Review: An impressive DEAR EVAN HANSEN at Harbour Lights Theatre

After two years of presenting popular holiday productions and special events on the South Shore, Harbour Lights Theatre is mounting its first full-length musical – a must-see production of the Tony Award-winning “Dear Evan Hansen” at Hingham’s Carr Amphitheater through August 9.

Created by the Tony, Grammy, and Academy Award-winning songwriting duo of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, with a Tony winning book by Steven Levenson, the two-act show had its 2015 world premiere at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. After an off-Broadway production at Second Stage Theatre in early 2016, the musical opened on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre in December of that year and went on to win six 2017 Tony Awards – including Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Book.

In Hingham, Duxbury’s Mickey White – a performer and producer, and the artistic director of Harbour Lights – plays the title character, a high school senior suffering from both social anxiety and a broken arm who, at the suggestion of his therapist, writes letters to himself about how each day will be better than the one before. His mother also seeks to help her son come out of his shell, suggesting that he make new friends by asking his high-school classmates to sign his cast.

The role was originated on Broadway by Ben Platt, who won the 2017 Tony for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, along with 2018 Grammy and Daytime Emmy Awards in connection with the show, and starred in the 2021 feature film adaptation. After Platt’s Broadway departure, the role of Evan Hansen became one of the most coveted for young stage actors including White who, in a recent interview, acknowledged going up for the part on more than one occasion.

White’s patience is finally paying off both for himself and for local audiences, who are getting to see just how good he is at portraying the complex character and how well his supple, strong vocals – given vibrancy by music director Dan Pardo and a seven-piece pit band – meet the demands of “Waving Through a Window,” Evan’s signature number, as well as other songs including “For Forever,” “You Will Be Found,” and “Words Fail.” White demonstrates versatility, landing both the songs and the dramatic scenes that so believably propel this story.

Under the seamless direction of Tony Award nominee and Broadway favorite Adam Pascal (“Rent”), the entire cast is first-rate, including Tony Award nominee Orfeh (“Legally Blonde: The Musical”) as Heidi Hansen, Evan’s mother and a single parent navigating a challenging life. Orfeh’s signature power vocals have made her not only a go-to musical theater performer but also an in-demand concert artist. Here, she transitions between both on act two’s “Good for You” and “So Big/So Small.”

While Heidi struggles to make ends meet, another mother, Cynthia Murphy (Jill Whelan, the television and film actress best known for “The Love Boat” and “Airplane!”), watches as her affluent family – including husband Larry (James Moye, a replacement in this role on Broadway), son Connor (Dillon Klena, seen at Boston’s Citizens Opera House in 2023 in the national tour of “Jagged Little Pill”), and daughter Zoe (Victoria “Tory” Vagasy, a Disney Cruise Lines performer and a season 16 contestant on NBC-TV’s “America’s Got Talent”), on whom Evan has a quiet crush – pulls apart at the seams. Whelan and Moye pair convincingly as Cynthia and Larry, with Whelan especially moving as a mother being spun around by her unraveling family.

Evan, on the outside looking in, has no confidence in dealing with his peers but when it comes to Zoe, he wants to get the girl. When he becomes entangled in a crisis in her family, driven by his desire to be seen in a world he believes ignores him.

Evan has darkness in his personality and Connor’s addictions have resulted in his spending time in rehab, but the two high-school boys otherwise have little more than a ZIP code in common. Both come from broken homes but in very different ways. Connor – perfectly played by Klena with goth-style sullenness enhanced by the character-defining work of Costume Designer Sims McCormick – is absorbed in his family’s troubles and becomes aggressive, lashing out to get his parents to see what he is going through, while Evan goes inward to deal with his issues.

Chris Medlin (Netflix’s “Sweet Magnolias” and Broadway’s “Mean Girls”) is spot-on as Jared Kleinman, Evan’s sharp-tongued, snark-spewing friend who doesn’t hesitate to undermine him. Regional theater actress Kayla Louison provides guileless charm as Evan’s friend Alana Beck whose tech savvy is always at the ready

In a world where many see social media as a means of staying in constant contact, “Dear Evan Hansen” shows us the risk it poses of ultimately leaving many feeling disconnected. This Harbour Lights Theatre production, however, leaves us waiting for the next opportunity to connect with this terrific company.

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