By: Minh Nguyen, Staff Writer
Warning: This article may contain spoilers!
If you are looking for a good musical production to see this weekend, the new movie “Dear Evan Hansen” should be a part of your plan. The musical is heart-warming and informative when it comes to mental health issues.
“Dear Evan Hansen” started as a musical on Broadway in July 2015 and starred Ben Platt, Laura Dreyfuss and Michael Lee Brown. The musical itself was a big hit on Broadway, winning six Tony Awards in 2017. The plot follows a shy, isolated high school student named Evan Hansen, who after a rather strange encounter with a fellow student named Connor Murphy has his life completely turned upside down. The musical and the movie it inspired are all about mental health and acceptance through self-discovery.
The soundtrack of “Dear Evan Hansen” is one of the best that Broadway has to offer. Despite some songs being cut from the original Broadway show in the film version, the most popular songs are still included: “Sincerely Me,” “For Forever,” “Waving Through a Window” and “You Will be Found.”
Still, the movie is not at all comparable to the original Broadway show, partially because the movie’s plot does not speak to most audiences. One thing that I would definitely say that the movie did better than the Broadway show is how the ending was structured. It is much smoother and more logically satisfying when compared to the Broadway show. Still, Ben Platt’s appearance does not align with the rest of the cast at all, which does make the movie seem fairly unrealistic. Specifically, Ben Platt does not look like a high school student but rather a college student, which takes away some of the tangible realism expected from a movie that deals with social issues.
If you have the time and want to gain some insight on how one deals with mental health issues, “Dear Evan Hansen” is the movie to see.
PHOTO: Courtesy Photo, Getty Images
