Dear Evan Hansen changes

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 6/29/17 at 5:17pm

I'm really curious as to what has been changed to Dear Evan Hansen throughout it's various incarnations. If you saw any of the versions leading up to it's Broadway version (Arena Stage, Off-Broadway, early previews), what was changed or cut from the current Broadway version?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/29/17 at 5:52pm

I saw it in DC (early/middle of the run, I think) and at Second Stage. I don't remember there being a ton of changes, but I believe the Act 1 opening song was totally different, as was the Act 1 finale. The situation with the tree was also clarified by Second Stage.

[LesWickedly]

Posted: 6/29/17 at 7:28pm

There may be some audio recordings if you look up on Youtube...(Dear Evan Hansen cut songs). 

[HSky]

Posted: 6/29/17 at 10:31pm

From the Off-Broadway run at Second Stage through now is mostly the same. The more noticeable changes occurred between Arena Stage and Second Stage with songs being swapped out.

For reference, the first time I saw it was the second weekend of previews in DC and I've seen each production multiple times. Here's some of the stuff I can think of that's changed:

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

It opened the same way it does now with Evan sitting in his bed trying to talk up his self esteem and Heidi coming in, but Evan never mentioned Zoe. The opener was "This'll Be the Year," with the same interspersed beats like the Murphys at breakfast - it reminded me a little of "Just Another Day" from Next to Normal with the whole family singing as they get their day started, but "Does Anybody Have a Map?" gives the mothers more depth. I feel like most of the rewrites since DC have fleshed out the characters beyond Evan and Zoe.

I wish I could compare a script from Arena Stage to now for Jared and Alana because it feels like a good chunk of their stuff is intact in one form or another, but it's been rearranged and trimmed. Alana popping up via social media didn't flow as well and I feel like it may have been more frequent. Jared used to have a bit about being an ambassador at the Model UN to Luxembourg and the Israeli soldier was brought up again, but that stuff was cut while he gained the treasurer position in The Connor Project.

"Requiem" used to have Zoe as the lead vocal all the way throughout. The Murphy parents were still in the background but had no solo verses.

The first time I saw it at Second Stage was a day after they made one of the biggest changes, which was adding in the scene near the end where Connor directly confronts Evan and gets him to admit to letting go of the tree and breaking his arm. (It previously could be inferred via a few lines but not explicitly stated.) They strengthened the parallels between the two and now it's revealed Connor has been Evan's internal dialogue. That emphasis reframes the end of Act 1. "Disappear" still existed but the feeling of "we" between Connor and Evan wasn't there the same way. "Part of Me" used to end Act 1 (the segment when they sing "you are not alone" carries over), and between the two songs, the end of the act was more focused on not forgetting Connor and grieving for him. Now, it's as much a statement about Evan's experiences as it is about Connor's. Michael Park had a verse in "Part of Me" that I loved hearing him sing, but the poignancy of seeing Larry break down wordlessly is a stronger moment.

Some of the Act 2 changes had to do with reordering/editing some of the Alana and Jared confrontations as I mentioned earlier.

"To Break in a Glove" didn't have Evan singing along with Larry and a seemingly minor change like that has made it connect with me way more than it did in DC.

There was a shift in the phrasing of "Only Us" from being tentative to assertive (e.g. "Could it be us" vs. "It'll be us".

I wish I had seen an earlier preview at Second Stage because I'm curious if the scene where Connor confronts Evan was already there in some form, just without Evan admitting he let go. In DC, the inner monologue wasn't there for Evan to admit that to himself, but there was a moment where Zoe was disappointed that Evan didn't care about following through with the orchard. That prompted the subsequent freak out resulting in the leaked suicide letter more than anything Alana said.

Evan didn't mention finding Connor's reading list until NY and the Murphys used to set up a picnic in the orchard background. There might have been edits but the general structure of the finale remains the same, although Evan's final line was "We let the world pass by for forever" at least the first time I saw it.
 

Updated On: 6/29/17 at 10:31 PM