Michael Lee Brown is SUBLIME -- but DEH, the show...?

[Seperite]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 3:00am

Finally saw DEH for the first time tonight....was absolutely *floored* by Michael Lee Brown's spectacular performance. This kid is the real deal. I saw Ben Platt in Mormon, and have also seen various vids of his Hansen performance, and he is certainly excellent. But MLB was really something to watch. He gives such a raw, emotional, deeply 'truthful' performance...it is truly mesmerizing to watch. For anyone who has been hesitant to see the show during the days Platt is absent, I *highly* recommend taking advantage of the greater ticket availability to see MLB. His performance will really captivate you.

Unfortunately, the magnificence of his performance only served to underscore the subpar performances of the other actors. The actors playing the Murphy parents were completely mailing it in -- I didn't buy their emotional journey for a second. (To be fair, though, these people have been in the show forever...I don't see how anyone can sustain the emotion required for this show for even one night, let alone 100.) And the understudy who played mama Hansen delivered one of the worst, if not the worst, performance I've ever seen by a principal on a Broadway stage. Zero chemistry with Evan, zero believability as a mother trying to connect with her lost son, a hammed-up, emotionally disconnected performance, and a singing voice that doesn't belong in the ensemble of a Broadway cast, let alone in a principal role.

I'm sort of perplexed as to how this has become the mega-hit of the season. Yes, I understand Ben Platt is delivering top-notch, gut-wrenching performances every night. And the score has a couple of beautiful, deeply affecting songs. But the emotional intensity of the show is at a 10 from the moment the first song begins, and it doesn't let up for the next 2 and a half hours. It became stifling and cloying. To my mind, to be effective, a show has to build to those dramatic, emotional moments, taking the audience members on a journey. If the book/lyrics put you at peak emotional intensity from the first words to the last note,  you eventually get claustrophobic and numb. And the overwroughtness of it all is exacerbated when the majority of the actors on stage are just going through the motions. Stellar as MLB was, and as I'm sure Platt is, the actor playing EH just cannot do the work of all the actors alone.

All I've seen in the reviews for this show is wall-to-wall praise. Did no one else not care for it?

 

 

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 3:25am

I think it's a great show that you probably saw on an off night.  

[Itonlytakesajourney]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 6:44am

There are plenty of people who don't like the show. Some find issues with its writing, the ending, the characters, etc. I personally love it, but that's just me 

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 7:00am

I haven't seen any of the understudies, but I can only imagine the show takes a real hit when both Ben AND Rachel are out. Ben is spectacular, of course, but, for me, Rachel's performance is the emotional heart of the show, and I can't imagine seeing it without her. 

[jbird5]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 7:20am

I found the show to be just okay. It didn't stick with me when I left the theater. Maybe the fact that I was way in back of the orchestra had something to do with that.

[LeftofLinus]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 8:02am

I saw the show with the original cast. I thought Ben was really great, but the show is completely overrated.  The message is off, the music is mostly unoriginal, it feels like a cheap emotional ratings grab.  While Ben absolutely deserved all the accolades he recieved I can't wrap my brain around how the show won as many Tonys as it did.  

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 8:40am

CT2NYC said: "I haven't seen any of the understudies, but I can only imagine the show takes a real hit when both Ben AND Rachel are out. Ben is spectacular, of course, but, for me, Rachel's performance is the emotional heart of the show, and I can't imagine seeing it without her. 

 

"

Totally agree. In the very first scene of DEH Rachel managed to do so many "mom" things that we immediately knew what kind of mother she was. I love the way she pretended like she was just looking around the bedroom but really checking Evan's medication to see if he's been taking his anti-depressants. There was something so real about her. I also think that the warmth between Platt and Jones only comes with years of working together and it's very special.

 

[haterobics]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 8:46am

Seperite said: "The actors playing the Murphy parents were completely mailing it in -- "

Is that even worse than phoning it in?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 10:32am

Lovett or Leave It's DEH rant can be validating. :)

https://art19.com/shows/lovett-or-leave-it/episodes/1216e8fe-d673-43ba-a214-8046255470e6

[Seperite]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 10:48am

"Mailing it in" is a real expression

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/mailing+it+in

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Mail%20it%20in

 

[Seperite]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 10:50am

Which episode has the rant? I would indeed like to hear it...I haven't come across *any* negative reviews of this show...wondering whether I'm completely missing something, whether the show has slipped over time, or whether the unusual cast composition last night threw off the chemistry

[ethan231h]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 10:57am

i think you saw the show on a comepletely off night or something because every time i've seen the show (10 times...twice since the tonys) All the actors have been incredibly on their game. 

i have seen Garret as both Heidi and Cynthia. she plays cynthia so beautifully and i would love to see her replace Jennifer when she's eventually leaves. however, her heidi performance is quite similar to Rachel's which is fine, but rachel is just AMAZING. the work rachel does especially at the end of the show is really what makes the show for me. 

[Babe_Williams]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 11:01am

LizzieCurry said: "Lovett or Leave It's DEH rant can be validating. :)

https://art19.com/shows/lovett-or-leave-it/episodes/1216e8fe-d673-43ba-a214-8046255470e6

 

"

This was when I knew that Lovett was my people.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 11:02am

Seperite said: "Which episode has the rant?"

The one I linked to.

 

[haterobics]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 11:09am

Seperite said: ""Mailing it in" is a real expression

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/mailing+it+in

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Mail%20it%20in"

Heh, according to your urban dictionary link, "A term used in the 2002 cult comedy Van Wilder."

I guess I never committed Van Wilder to memory properly?

[Seperite]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 11:34am

Thanks for the link...it is indeed validating, I suppose, to hear some criticism, but their only gripe is with the moral message of the show. That isn't what bothered me...it's the relentless melodrama from first note to last that I found overwhelming and stifling. To my mind, any musical/drama/movie/book has to take you on a journey that reaches occasional (or an ultimate) emotional peaks in order to be effective.  But when you're at a level of unbridled emotional intensity from beginning to end, it quickly loses its impact, and just becomes cloying. It was all just too much...too overwrought. Looking for any write-up of the show that might have expressed a similar sentiment

[Audrey33]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 12:08pm

You're not alone. There aren't many musicals that are critically and commercially successful and win a bunch of Tonys that have as many detractors as DEH. It's quite odd actually. It seems like the lovers and haters are completely bewildered by each other's opinions. FWIW, to me it's a 3* show being sold as a 5* show.

Updated On: 8/24/17 at 12:08 PM

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 12:37pm

Maybe it was an off night. But also maybe they genuinely disliked the show. Despite all the critical acclaim and accolades, there are - in fact - a large amount of people who didn't enjoy it. I was one of them.

[10086Sundays]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 12:47pm

Audrey33 said: "FWIW, to me it's a 3* show being sold as a 5* show."

Agreed, which makes all the Tony wins, at the expense of other shows that were equally or more deserving, even more aggravating to me. Especially since some of those shows are now having to close. Not that Tony wins would have guaranteed their survival, but it would have helped them last through the new year hopefully.

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 1:01pm

I love Dear Evan Hansen, but The Great Comet should have won score and orchestrations.  DEH has a catchy, simple score while Comet has a rich and innovative score.  Other than that, there aren't any Tonys that I would take away from DEH.  I think the OP's major problem with the show wasn't necessarily the writing, but rather the performances.  I didn't find the show melodramatic with Platt or RBJ, so it may have just been how the understudies played it.  The understudies haven't had as much time together and with the rest of the cast, so they're probably not all exactly on the same page quite yet which might be the reason why the show felt unbalanced or why they felt like they had 0 chemistry.  When you have two understudies in the lead roles it really can change the overall tone of the show for better or for worse.

[bdn223]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 1:05pm

When I saw DEH in December, any hopes and joys I had with the show during the first act were completely gone when Evan kisses Zoe at the end of Act I. This honestly just repulsed me and the shows second Act showed little if any redemption for Evan, or any of the characters. It is similar to Rent, for when you look at all of the main characters except for Benny outside the Rose colored classes of Bohemian late 80's early 90's culture, they are in fact deplorably self-centered human beings. While on the flip side, Benny, who can be characterized as the shows villain, is actually a decent and kindhearted human being, offering his friends free rent in a brand new building if they move out while it is built. The difference is Rent is an adaptation, and more meant as a celebration of life in the HIV/AIDS ridden culture of the era, then an actual piece of dramatic theater. 

With this in mind I think main problem I find with DEH is that most people look at it as a drama, or melodrama when in fact it is very much a dark comedy. Thus this makes it more forgiving that Evan is a horrible human-being, even Ben Platt has admitted to such in interviews (well he has admitted Evan makes terrible choices). The show is not so much about teen suicide as many like to believe and extol the show for, but instead the darkly comedic misadventures of an mentally ill teenage boy exploiting his bully/crush's brother's suicide for his own personal benefit. People like to argue that Evan sings For Forever to help soothe Connor's family, and can't stop lying because he just wants to make them feel better, when Jared immediately points out that hes only doing it because he likes the attention and it lets him get closer to Zoe. This culminates with him kissing Zoe, where the audience should see that he is the musical's antagonist, while one can argue that Connor or Zoe are the protagonists. Then there is Jared who would come across to some as the show's villain for how he treats Evan, when in fact he is the most honest person in the entire show. This also plays to the shows heart as a dark comedy, as the comedic  honest foil to Evan's dishonest nature. 

Updated On: 8/24/17 at 01:05 PM

[Bibliot]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 1:22pm

Wait, so we only appreciate shows with likable protagonists? That would be a bit boring, to tell you the truth - certainly superficial in plot and character. What about Sweeney Todd? Groundhog Day? Miss Saigon, Great Comet, Hamilton.... I'm trying to think of any current shows or classic ones either that we rate based on whether the main character makes unobjectionable decisions. There wouldn't be much to watch.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 1:32pm

There are good ways to write unlikable protagonists. DEH is not a good example of that, in my eyes

[haterobics]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 1:37pm

So, the people who think DEH is flawed ALSO think it is flawed if Evan is played by MLB, Colton, Noah, or Taylor? Who'd've thought?

[MyLife]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 1:50pm

I too was told by several people that I must have seen DEH on an off night because I had such negative opinions about it afterwards. I really don't think that's it. I think there are plenty of parts in the show to detest that are part of the show itself and independent of any singular performance.

Maybe I saw In Transit on a rare "on night" because I liked it so much more than DEH...