Dear Evan Hansen Reviews

Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended

"..."Dear Evan Hansen" is superbly wrought here. And it continues Fisch's remarkable run of shows filled with fresh ideas, including "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical" and "Catch Me If You Can" at the Marriott Theatre; I had a conversation with the composer-lyricist Marc Shaiman and he couldn't stop talking about how Fisch had solved so many of the past structural problems of "Catch Me.""

Daily Herald - Highly Recommended

"...Artfully crafted by composer/lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and writer Steven Levenson, with dialogue that flows seamlessly into song (and vice versa), “Dear Evan Hansen” is an emotionally riveting, coming-of-age tale about lonely teens yearning for connection and settling instead for its digital facsimile: social media."

Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...This is a small cast musical with lots of heart and soul. Evan's mom is played by Megan McGinnis, his computer friend Jared by Pablo David Laucerica and the school "blogger" by Elaine Watson.Evan gets Jared to assist him in back dating text messages and e-mails so that the parents will see just how close they were."

Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended

"...DEAR EVAN HANSEN is one of the most honest, emotionally moving and truly contemporary pieces of theatre since NEXT TO NORMAL. Jessica Fisch's exquisite Chicagoland production is filled with powerful performances overflowing with honest emotion."

Buzz Center Stage - Highly Recommended

"...Paramount Theatre's staging of Dear Evan Hansen brings fresh dimension to the Tony?winning contemporary musical. Under Jessica Fisch's direction, the story follows Evan, an anxious, isolated teenager whose therapist?assigned letters to himself inadvertently spark a misunderstanding with the Murphy family - one that grows into a lie swelling far beyond them and eventually into a community?wide phenomenon. What begins as a desperate attempt to feel seen evolves into a moral knot that forces Evan - and everyone around him - to confront grief, loneliness, and the universal hunger for connection."

PicksInSix - Recommended

"...What could have been a heartfelt dark comedy or biting satire is instead a confusing, sometimes funny, but mostly serious, journey through arguably misplaced sympathies for a historically beloved, socially anxious protagonist who lies with good intentions. Perhaps that is the point of “Dear Evan Hansen.” For the audience to explore moral complexities and the gray spaces of loss, compassion, and forgiveness through song and dance. How much of this meaning, though, is a projection of the audience’s own desire to connect and be seen?"

Splash Magazine - Highly Recommended

"...From the moment the lights shift and the first notes of "Waving Through a Window" fill the house, the audience is swept into Evan's intensely emotional and self-consicious world. The score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul is among the best in modern musical theatre-soaring, vulnerable, and deeply affecting-and this production embraces every lyric's emotional weight with palpable conviction."

BroadwayWorld - Highly Recommended

"...This is an important story. It shows what can happen with social media even when being careful. The effect of being careless. Trying to protect someone. Trying to do the right thing. It does not always work out as expected. Having people in your life who are there to help and love you makes all the difference."