Vlad Bunoan

Ellis Kirk leads the cast of 'Dear Evan Hansen.' Vlad Bunoan, ABS-CBN News

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Theater review: Why ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ continues to resonate in the digital age

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1757383268095543391962_1057219336263015_1957598561742277479_n.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Ellis Kirk leads the cast of &#x27;Dear Evan Hansen.&#x27; Vlad Bunoan, ABS-CBN News"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Ellis Kirk leads the cast of &#x27;Dear Evan Hansen.&#x27; <em>Vlad Bunoan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span>MANILA — “Dear Evan Hansen” opens with an affirmation that “today is going to be a good day.” By the final bow, that promise is tenderly kept, even if it leaves you emotionally shattered.</div><p>For Evan, a lonely teenager with social anxiety, these daily mantras are less a declaration than a fragile hope. In the touring production now at The Theatre at Solaire, the audience watches how one letter meant for himself spirals into a lie that briefly gives him everything he’s ever wanted — family, friendship, even love — before it all comes crashing down.</p><p>Winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, “Dear Evan Hansen” by Steven Levenson (book) and the songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul has been hailed as the first major musical to tackle head-on the digital age and the isolation it breeds. Its arrival in Manila, courtesy of GMG Productions, offers Filipino audiences a rare chance to see one of Broadway’s most acclaimed shows in its full touring scale — and it does not disappoint.</p><p>The story begins when troubled teen Connor Murphy kills himself shortly after stealing Evan’s self-addressed letter. When Connor’s parents mistake the letter as their son’s farewell note to his “best friend,” Evan does not correct them. What starts as pity for a grieving family soon grows into something far more seductive: acceptance, belonging, and visibility. For the first time, he matters.</p><p>But the deception cuts in all directions. Connor’s parents cling to the fantasy of their emotionally disturbed son having a secret friend. Zoe, Connor’s sister, latches onto Evan as a way to process her conflicted feelings toward her brother. Even schoolmates Alana and Jared ride the wave of the lie for their own shot at popularity. In this world, almost everyone needs the falsehood to survive their own burdens.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>The heart of Evan</strong></div><p>The moral tangle could easily collapse under cynicism. After all, what Evan does is indefensible. Yet &quot;Dear Evan Hansen,&quot; led by Ellis Kirk in the title role, draws out not just the awfulness of the act but also the humanity behind it. Kirk delivers a performance that is both gut-wrenching and magnetic, with a nervous energy that makes his lies feel both calculated and desperately instinctive.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1757383438831543032366_1907826196461896_6744333281069227616_n.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Ellis Kirk plays the title role in &#x27;Dear Evan Hansen.&#x27; Vlad Bunoan, ABS-CBN News"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Ellis Kirk plays the title role in &#x27;Dear Evan Hansen.&#x27; <em>Vlad Bunoan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>His small frame, nervous tics, and halting delivery suggest the fragility of a boy weighed down by anxiety, self-doubt, working-class hardships, and the ache of an absent father. His “Words Fail,” delivered as the walls of his falsehood finally collapse, is the show’s emotional apex — a torrent of guilt, desperation, and longing that leaves the audience in tears.</p><p>Evan could easily come across as manipulative or irredeemable, as some critics argued when the 2021 film adaptation hit screens. But with Kirk, he is just painfully human. You may not forgive him, but you cannot help but root for him nonetheless. </p><div><br/></div><div><strong>Supporting voices</strong></div><p>Kirk is matched by Rebecca McKinnis as Heidi Hansen, Evan’s struggling single mother. With quiet grit, she portrays a woman stretched thin by night classes and long shifts, yet determined to hold her son’s world together. Her rendition of “So Big/So Small” is devastating in its restraint, a quiet plea for understanding that lingers after the curtain falls.</p><p>Together, they ground the production in the complicated reality of broken families, unspoken insecurities, and love that persists despite shortcomings.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1757383523552545567048_1219984926810831_7688059337636633272_n.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Helen Anker, Hal Fowler and Zoe Athena as the Murphys. Vlad Bunoan, ABS-CBN News"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Helen Anker, Hal Fowler and Zoe Athena as the Murphys. <em>Vlad Bunoan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span>The rest of the cast rounds out the production with nuance. Tom Dickerson provides much-needed levity as Jared, Evan’s sarcastic “family friend,” while Rhys Hopkins makes Connor’s ghostly reappearances compelling rather than contrived. </div><p>Helen Anker and Hal Fowler give the Murphys dimension, with Fowler especially resonant in “To Break in a Glove,” a father-son scene that quietly contrasts Evan’s absent dad. Zoe Athena’s Zoe Murphy, sharp-edged yet vulnerable, becomes collateral damage in Evan’s web of lies, and her presence reminds us of the human cost beneath the social-media spectacle.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>A show for the digital age</strong></div><p>Director Adam Penford keeps the staging intimate, focusing tightly on the emotional currents, and aided by Morgan Large and Ravi Deepres’ video projections that bring the digital world to life with social media posts and swirling online conversations, smartly rooting the show in 2025 without distracting from its timeless themes. The integration of technology is not gimmicky; rather, it underscores how lives today are mediated by screens and status updates.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1757383628992541587364_1249537093590778_6411415441426605247_n.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="The digital world comes to life with video projections. Vlad Bunoan, ABS-CBN News"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">The digital world comes to life with video projections. <em>Vlad Bunoan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span>What distinguishes “Dear Evan Hansen” onstage is the empathy it elicits. Unlike the much-criticized 2021 film, where Ben Platt’s reprisal of the role felt jarring, this production finds the balance between authenticity and theatricality. It doesn’t excuse Evan’s actions, but it asks the audience to sit with his loneliness, to understand the void that made the lie so intoxicating.</div><p>The result is a night of theater that is both cathartic and unsettling — a “good cry,” as some call it. You leave the theater heavy but strangely uplifted.</p><p>In an era of curated feeds and performative connection, “Dear Evan Hansen” insists on the messy truth of being human: that we long to be seen, that lies can wound even when told with love, and that redemption lies not in perfection but in honesty.</p><p>May we all step into the sun.</p><div><br/></div><div><em>“Dear Evan Hansen” runs at The Theatre at Solaire until October 5. </em></div>

<p>‘Dear Evan Hansen’ arrives in Manila and proves why it remains a must-see. The show grapples seriously with social media, teenage anxiety, and the search for belonging, all anchored by a remarkable cast.</p>

‘Dear Evan Hansen’ arrives in Manila and proves why it remains a must-see. The show grapples seriously with social media, teenage anxiety, and the search for belonging, all anchored by a remarkable cast.