Dear Evan Hansen - Noel Coward

Do we think this could go British casting ala Wicked with British accents or British casting ala Hamilton and stick to American accents?!

Just so I can understand your point better, I've got a couple of questions:  

Are you saying that Jamie and Eugenius are not heavily pop-sounding?  Mind you, I adore Jamie and will defend the value and relevance of that show if anyone tries to attack it, but "I'll keep on climbing and climbing and climbing
/ This wall in my head, head, head
/ This wall in my head
/ This wall in my head" has a rather distinct pop feel about it, and doesn't exactly sound like Stephen Sondheim spent a month working on it... 

Is a plot about a teenage guy who draws cartoons about a superhero coming from outer space (very much à-la-Superman), whose work is selected to be turned into a blockbuster of sorts, where the baddie he created on paper actually comes to chase him in real life one that sits right with you? Mind you, I've enjoyed Eugenius a lot, it's fresh and bubbly and everyone in the cast does an amazing job and it deserves its West End transfer, and we can all do with a few hours of mindless musical fun, but it's not exactly the pinnacle of dramaturgy... 

Perhaps we could just wait to see the show instead of pre-judging it based on the cast recording or the impressions we got from a promotional video on youtube?  

I'm not going to put words in anyone's mouth so I'll leave Viserys to actually answer what she meant ....but I think the point she, I and Kathryn above have made was 'well I didn't LOVE this in the recording/bits I've seen, but I'm happy to give it a go now it's coming here and see if I like it'


In fact that's EXACTLY what we all said...?

To borrow from another thread 'what's your damage Heather?' (we're all happy it's happening)

As someone who considered themself quite isolated and lonely as a teenage boy, ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ speaks to me quite a bit. Yes he’s a lying tw@t who doesn’t deserve anyones sympathy, but he is also ‘broken’ and an example of the largest group at risk of suicide. I find large portions of the score to be highly emotional...the rest a bit meh. I’m pleased I can put a date on seeing it rather than it being my next NYC trip.

I’ll hopefully be there for a show in the first January if it doesn’t totally sell out.

I guess all of the stuff about the baseball mitt makes it uniquely American.

Thanks, viserys, I truly appreciate your reply.  Thanks for helping me see your point, that's exactly what I had hoped for when I made my post.  It's so nice when a fellow poster can eloquently share their view and start a constructive exchange of thoughts  

Why, why do men feel the need to say 'Dr Garside' in a condescending manner. Yes, that is my title, thanks for using it. 

My issue with it is that I think everyone or at least the majority of people feel isolated and lonely at times, especially as a teenager. 

I remember when the lights came up at the interval (just after You Will Be Found), everyone was sobbing except me, despite it being wonderfully staged. And that's because I felt like I'd just been fed a ton of cliches. I mean, read those lyrics, they're just cliche after cliche after cliche. The questions Evan asks in the first verse 'Have you ever felt...?' etc. yes EVERYONE has felt those things. It's the same with Waving Through a Window which I love as a background song but the lyrics are just cliched nonsense.

There's nothing wrong in essence with making a musical to broadly appeal, but I didn't find that there was anything there specific to social anxiety which is what we're told Evan is going through. I've had social anxiety my entire life and not one lyric or sentence spoke to me or that side of me. This is unlike the specificity of shows like Next to Normal that I found aptly portrayed depression (something I have been through) or a show like Fun Home which portrayed something I haven't been through (being closeted). In both cases, it didn't matter whether I'd been through it or not because they were able to portray specific devastating circumstances in a way that made me feel for the characters. I'm not gonna feel for someone who feels down and alone, because to be honest, that's just life, and I saw very little that made it feel specifically like social anxiety. So his lies and wrong actions were even less forgivable for me.

I did find So Big / So Small to be the one emotionally effective song/scene of the score because it took something that not everything goes through (raising a child alone) and spoke specifically to that situation. You could almost insert the song You Will Be Found into any musical and have it work, whenever the protagonist is having their moment of feeling alone and not knowing what to do. So Big / So Small is a beautiful, quietly devastating song that would only apply to a handful of famous musical theatre characters.

Again, Emily, I meant there to be no hidden, offensive intentions behind my choice of words.  On this board you and another person know that I have a PhD because I've told you privately.  I have simply never mentioned it publicly.  That was all I meant by my words. 

However, again, I apologise if my words could be read in a negative way, it was not my intention to hurt or offend.  Oh, and my suggestion to talk privately only stemmed from my suspicion that the rest of the board members probably don't care too much about this and would rather go back to talking about theatre, I am all in favour of right of reply as well    

What is the dress circle like at the Noel Coward? I think DEH's set is more appreciated from higher up due to the amount of screens they use, and I want to be able to see facial expressions.

Every level has a great view in my opinion, I've sat in the back row of the three levels that aren't the stalls and it's a great view, mainly cause of the size of the theatre.

Back row of the Stalls is awful. Myself and daniel were sat there for Sixpence and the seats aren't set between the ones in front. We had really tall people in front so we both had to sit on cushions (considering we are both very tall). It was ridiculous but hilarious. But yeah I wouldn't sit there again, purely for comfort 😂😂