The hit Broadway musical “Dear Evan Hansen” will be released into theaters on Sept. 24. Fans of the musical will be excited to see Ben Platt reprise the role that defined his Broadway career, but current reviews of the musical might see it flop like others who dared to try a similar format.
“Dear Evan Hansen” is a drama movie based on the hit Broadway show of the same name, directed by Stephen Chbosky, best known for “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.”
The movie stars Platt as the title character struggling with social anxiety disorder, who ends up in a complicated situation when a letter to his therapist gets stolen and lands in the hand of a depressed teen named Connor Murphy.
Connor, after taking his own life, inadvertently forces Evan to create a series of lies after Connor’s family mistakes the letter Evan wrote for a suicide note from their lost son. These events end up pushing Evan into a downward spiral.
Platt leads the film and is joined by Kaitlyn Dever, Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Amandla Stenberg, Nik Dodani, Danny Pino and Colton Ryan as Connor.
Many fans were excited about the film’s adaptation to the screen after recent successes. However, recent reviews about the film have led excitement levels downward.
Reviews of the piece have called it an “exercise in restraint,” and that while the actors playing the parts did a fantastic job (especially Dever as Zoe and Stenberg as Alana), it struggled due to the director’s vision and the performance of Platt, who plays Evan as 17-years-old while the actor himself is a decade older.
There were also talks that Platt was hand-selected for the role because of his connection to the producer: his father, Marc E. Platt. Even though Platt denied these accusations, it still caused a major backlash from fans who were grossed out to see the nearly 30-year-old actor play a teenager.
“Dear Evan Hansen” is not the first musical to have a negative backlash even though it was clearly hyped. Other musicals have suffered just like it has. One example is the 2019 adaptation of the smash-hit “Rent” on the FOX network. This featured performances from Jordan Fisher, Tinashe, Vanessa Hudgens, Valentina and Kiersey Clemons.
The live television-aired musical was destined to become a smash hit, but issues with the set and problems with understudies led to a disappointed fanbase as Keala Settle soared in a rendition of “I’ll Cover You (Reprise).” While the actors received positive praise, the show was called “chaotic” and “middling” by The New York Times.
It suffered the same fate as the current “Dear Evan Hansen” film, with the actors being praised for their parts while the film suffered as a whole.
While there has been negative feedback to recent adaptations of musicals, others have soared. The recent “In the Heights” movie became a smashing success and led to the cast being nominated for awards from the National Hispanic Media Coalition and the Hollywood Critics Association.
Another adaptation of “Hamilton” had soaring reviews, with the musical becoming the second most-watched straight-to-streaming title of 2020. Both “In the Heights” and “Hamilton” have rave reviews online, while “Dear Evan Hansen” is lacking behind.
In the future, if “Dear Evan Hansen” is adapted again, will it learn from the mistakes of its predecessor? And how will fans react to the changes in the film once “Dear Evan Hansen” is released to the public?
“Dear Evan Hansen,” starring Ben Platt, Kaitlyn Dever, Amy Adams, Amandla Stenberg, Nik Dodani and Colton Ryan, will be released in theaters on Sept. 24.
