Dear Evan Hansen / Come From Away
Dear Evan Hansen
Book by Steven Levenson
Music & Lyrics by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul
Performance Date: November 13, 2018
Come From Away
Book, Music, & Lyrics by Irene Sankoff & David Hein
Performance Date: December 16, 2018
Chuck and I, with our friends Manuel and Clark who snagged seats right behind us, at Dear Evan Hansen!
Sometime in late 1999, or in early 2000, while in 8th grade, I confided in what I considered a close friend at school, and told her I was gay. She was the first person I had ever admitted it to, besides myself. She promptly told the entire school, and for the next 6 years, I lived a double-life: straight at home (as best I could), and gay at school. Even at work, I kept up the ruse. it wasn’t until my second year of college when the endless stories and excuses became too much to bear (or even remember and keep straight (no pun intended)), and I came out to my family. In fact, when I hired into Disney in 2009, it was the first time I never hid my sexual orientation.
Chuck and I at Come From Away
On September 11, 2001, I was late to school. I was a sophomore in high school, just a couple months from getting my driver’s license. Until then, I was stuck depending on the school bus. That day, the bus was about 15 minutes late, and I can vividly recall walking the seemingly empty campus on my way to English class. I recall seeing the TV on in every classroom, all seeming to show the same image. I walked into my class and took my seat, and saw on our TV that image: a city skyline, dwarfed in smoke. I turned to my neighbor. What’s going on? Someone’s attacked the World Trade Center. As the day progressed, we learned more. We heard the name Bin Laden for the first time. Rumors flew. We had no cell phones those days, but we watched the news in almost every single class. The gravity of what was happening became more apparent each passing hour. We were living history. That night, I laid in bed, unable to sleep. I thought of my parents, who, just a few years before, would take annual business trips to the heart of Manhattan. What would I feel like, seeing those images and not being able to get ahold of them? It was scary. And I felt alone.
And, on June 11, 2017, both Dear Evan Hansen and Come From Away, along with Groundhog Day and Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, competed for the Tony Award for Best Musical. Groundhog Day had 7 nominations, and won nothing. Come From Away also had 7, and won 1. Great Comet led the year with 12 nominations and won only 2, while Hansen virtually swept the awards, winning 6 of its 9 nominations, including that Best Musical statue.
The original Broadway cast of Dear Evan Hansen
So, what do these three disparate stories have to do with one another? Well, over the last two months, I had the privilege of seeing two of those Best Musical nominees, Dear Evan Hansen and Come From Away. Both aim to relate its audience to its events (which all entertainment does, really), although these events are not what one would call “ordinary”; by that I mean, they’re not so easy to relate to, because most people won’t ever have to deal with them. Falling in and/or out of a relationship is an easy thing to relate to: the bulk of humanity will go through this at SOME point in their lives. Having a miscommunication by the parents of a high school suicide victim spiral into them thinking you were the deceased’s best friend (when in reality you had rarely interacted with each other), or having your small town in the middle of nowhere be taken over for 5 days because terrorists used planes as bombs in a major city 1,400 miles away…not many people really go through that. To that end, only one of these two productions was really successful, and it got me thinking: Was the Best Musical of 2017 really the best musical? Did the right show win?
The original Broadway cast of Come From Away
Dear Evan Hansen follows the title character who struggles with social anxiety, who, through a small series of events (not the least of which is his accidental acknowledgement of a question), becomes painted as the best friend of a teenager who recently committed suicide. In reality, he had little contact with the deceased, but his lies begin to build and grow (sometimes by his own doing), and he becomes an important part in a story that he doesn’t belong in. Come From Away tells the story of a small town in Newfoundland, who welcomes 38 airplanes as the US airspace is closed on September 11, 2001. In the course of a day, the population of the town is nearly doubled, as everyone struggles to make sense of the beginning of what would become known as a Post-9/11 world.
There isn’t much that the productions share, other than both having small casts (Away has 12, Hansen has 8), minimal sets, and both are first-time Broadway musicals for its authors (besides off-broadway and film/TV). Beyond those points, the productions are very different.
Our view of Come From Away
Hansen features a more rock-oriented score, while Away is firmly rooted in folk music. In this aspect, Away takes my vote, for a variety of reasons. Hansen has a couple of great songs, to be sure, but the bulk of them are slow, ballad-style numbers…there’s no urgency in a lot of the music, besides a few here and there. Away’s music is a much more driving force (in part because, proportionally, there’s also just more of it), but it also balances its ballads with more up-tempo numbers. Added to this is the long sections of just dialogue, and Hansen begins to turn into a slog: a slow-moving character piece, short on humor and very long on emotions. Those emotions aren’t bad, but they’re harder to connect with than Away (more on that in a moment). Away is full of emotions, but also doesn’t skimp on humor either, careening back and forth in a way that never feels jarring.
Some of the touring cast of Dear Evan Hansen
The emotions of Hansen are hard to connect with because its characters are…really awful. Evan’s mother is the most sympathetic, but as much as she talks about trying to be there for her son, she still isn’t (granted, of all the characters, the reasons for her actions are the most believable). Everyone else, including Evan, just make terrible decisions or gives terrible advice. its possible to excuse Evan’s behavior based on his condition, but there has to be SOME accountability. His “friends” at school, Alana and Jared, are self-absorbed and, honestly, harmful to Evan. Connor’s parents are disconnected and out-of-touch, and the relationship between the 4 members of the Murphy family never felt real. It’s even difficult to invest in Evan and Zoe’s relationship, because the audience knows it’s built on a lie. I’m not opposed to the audience knowing more than the characters do, I actually enjoy it sometimes. The problem with it here in Hansen is that the audience knows EVERYTHING that the characters don’t, and, given the nature of the situation in the story, it creates a certain anxiety that permeates the production: it’s not dramatic, it’s cringeworthy. During the show, I found myself trying to relate to the situation, and I really couldn’t: the closest I could get was my story of coming out. Even now, I don’t see it as the strongest parallel.
The touring cast of Come From Away
Contrast that with Away, where 12 actors each perform 3-4 (or more!) roles, and each character is distinctive from the others. These characters are all thrust into a situation that tests them, but, true to the message of the show, their inner goodness wins over the adversity. There are no physical antagonists in Away: the antagonist is the situation everyone has been thrown into. There’s drama, but no anxiety watching this show. I found myself instantly connecting with the material: the fear, the need for human closeness, the feeling of needing to bond together to emerge stronger on the other side. My memories of 9/11 came back quickly, and powerfully, but by the end of the production, I felt like I was able to repack them away. It was like pulling out an old photo album. The theme of goodness over adversity emerges early in the show, and it carries all the way through. It’s harder to find an emergent theme in Hansen. It could be that no one is unimportant enough to be ignored or forgotten, except that by the end of the show, it’s implied that Evan indeed has been forgotten by his “friends” from earlier.
Perhaps it’s those themes that mark the biggest difference between the two productions. I left Away feeling elated…a wall of love and positivity had just been blasted at me for 100 minutes, and it made my soul feel lighter. I left Hansen feeling…nothing. Well, not nothing. Drained would be a great word to use. It didn’t tell me anything about humanity that I didn’t already know.
I do want to mention that none of my issues with Hansen have anything to do with the performers themselves; both shows featured standout performances, but the material of Away allows the performers to shine more.
I could go on and on, but this is getting long enough. So, did the best musical win? No. Come From Away is a moving, beautiful piece that declares, firmly and proudly, that the human spirit can overcome the darkest of times. Dear Evan Hansen tells us…don’t (accidentally) take advantage of a grieving family? I still can’t wrap my head around what I’m supposed to take away from Dear Evan Hansen, but I do know that I felt much more excited about potentially seeing Come From Away again after I saw it. Dear Evan Hansen isn’t a bad musical, it just wasn’t the best. Come From Away has the power to inspire, has an amazing message, and is massively entertaining along the way.
FINAL GRADES:
Dear Evan Hansen: C+
Come From Away: A+
