By: Carlos Glick

Stage to screen “Dear Evan Hansen”

On September 24^th, 2021 the film adaptation of the Tony Award winning Broadway musical “Dear Evan Hansen” arrived on the big screen and might I say, it was incredible! 

Musical lovers, you will enjoy this movie, even if you have not seen the Broadway musical (like myself).

This movie has an amazing cast that includes: Ben Platt, Kaitlyn Dever, Nik Dodani, Amy Adams, Julianne Moore and many others. It is just amazing how this Broadway musical was adapted to the big screen!

The music in the movie is really astounding! And the transformation of the music from the Broadway musical from stage to screen is done superbly; after all, it is a film adaptation of a Broadway musical. 

The music is written and composed by Benj Plasek and Justin Paul. These are the same composers that wrote music to “The Greatest Showman” and “La La Land.”

If you watch or listen to the Broadway musical soundtrack, you will notice that there are a few songs from the musical that did not make it into the movie, and a new song was introduced in the movie that was not in the original Broadway musical. This song is called “Anonymous Ones,” and is sung by the character Alana (played by Amandla Stenberg). 

The movie’s visualization of the song “You will be found” is amazing! It is hard to explain how masterfully this was done. You will have to watch it and see for yourself. 

The soundtrack of this movie includes: “Waving through a window,” “For Forever,” “Sincerely Me,” “Requiem,” “If I could tell her,” “The Anonymous Ones,” “You will be found,” “Only Us,” “Words Fail,” “So big/So small,” and “A Little Closer.”

Just like the Broadway musical, the movie battles and explores themes such as social anxiety, depression, loneliness, and other serious and sensitive topics that I cannot mention here. 

Having social anxiety is a really serious thing and I love how this movie presents this topic. 

This movie is by far the best movie musical I’ve ever seen. With all of its tear jerking moments and all of its glory, the cinematic adaptation is without a doubt an exceptional film.

Surprisingly, this movie is based on real life events that Benj Pasek experienced as well as the shared experiences of people in his life. 

“Dear Evan Hansen” is a story about a high school senior named Evan Hansen who suffers from social anxiety. He writes a letter to himself for an assignment from his therapist. After he prints it out, a kid named Conner Murphey (played by Colter Ryan) finds Evan’s letter on the printer, reads it, takes it, and then commits suicide (which we don’t see).

Evan is then greeted by Connor’s parents (played by Amy Adams and Danny Pino), who find the letter Evan had written to himself. The letter was with Conner the day he took his own life; so Evan lies to Conner’s parents to convince them that the two were best friends. Eventually, Evan lies to himself and to everyone, claiming that they were best friends. 

This movie is a must see for anyone and everyone because we can all relate to this movie in some way, shape, or form. Enjoy!