Dear Evan Hansen is finally in Melbourne. Was it worth the wait?

MUSICALS
Dear Evan Hansen ★★★★
Arts Centre Melbourne, until February 16

For Melbourne’s musical theatre fans, Dear Evan Hansen has been unfinished show business for some time. It won six Tony awards in 2016, and it’s probably the biggest recent Broadway musical success not to have premiered in a commercial run here. This elegant and moving co-production from Michael Cassel and the Sydney Theatre Company will please anyone who’s been dying to see it live.

The stage production of Dear Evan Hansen is elegant and moving.Credit: Wayne Taylor

Indeed, you really must see this one in the flesh to understand what the fuss is about. Despite the soaring soundtrack and many accolades, Dear Evan Hansen ran into misfortune – COVID crushed ticket sales and caused premature closures overseas; the 2021 film adaptation was so twee and terrible I couldn’t bring myself to sit through the whole thing on a plane.

It’s a different creature onstage. Director Dean Bryant unlocks this adolescent drama in a more delicate emotional key than most teen movies. The design is spare but effective, creating a slick, voyeuristically focused production that draws us into the coming-of-age story.

Socially anxious teenager Evan Hansen (Beau Woodbridge) inadvertently bumbles into an ethical and emotional quagmire after the suicide of a classmate, Connor (Harry Targett). Evan didn’t know the dead boy, but due to misinterpreted events – including a letter and the signed cast on his broken arm – Connor’s grieving parents (Martin Crewes and Natalie O’Donnell) mistake Evan for their son’s friend.

Rather than telling the truth, Evan invents elaborate emails between himself and Connor, then tries, awkwardly but with some success, to comfort the bereaved family he deceives.

Dear Evan HansenCredit: Wayne Taylor

A budding romance with Connor’s sister Zoe (Georgia Laga’aia) develops, but when a plan to memorialise Connor suddenly goes viral, Evan’s lies look set to be exposed, and he can turn only to his overworked single mum Heidi (Verity Hunt-Ballard) in a crisis.

Playing Evan requires inhabiting the liminal state of adolescence, and Woodbridge takes us there on vocal and dramatic levels. There’s the voice, with its fine upper register and falsetto, equal to the task of vaulting through melodies that waver tenuously between teen sincerity and insecurity, naivety and vulnerability.

And the performance surfs ambivalence in a way that keeps the balance of sympathy even, while leaving the emotional terrain uncanny and treacherous. Woodbridge could tighten the screws in climactic scenes, but you only notice because the arc is precise, disciplined.

Unearned emotion might be Evan’s crime, but the actor’s biggest challenge is to stop the anxious teen from spontaneously combusting into sentiment.

As Zoe, Laga’aia is just as striking as Woodbridge’s Evan, from tender love ballads to musical and dramatic turbulence in scenes with her grieving family. Comic relief is provided by Evan’s grudging “family friend” Jared (Jacob Rozario) and bouncy super-nerd Alana (Carmel Rodrigues).

The movie left me totally cold, and I was surprised to find Dear Evan Hansen so touching, dramatically foot-sure and melodically splendid live.
Reviewed by Cameron Woodhead

DANCE
The Nutcracker ★★★
Hamer Hall, Southbank, until December 20

In a perfect world, every performance of The Nutcracker would luxuriate in the accompaniment of a live orchestra. It is, after all, the music of Tchaikovsky more than the story or the dance vocabulary that has made this ballet such an outsized cultural landmark.

The Nutcracker is a cultural landmark.Credit: En Pointe Productions

Of course, this is not a perfect world. Orchestras are expensive. And there is currently, all around Australia, a growing appetite for affordable but still high-quality ballet productions. So, concessions must be made – good dancers with canned music.

This new BIG Live production suffers somewhat from its underpowered soundtrack, yet manages to sparkle in its own understated way. It doesn’t make a great impact as a theatrical spectacle – lavish sets are also expensive – but the dancing is more than polished.

The company itself is quite interesting. It was founded during the pandemic in Brisbane and has since staged a series of well-received gala performances featuring local dancers and international guests. They’re now expanding into the world of storybook ballet.

The core group of dancers is strong. Emilia Bignami as Clara and Joel Burke as the soldier are a good pair, projecting optimism and energy. Abbey Hansen plays a poised Sugar Plum Fairy with solid technique, well-supported by Jonathon Carmichael.

The core group of dancers in this production of The Nutcracker is strong.Credit: En Pointe Productions

The first act, which sets up the enchanted nutcracker story, is astutely managed given the resources at hand. The company fills the stage with the hustle and bustle of Christmas Eve, with a standout performance by the young Charlie Duwner as the brattish Fritz.

Mia Zanardo brings a contemporary and slightly eerie vibe to her role as a living doll. It’s an offbeat interpretation that underscores the link between E.T.A. Hoffmann’s nutcracker tale and 21st-century stories of dancing toys that come to life.

In the second half, the ensemble takes us to the Land of Sweets. The group dances of snowflakes and flowers are well-executed, filling the stage with super saccharine visions of sequined daintiness.

The second act also features showpieces by international guest artists. The pliable American dancer and actress Juliet Doherty adds glamour in the Arabian dance, with Alexander Taber providing a reliable scaffold.

And Ervin Zagidullin throws himself into the Russian dance with a vigorous, athletic and always-grinning performance.

I also appreciated his extemporaneous efforts to rouse the rather subdued audience, to shake them out of their nostalgic dream and bring them back to the here and now of bravura flips and toe touches.
Reviewed by Andrew Fuhrmann

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