Dear Evan Hansen is an original musical starring Ben Platt (known for being Benji in Pitch Perfect) and covers the difficult topics of bullying, anxiety, broken families, and suicide. For such serious subject matter, this musical is also full of laughs and heart. The musical follows Evan Hansen, a senior in high school who struggles with anxiety, who ends up caught in a lie too big that it consumes him. Evan was assigned to write a letter to himself by his therapist to help boost his confidence. The letter would say “Dear Evan Hansen, today is going to be a good day and here’s why…” However, Evan’s first day of senior year turned out to not be that good and he writes sadly how no one would probably notice if he disappeared the next day and how all his hopes are pinned on his crush, Zoe Murphy, who he doesn’t even know and who doesn’t know him. Earlier that day, Connor Murphy shoved Evan to the ground for supposedly laughing at him and goes to find Evan to make amends. Connor offers to sign Evan’s cast and writes his name in huge letters and says how now they can both pretend to have friends. Everything seems to be going smoothly until Connor finds Evan’s letter on the printer and freaks out over his sister being in the letter and takes it and runs away. Three days later, Evan finds out that Connor has committed suicide and his parents found Evan’s letter in his jacket so they assumed that it was his suicide note. Evan tries to correct them but his parents are so distraught over the death of their son and they’re clinging onto the belief that at least their son had one friend so strongly that Evan confirms that they were best friends. Everything spirals from that point on.

(Photo credit to www.careypurcell.com)

Again, this seems like a pretty grim musical and I won’t deny that it is pretty emotionally heavy, but there’s also a ton of humor. My personal favorite song from Dear Evan Hansen is called Sincerely, Me. Evan’s closest thing to a friend, Jared Kleinman, offers to help Evan keep up this illusion by helping him write fake emails between him and Connor to prove that they were close. However, Jared is a jokester and really carries this song by providing great laughs which is very needed by this time in the show.

The soundtrack to this musical is absolutely amazing. The lyrics are meaningful and the songs are catchy. Another great song is Waving Through a Window. This song takes place right after Connor has shoved Evan to the ground and Evan wonders if he will ever be able to step into the sun. This song is very relatable and melancholy while still sounding hopeful.

This song is incredibly sweet and awkward, just like Evan Hansen himself. Zoe asks about if Connor and Evan ever talked about her because why did Connor mention her in his suicide note when they had a horrible relationship? Evan then tells Zoe all of the things he wishes he could tell her but never did by saying that they were all the things that Connor wishes he could have told her. It’s hilarious seeing Evan struggle to tell Zoe how he feels without it sounding weird because Zoe thinks her brother wanted to tell her all of this.

Good For You is an absolute JAM but god do I feel bad for Evan. SPOILER ALERT!!! This song takes place when Jared, Alana, and even his mother turn on Evan for being a lying jerk. Evan pushes his friends away and focuses on the Murphys. Jared retorts that Connor killing himself was the best thing that ever happened to Evan and Alana says that Evan used to know what it felt like to be alone, but not anymore. On top of all that, the Murphys offered to pay for Evan’s college by using Connor’s college fund. Evan’s mom feels useless and screams at Evan that the Murphys are not his family. I could hear the anger in all the actors’ choices and that really blew me away.

Okay this song is absolutely heartbreaking. This song takes place after SPOILER ALERT!!! the truth came out and everyone turns on Evan. Evan reveals that he didn’t actually break his arm by falling. He let go on purpose. Evan and his mother had a very complicated relationship throughout the entire play with her working all the time and going to school and Evan felt like she was always trying to fix him and his anxiety, while the Murphys ended up becoming a second family to Evan. In this song, Evan’s mom holds him tight and tells him the story of the day when his dad left. Evan was so excited to see the moving truck in his driveway when he was just a little 7 year old. Later that day though, he asked his mom if a truck would come to take her away. In this song, his mom reveals that she knew there would be moments that she’d miss when she had to raise Evan all by herself, but she wouldn’t trade him for the world. This song broke me and I loved it.

These are just a few of the songs off this incredible soundtrack and I hope all of you will give it a listen and comment down below what you thought of it! This play tackles the issue of mental health excellently and it never feels forced or uninformed. I applaud the entire cast for their efforts and the amazing team behind Dear Evan Hansen. Thanks for reading.