Review: DEAR EVAN HANSEN at Pioneer Theatre Company is Arrestingly Layered

Pioneer Theatre Company’s professional production of Dear Evan Hansen could easily be at home on a Broadway stage, and it is certainly one of Utah’s best shows this year.  The original production is rightfully beloved, but this iteration adds even more layers, brilliantly flitting between realism and theatricality in arresting ways. 

Dear Evan Hansen (book by Stephen Levenson, music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul) comes from the Tony, Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Golden Globe winning songwriting team of The Greatest Showman and A Christmas Story. The 2017 Best Musical Tony winner was adapted to an enjoyable, unfairly maligned film in 2021.

Socially awkward high school senior Evan Hansen finds himself caught in a web of deceit after a misunderstanding that he struggles to correct.  As the lie becomes more difficult to control, it begins to bring him everything he has wanted in life.  Is it really wrong if it’s helping people?

Every member of this miraculous Equity cast is absolutely remarkable with acting and singing that pierce the soul.

Kyle Dalsimer fully embodies Evan’s physicality and social, emotional, and mental struggles, ebbing and flowing in reaction to the events taking place around him. 

Donna Vivino’s performance as Heidi Hansen is both intimate and powerful, and her “So Big/So Small” is incredibly moving.  No wonder, as she originated the role of Young Cosette on Broadway in Les Miserables and blew the roof off the Capitol Theatre as Elphaba in Wicked. 

The Murphy family is alternately warm and cold just as a real family in mourning would be. Andrew Samonsky (original Phoebus in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tadeusz Lempicki in Lempicka) as Larry and Marika Aubrey as Cynthia lead with strength and vulnerability, and Elyse Bell’s Zoe is loving and heartbreaking. 

Larry Saperstein (Big Red in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, filmed just down the street at East High) as Jared Kleinman and Khadija E. Sankoh as Alana Beck add levity without losing import. Jordan Briggs is a truly fantastic Connor, and his presence is movingly felt throughout the show thanks to Karen Azenberg’s sensitive direction.

Azenberg’s addition of local ensemble members Adam Moore and Rachel Johnson, along with her thoughtful staging, add weight to the idea that we often hide behind screens and mask our true selves, disconnecting ourselves from possible acceptance.    

All the aspects of the production mesh together seamlessly in service of Azenberg’s vision with the color combinations of each element meaningfully working and playing together.

The wonderfully decorated blue-walled set by Bryce Cutler, though large and spectacular, rightfully pushes the action to the front of the stage and utilizes more than one breathtaking climactic unveiling.  It provides the perfect performance space for each needed location, not relying on projections but still featuring video when the story calls for it. The costumes by Patrick Holt are constantly evolving with the characters, and the lighting by Paul Miller brings each moment into the right focus, regularly alternating between the realistic scenes and theatrical moments.

There is no reason this show shouldn’t be the hottest ticket in town.  If you’ve seen Dear Evan Hansen, you don’t want to miss this, and if you haven’t, this is the best shot you’re ever going to get.

Dear Evan Hansen plays through November 8.

CONTENT ADVISORY: The musical contains a number of instances of strong language.

Salt Lake City Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (West Valley Arts)

17.2% of votes

2. SOMETHING ROTTEN! (Hopebox Theatre)

8.1% of votes

3. DOGFIGHT (Sentinel Theatre)

7.3% of votes

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