I enjoyed Dever's performance and think she's a great singer though somehow I didn't feel/see the chemistry between her and Ben Platt. Not sure why but during the song "Only Us" I cringed a little.

As for the Q&A, Levenson mentioned one of the reasons they deleted "Anybody have a map?", "Disappear", "Good For You" is because they were too theatrical.

Anyways, overall I did enjoy the film and am glad I attended the advanced screening and Q&A. It was also cool to be in the same room with a lot of DEH fans!