Dear Evan Hansen... What did i just watch?- Page 3

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 6:58pm

Ensemble1698878795 said: "jimmycurry01 said: "Ensemble1698878795 said: "tacotheatrelover said: "I saw the tour last night and i have to ask... did i see a different musical than everyone else? I didn't see some anxiety ridden misunderstood teen on stage (as a high schooler myself, I'm probably one to talk), but rather i saw a narcissistic asshole who lied to a family to sleep with the dead kids sister. Did i miss something? am i supposed to feel anything? help me out here"

It's an excellent score, but the narrative is the definition of white supremacy. If Evan was any other race this show would not have received the same understanding and compassion. It's a twisted plot at best.

"

I don’t think "white supremacy" is the term you want to go with. I believe that has the wrong connotation for your argument. I think that, perhaps, yourargument can be made about white privilege, but you would have to ignore that the role has been played by actors of color and it did not really add any subtext or change the feeling of the story, so even that argument would be problematic. I think, when all is said and done, your argument has little merit based on Jordan Fisher's portrayal of the role on Broadway."

White supremacy fuels the mindset of White privilege. They go hand and hand. Supremacy in DEH is hisability to lie, manipulate and get away without true consequence. Regardless to who replaced, I stand firm that the initial casting helped the character be more palatable to the masses. I'm not seeking your agreement, noram I expecting you comprehend my point."

Comprehend your point? You seem to think quite highly of yourself. Your arrogance is not a good look.

[tacotheatrelover]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 7:29pm

this is not what i intended to happen when i made this thread

[MezzoDiva47]

Posted: 11/8/24 at 3:48am

Ensemble1698878795 said: "MezzoDiva47 said: "Ensemble1698878795 said: "I love it when racism shows up on this board and many of you have a lot to say behind your fake theater screen names. I responded to the original question that was asked at the beginning of this thread, and just because you don't like myanswer doesn't make it invalid. I don't care about conservatives. I'm actually concerned by the likes of you that think you're "woke", but when confronted with real life issues that may play into theater story lines you respond with immature mocking rhetoric. You actually are the problem because you revert to racist heckling the moment someone pokes a hole in your theater bubble.


see this is the core issue

race didnt just show up on this board

it was injected into the discussion artificially

hence the reaction youve been receiving

sanity has returned to the landscape, and ppl will no longer tolerate these type of brazen racial assumptions or accusations of racism without concrete evidence to back it up

white folx do need to see through more than the lens of their own experience but so does everyone else in order for this to work

discussions are important but sometimes it simply isnt about race

and thats ok

have a nice day

ps for the opinion nobody asked for I also dont find the character of EH a sympathetic one for the most part and musings about how that would be altered if race or gender were changed are interesting but as others have said even white malereplacement actors werent able to replicate the so-called charisma that ben platt had and thus distract from the flawed writing"


Oh I'm sorry, I'm not.I was unaware you controlled what made the conversation official vs artificial. The thing about whiteness, which you continue to exhibit, is it thinks it controls everything. That it is supreme. If you're gonna try and debunk opinions unlike your own please be smart enough not to exhibit the very behavior I'm talking about. You are further proof while CRT is still necessary. I can see this board is not for the evolved mind. Someone asks "Am I missing something with this show?" I give a response people don't want to hear and suddenly I'm not allowed to have an opinion. Grow up folks. Your racism shows in your reactions. I'm not the first to say DEH got a pass bc of his whiteness. I may be one of the first to say it out loud.


well it seems that you are in control of my woke bingo card because it just blew up with all of your buzzwords

whiteness  micro-aggressions  crt  dei  latinx  xe xim xer

it is this kind of nonsense that has sent the masses scurrying to the right and cursed us with another four years of trump

congratulations

Updated On: 11/8/24 at 03:48 AM

[RussT2]

Posted: 11/8/24 at 8:18am

I agree. I saw it in previews 2 weeks before it opened on Broadway in what, 2016 I think. I went in with very little knowledge of the story line and it was great. The cast was excellent and especially Ben Platt and Mike Faist.

[theatreguy12]

Posted: 11/12/24 at 2:23am

We all have personal experiences that mold our perspectives and opinions on all kinds of given situations.  And this can extend to our interpretations of a Broadway play or musical.

I was very moved by the musical DEH.  I was one who somehow was able to tap into some sense of empathy for Evan.  But of the ten friends (or so) who saw the musical with Ben (as I did), I would say about half of them did not share my feelings.   They found him unsympathetic and manipulative.  And it's why the musical didn't resonate with them.

I saw it again with Jordan and for me, my personal impressions did not change.  I still was able to feel for him.  Because I was drawn into his character. 

That being said, I would be interested in knowing if the poster who finds this a racist musical full of white privilege has any data to back that up.  Since the musical did not start with a black actor portraying Evan it would be difficult to know how his character would have been received, so that would have to leave us with the thought that such a theory would be based on assumption.

Has "Ensemble" seen articles or studies done on this musical where actors of color were seen as being less sympathetic by the audience than the white actors playing the same role?  

I'm not going to speak for others on this board but, again, since the character was not originated by an actor of color, one would have to think such a theory is based on nothing more than assumption. Because for me, this character, and the predicament he gets himself into, can transcend all skin colors.   His flaws are universal.

If said poster has personal experiences from life that lead him or her to feel this way, I won't argue that point because feelings are what they are.  And I haven't walked in his or her shoes.

I'm just wondering if there is anything to validate this besides just personal feelings.

Because personally, my attitude toward Evan hasn't shifted when the skin color of the actor changed.

And as I mentioned, of my friends who saw it with Ben, 1/2 of them didn't like the musical, because they didn't like the character.  

We also can't forget that sometimes the way the nuances of the character are portrayed can mold our feelings about that character.  Perhaps my friends found Ben's portrayal too attitude"y" and unlikable, but would have found Jordan's interpretation more sympathetic.

Or vice versa.  

Sometimes it's how the actor portrays the character that defines our interpretation.

Personally I liked them both.  I especially liked Ben but only because he was my first exposure to the character and I just found his portrayal so strong, and so unforgettable.