If anyone is wondering why I had to reupload this, it was just to fix a small audio sync error - apologies! But feel free to give it a like and share it because I've confused the algorithm 😅
You absolute don't have to apologise! If anything it's incredible to see how much you care about the quality of your content (and it's still under 24 hours so I forgive you😂)
This is a musical where I can imagine a revival in like half a century that completely flips the original on its head; like reframing the story to be more from the Murphys' perspectives rather than Evan's. I feel like the songs are so malleable that you could very easily remix the story, so it disappoints me that a non-replica production didn't take more swings
As part of the Nottingham Playhouse Stage Crew that worked on the show im glad to have hoasted you on press night!! Im very proud to work on the show but can tell you that myself and the rest of the stage crew have brought up some of the points that you have made in this video! Even though the show is locked I am hopeing that small tweeks can be made over the shows lifespan on tour!!
I wonder how that affects To Break In a Glove. It's already kind of the skip song, and I would think that removing Larry's breakdown would take away from it further. As a fan of the original show (now significantly less so post-reflection and movie release, but i did see it on broadway in 2018), Larry's arc was one of my favorite because it felt very real to the relationship they've set for Connot and Larry. It's meant to be a very tenuous and strained relationship full of regret, and it has a lot of potential readings into generational trauma or just general difficulties between parents and children. To Break In a Glove isn't Larry trying to replace Connor with Evan because he likes him more, it's him realizing that maybe there are some things he and Connor could have still connected over and wanting to do better by someone else because he couldn't/didn't with Connor. It's him trying to make amends not a replacement goldfish. The movie did him dirty by making him a step-father and far more emotionally cold, and I think he is the scapegoat for many of the more negative Murphy family things and it seems like this version leaned into that.
Funny story. Before I knew what the actual story of this show was I heard Sincerely Me and thought it was about Connor and Evan pretending to be friends while Connor was still alive. I was then very surprised when I found out the actual story of the show lol. Something I find cool about sincerely me is that you can actually hear the different characterisations of the “crack” vs “pot” lyrics in the cast recording which is a nice touch and always makes me laugh as well.
I was there last night at the press night and having seen it on the west end last year with Sam as Evan, I was incredibly excited to see the changes. I loved the West end version, but felt the second half plodded at times and felt a tad slow paced compared to the first half. Got to say I think they have smashed this. I absolutely loved it all last night. It felt a tad pacier compared to the West end and more energetic and I loved having an ensemble on stage for some of the big numbers such as "You will be found". On to the cast, wow, they were all absolutely incredible. But a big shout out to Ryan Kopel. Taking on Evan after Sam is just massive, but wow he absolutely smashed it. I felt every emotion and word. Stunning performance. I gave the West end version 4 out of 5, but I'm saying last night was a perfect 5 for me. Absolutely loved it.
I’ll admit, i’m pretty biased towards to original broadway version, and I think it’s still very early on in the show’s lifespan to already be staging multiple non-replica versions. In my opinion, nothing will ever hold a candle the original broadway/US tour version of DEH. Grief’s direction, Korins and Nigrini’s set design and projections, not to mention the stellar performances of the OBC especially really made the show what it is. That’s not to say the non-replica version can’t be good, but I think i’ll always prefer the original.
Here in the States we had an intermittently broadcast program for adolescents called "The After School Special". This is what Dear Evan Hansen, especially the end of the second act, reminded me of. I'm guessing with its Disney-fication in this new production, it now will feel it even more so...
Thanks for reuploading, I couldn't cope with the other one 😂looking forward to seeing this next year as I narrowly missed out in London. I think perhaps not having the comparison will go in my favour.
I saw the last preview on monday eve and completely agree about the direction being inconsistent and confusing around the online conversations. Each time they happened it took a good few minutes to clock that they were actually chatting online, and I could not for the life of me work out whether Jared was supposed to be in his own room or not in scenes where he was sat at his computer desk - there were time when he’d just get up and make direct eye contact with Evan and my brain just could not make sense of it! Aside from that I thoroughly enjoyed the show
I don't know if it was intentional or not, but when you described bits of frosted glass sliding around and then mirrors, I couldn't help but wonder if that's a nod to Rudine Sims Bishop’s theory about stories as "Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors" - sometimes reflecting our own lives, sometimes allowing us to see into others' lives, and sometimes giving us a portal into another world/someone else's shoes. Thanks for the review, super articulate and considered as always! I'm going to the Australian production next month, will have to report back.
I like the meta idea of the metaphor of waving through the window and tapping on the glass like typing on a phone to try to connect with the world… I hope that someday web licensing becomes available which I hope is soon that Highschool will be allowed to gender swap the characters … i feel like it’s an important enough message that getting it in to more public spaces sooner would be better it’s a really beautiful show
I saw this in Nottingham, and ill be honest... I really didnt enjoy Ryan's vocal? I can respect his voice quality, and I understand the higher pitch sounds more teen-like, but I just didn't feel the power of the big ballads, they didn't move me emotionally as much I had hoped, especially in comparison to Sam Tutty's performance. Just my opinion 🤷🏻♂️
I saw it on the premier night, Monday and really enjoyed it , did not see much difference in show ( except the power cut at end of Act one which they apologised for and restarted 5 minutes later) Great show even made my own little review and curtain call on here)
Interested to see the Australian version when it comes to Melbourne... I absolutely loved it when it came out (tho have never seen it, I grew up in rural new Zealand lol). However now I think the show is terribly cringe, which may just be the movies legacy 😂 so maybe if I see it live, I'll remember why I used to love it... Lol. I have always loved stories about snowballing lies
this is how i find out the original production didn't have an ensemble? 😅 the finnish production last year had one, i wonder why they added it when it was otherwise a replica 🤔
I loved it but I don’twant to see it again… 😂 which I didn’t have with the west end production. Not sure why that was. Alice was fab, Lauren is stunning to watch! Didn’t 100% gel with Ryan but still thought he done very well. Voice a little too high pitched
Loved the show when debuted. The hype was insane!! But the movie really killed the show. It became a joke. Interesting to see this new revival. I was quite surprised it back but I’ll be seeing it next year.
Bit discouraging that you say the marketing this round for the UK rewrite was much more focused on the positive side of ‘you will be found’ (and platitudes like ‘everything will be ok’) because of how attitudes have changed since the pandemic, since I thought it was already kind of poorly marketed in this way when I saw the Broadway/US version in early 2017. Especially since iirc the ‘the MC creates lies about the death of someone’ plot piece was pretty much handwaved away and ignored in favour of uwuification narratives (basically ‘the MC can do nothing wrong’ rhetoric) by the fandom, which was heavily influenced by news articles, reviews, and official info. That might sound like an exaggeration but I feel like it accurately describes how I saw people talk about the musical, where the vague story of ‘person struggles w mental health and eventually gets better’ was the main focus by even a lot of the articles that were written about how DEH should be praised for its accurate depiction of mental health. But I get that’s not a universal experience as nothing is, just felt like commenting that since it stood out to me.
So I wouldn't characterise this as a rewrite - and that comment about the marketing actually applied to the original production post pandemic, they pivoted their marketing approach for the Broadway and West End versions to make it seem more uplifting / less hard-hitting. The element that I always think is left out of the conversation around Evan Hansen as a character is that he falls into the initial lie, it isn't calculated, and that he is also a suicidal 16-year old.
I've in the US and have been looking for different reviews for the new US tour one. Does anyone know if this would be an accurate review of like mainly changes made within the tour, well besides the actual cast itself is obviously different. Just been curious on that before I commit to watching it when it gets close to me.
@@MickeyJoTheatre lol, well if there was an award for talking coherently, non-stop about dear Evan Hansen the musical on tour for 44 minutes and 13 seconds. You my dear friend, would win.
