the most successful musical today, Czech premiere
Seventeen-year-old Evan Hansen is a completely normal American high school student, but he certainly does not have it easy in his life. He lives alone with his overworked mother, is bullied at school and suffers from social anxiety and depression himself. In addition, he recently broke his arm. His therapist gives him the task of writing letters to himself describing what will be good about each day. So Evan writes a letter in the school library that begins with the words "Dear Evan Hansen", wondering how he could talk to his beloved Zoe and if anyone at school would notice if he disappeared. But by accident, the letter is found by tough guy Connor Murphy, Zoe's brother. A few days later, Evan is called into the principal's office where Connor's parents inform him that their son died by his own hand. They find his letter in Connor's pocket and mistakenly believe it was written by Connor, indicating a close friendship between him and Evan. Embarrassed by the whole situation, Evan starts telling his parents what they want to hear and pretends that they were secretly best friends. In addition, together with his friends Jared and Alana, he begins to produce fake, back-dated e-mail conversations between Connor and him, and thus becomes more and more involved in a carousel of lies, various tense and comical situations...
The chamber musical Dear Evan Hansen premiered on Broadway at the Music Box Theater in December 2016. The work, with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and a libretto by Steven Levenson, soon became almost cult-like, received with great enthusiasm by audiences and critics, the production she was nominated for nine Tony Awards and won six statuettes. She also won the Grammy Award, the Laurence Olivier Award and many others. And it was certainly not only the great and cleverly composed songs that caused it, but also the themes that the musical tells. In an entertaining and moving form, he warns against the danger of drowning in the boundless waters of social networks, in which a lie easily turns into the truth. It questions whether a merciful lie can be taken for granted and whether we really know as much about our loved ones as we think. In his review of the musical for Arena Stage, Derek Mong wrote that "although the themes of sadness and loneliness are serious, the musical is anything but bleak."
The original story of the musical also acquired its literary form. The novella for teenage readers, which was published in 2018, was adapted by the American actor and singer-songwriter Val Emmich in collaboration with the original authors of the musical. Evan Hansen also appeared on the big screen directed by Stephen Chbosky. The film was released in theaters on September 24, 2021, but it was nowhere near as successful as its theatrical counterpart.
This unique musical sparkler of recent years will be presented by the Brno City Theater in the Czech premiere, translated by Zuzana Čtveráčková and Petr Gazdík, directed by the director of the Ministry of Education, Stanislav Moš, at the Theater Stage.
