'Dear Evan Hansen' brings complex tale of lonely teen to Pittsburgh
Apr. 28—Evan Hansen is a lonely, anxious teenager "on the outside always looking in."
A letter he never meant for anyone to see leads to a lie he never meant to tell — offering a chance at friendships and connections he never thought he would have.
Whether to continue in the lie or tell the truth and risk rejection all over again is at the crux of the Tony Award-winning musical, "Dear Evan Hansen," playing Tuesday through May 7 at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh as part of Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series.
The letter in question is a writing exercise for Evan that finds its way to a grieving couple whose son has died by suicide. In a misguided attempt to comfort them, Evan pretends that the two were good friends.
As the lie grows, so does Evan's popularity — eventually forcing him to decide whether to fully embrace the fantasy world he's created, or to come clean and risk losing everything he's ever wanted.
"He's not a bad person, he's just caught in a lie that he never meant to tell," said Anthony Norman, who plays Evan in the North American tour production.
Though Evan's actions are sometimes described as catfishing, they're really the opposite, Norman said.
"Evan is a kid who's just trying to do his best for everyone else, and not so much for himself," he said. "He focuses on making everyone else happy. That, in turn, gets him in a lot of trouble that he doesn't intend to get into."
It's a case study in people-pleasing, said Pierce Wheeler, who covers the title role and the character of Jared Kleinman, a rude, sarcastic friend of the Hansen family.
"He just wants everyone else to feel better, but while he's doing that, he ends up telling lies that end up hurting people," Wheeler said. "High school is such a strange stage for everyone, such a weird era.
"Evan is just trying to figure it out, making it up as he goes."
Theater credits
Norman and Wheeler have been with the show's North American tour since May 2022.
Norman, 30, a Chicago native now based in New York, studied musical theater at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill. He performed in the national tour of "Newsies" and in "The Prom" on Broadway. His television credits include HBO's "Mare of Easttown" and "Chicago Med" on NBC.
Wheeler, 19, is taking a gap year from studying musical theater at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. "Dear Evan Hansen" is his professional debut. He grew up in Amityville on Long Island and acted in local community theater.
Norman said the biggest challenge of playing Evan Hansen is "how to make him a sympathetic character that people can root for, despite everything he does."
What he finds most satisfying, he added, is just finishing the show every night.
"It's like, another one in the bag, we did it again. It feels like you've climbed a mountain," he said. "It's very emotionally and physically and vocally draining.
"You're bringing yourself to an emotional climax every night and that is exhausting."
Wheeler said his favorite scene comes in Act II, "at the turning point where Evan's lies are about to catch up with him and his worlds collide, in a way."
"There's not a lot of dialog for Evan in that scene, so the character gets to sit there and squirm and watch everything unfold," he said. "It's so well-written."
Curtain times at the Benedum are 7:30 p.m. May 2-4, 8 p.m. May 5-6, 2 p.m. May 6 and 1 and 6:30 p.m. May 7.
Tickets are $42-$120, available by calling 412-456-6666 or online at trustarts.org.
Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .
