Dear Evan Hansen began its national tour last year and finally made its debut in St. Louis Oct. 22 at the Fabulous Fox Theater and is running through Nov. 2. 

The story follows Evan Hansen, a fatherless high school senior with high social anxiety and depression. One of his classmates, Connor Murphy, commits suicide and his parents find what they believe to be links between their son and Evan. 

Evan tries to deny this at first, but with his social anxiety, he can’t explain the truth that he wasn’t actually close with Connor. He sees how happy he makes the Murphys with the lie that he and Connor were friends, and when the Murphy’s start to take him in, he finally feels like he is a part of something big, so he decides to keep his secret. 

The rest of the musical follows him creating the Connor Project, an online site in memory of Connor to remind people that they are not alone, and the reopening of the Orchard, where Evan and Connor allegedly hung out. Evan also continues to fall into a bigger lie that ends up ruining his relationship with everyone around him. 

In the end, he comes clean to the Murphys when Connor’s fake suicide note, which is actually Evan’s letter to himself, is published on the Connor Project without Evan’s permission in an attempt to raise money for the orchard. 

A year passes and in the finale they show Zoe and Evan meet at the Orchard recreated in Connor’s memory. They reveal that the Murphy’s didn’t expose Evan and that even though the whole journey was a mess, the family is happy and loving the orchard and Evan has his life back on track with a job at Pottery Barn and college at his local community college.

This is a musical I have been wanting to see ever since 2016 when it debuted on Broadway because of its positive reviews and many awards such as, the Tony Award for Best Musical, Best Score, Best Actor in a Musical and Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

I had already heard the soundtrack before seeing the musical and it is amazing. It is emotional and well composed with great crescendos, melodies, and harmonies between characters. The music tells the story well, but the production brought the music alive and helped fill in the gaps of the story.

The musical lived up to the great reputation it has had for many years and exceeded my already high expectations. The set gave the story structure and the incredible acting told the story that the music couldn’t fulfill alone.

There is a small cast, and as an audience member, it is clear how close each of the members are. They each become extremely vulnerable on stage making the story so much stronger. As expected, each member had amazing vocals and acting.

Stephen Christopher Anthony, Evan Hansen, gave a wonderful performance. Evan Hansen is an extremely emotional and vocally demanding role that Anthony brought to life seemingly effortlessly. He portrayed Evan as the awkward and lonely character he is in an absolutely beautiful way.

Also, although the musical is pretty heavy and serious, the writers made room to include light, funny moments that make the entire audience laugh out loud. Don’t be fooled though, tears will be shed in the second act.

This musical has definitely found a place in my favorites, and I hope to see it again soon.