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music & lyrics by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, book by Steven Levenson, directed by David Connolly

Drayton Entertainment, St. Jacobs Country Playhouse, St. Jacobs

March 21–April 12, 2026

Evan: “I’d rather pretend I’m something better than / These broken parts"

When I first saw Dear Evan Hansen in 2019, I praised it as very good musical that bravely took on the distinctly non-Broadwaylike subjects of teen suicide and depression. Nevertheless, I was not so bowled over that I thought it was a show I would seek out again. Then I discovered that Drayton Entertainment would be presenting the Canadian regional premiere of the show and I thought I’d check it out. I’m glad I did. Everything about the show is an improvement on the 2019 production. Director David Connolly ensures that the story is more clearly told. The acting is more minutely detailed. The physical production does not distract from the emphasis on interpersonal relations. And the singing brims with passion.

For those who may not know the story, I will repeat my summary from 2019: “The show concerns Evan Hansen, a teen with deep psychological problems, who is extraordinarily anxious about high school starting again when he will be a senior. Though Levenson never states what Evan’s mental condition is, it is very clear from his physical and mental symptoms that he has a paralyzing social anxiety disorder. This accounts for his crippling shyness, bouts of severe sweating, his fear of meeting people, his phobia of touching people or being touched, his inability to speak in public and his tendency to lie. He is on medication and is seeing a therapist who has given him the assignment of writing himself a letter every day (hence the show’s title) about the good things that have happened to him. His parents divorced when he was seven and he lives with his mother who works so hard at her job as a nurse aide and takes night classes that he rarely sees her. The one person he idolizes is Zoe, a girl in his school, but he is so socially awkward he always makes a fool of himself in her presence.

“It so happens that Zoe’s brother Connor, who suffers from untreated depression and uncontrollable anger, commits suicide with one of Evan’s ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ letters in his pocket. Connor’s parents Larry and Cynthia, assume that Evan must have been a good friend of Connor’s or else he would not have addressed his letter to him. Although he was not friends with Connor, Evan does not have the social skills to deny this and by merely agreeing with the parents’ assumptions finds himself appreciated in Connor’s home in a way he never has been in his own home with an absent father and a mother who is too busy to be with him. Plus he is near to Zoe.

“Unfortunately, Evan cannot control his propensity for fabrication and has his friend Jared create a back-dated e-mail correspondence between Evan and Connor while another friend Alana sets up a school memorial service for Connor, and a kickstarter campaign to buy and renew the unused orchard where Connor and Evan supposedly spent all their time together”.

In 2019 I found there was a problem with Steven Levenson’s book in trying to portray Evan as both a good guy and a liar. Connolly has solved this problem by having the actor playing Evan (the evening I attended, Luciano Decicco) emphasize how fearful Evan is of social interactions. Connolly has Evan stop and struggle to take deep breaths whenever Evan finds himself in situations that overwhelm him. Not until the very end of the show does Connolly ever have Evan appear at ease. Decicco’s default position is wringing his hands and looking away from anyone’s gaze.

The way Connolly manages Evan’s fabrications with Connor’s family is to make clear that Evan feels trapped and that lying is the only method he can think of to pacify the Murphys and to avoid further questions. The difficulty is that any information Evan feeds the Murphys only makes them want to know more, leading Evan unwillingly to sink ever deeper into a slough of deceit. By establishing so clearly that Evan has no social skills, by demonstrating how the Murphys badger Evan for more information about a son they feel guilty for ignoring, by showing so well how frightened Evan is when his relation with the Murphys slips so far out of control, Connolly ensures that we sympathize with Evan because we understand that he sees no other way than lying to cope with his situation.

By presenting the story in this way, Connolly makes us view Evan in contrast to his pseudo-friends Alana and Jared, who are deliberately using Connor’s death to their advantage – Alana to enhance her social status, Jared for financial gain. While both Alana and Jared later accuse Evan of exploiting Connor’s death, Connolly has shown that Evan’s situation is far more complex. Evan has unwittingly given the Murphys some happiness in the midst of their grief and finds he cannot undermine that happiness without plunging them into even deeper grief.

Connolly’s interpretation of the musical’s book works so well because everyone in the show understands his approach and how it affects their character. Two actors alternate in the demanding role of Evan Hansen – Luciano Decicco and Misha Sharivker. The night I attended Decicco was Evan and he gave an absolutely tremendous performance. Decicco has a smooth, attractive singing voice with ringing top notes. Unlike many singers in musicals, he is especially effective in long-held final notes which maintain their richness right until the end. Decicco also carries his fine acting into his singing. He lends a plaintive tone to the show’s best-known songs, “Waving Through a Window” and “For Forever” and sings the entirety of “Words fail”, when Evan is finally found out, as if with tears in his voice. Decicco wins the audience’s sympathy from the first and never loses it because he makes it so clear how terrified Evan is of every step he takes.

The Drayton cast features Jessica Sherman, who sang the role of Heidi Hansen, Evan’s mother, in the 2019 Mirvish production. This time Sherman makes it clear that Evan is not the only character who has psychological issues. Sherman’s Heidi has never recovered from her husband leaving her to marry another woman, and she tries to maintain the stance that she is solely concerned with Evan even though she is hardly ever home. Sherman pours all of Heidi’s conflicting emotions into her passionate number “So Big/So Small”.

As Connor Murphy, Nick Boegel, clad as a Goth, displays troubling behaviour — easily taking offense, easily blowing up — but always seems to suggest that Connor’s aggression is rooted in anger and extreme unhappiness. The rough tone Boegel uses when Connor is alive vanishes when Connor returns as a ghost (or is it really one side of Evan’s conscience?).

Hadley Mustakas is a fine Zoe Murphy. Mustakas convincingly shows us Zoe’s changing view of Evan from an intruder into her family’s grief to a trustworthy young man to someone she could even love. It is important that Mustakas shows us that Zoe’s feelings are authentic to counter the negative notions of Evan’s ‘friends’ that he has wormed his way into the Murphy family just to win over Zoe.

Adam Stevenson and Jackie Mustakas are well cast as Connor and Zoe’s parents Larry and Cynthia. More than in the 2019 Mirvish production, Stevenson and Mustakas made evident from the start that the Murphy household is not a happy one, even before Connor commits suicide. Jackie Mustakas shows that Cynthia is far too ready to forgive Connor’s troubling behaviour whereas Stevenson’s Larry has already written off Connor as a son. Larry and Cynthia’s reactions to Evan’s fabrications also diverge — Cynthia too ready to believe everything Evan says, Larry unprepared to believe anything good about Connor. Stevenson and Decicco have a great scene together when Larry gives Evan Connor’s baseball glove that Connor never used. Stevenson vividly portrays Larry’s inner conflict in teaching Evan how “To Break in a Glove” — happy in passing his knowledge on to someone but all too aware how much he wishes it could have been Connor.

Ruth Acheampong and Powell Nobert play Evan’s “friends” Alana and Jared, whom the book uses to inject some levity into the dominantly sombre tone of the story. In this production David Connolly does not try to push these figures as comic since, in fact, both exploit Evan’s situation while also making fun of him. Though neither Alana nor Jared is a likable character, Acheampong and Nobert compensate for this with strong singing voices that make important contributions to two of the show’s best songs, “Disappear” and “You Will Be Found”.

The physical production is much simpler than it was for Mirvish, but that proves to be an advantage. Ryan Howell’s screens of various sizes move about or descend from the fly space to display Greg Emetaz’s projections on the subject of social media use. In general, these projections are in shades of blue and grey so that they never distract us from the performers. When a character reads out one of the notes written by Evan or by Jared concerning Connor, Emetaz will project the beginning of the note on a back screen but has it rapidly fade out so that we maintain focus on the reader not the projected words.

An important difference in the Drayton versus the Mirvish production is the use of 11 members of the Drayton Youth Chorus, actual teenagers, whose presence helps ground the musical in our everyday reality. Before the action proper begins, Connolly has the Youth Chorus appear on stage in twos and threes all bent over their smartphones. Connolly is absolutely right when he says in his Director’s Notes that their presence “adds a layer of immediacy and authenticity to the story — reminding us that the themes of this musical are not abstract; they are unfolding all around us, in real time”.

Drayton has given Dear Evan Hansen a powerful production that exposes all the character as complex people trying to figure out how to live with their imperfections and those of others. If you have already seen a large-scale production of the musical, you should make a point of seeing this one where a theatre of only 398 seats is so much more appropriate for a story about internal personal feelings than is a theatre of 1200. With exemplary performances from the entire cast, Dear Evan Hansen is a moving and uplifting experience.

Christopher Hoile

Photos: Luciano Decicco as Evan Hansen; Hadley Mustakas as Zoe, Jackie Mustakas as Cynthia, Nick Boegel as Connor and Adam Stevenson as Larry; Luciano Decicco as Evan Hansen and Jessica Sherman as Heidi; the ensemble of Dear Evan Hansen. © 2026 Hilary Gauld.

For tickets visit: www.draytonentertainment.com.