Dear Evan Hansen

www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/dear-evan-hansen-508238

Colton Ryan and Michael Lee Brown are both the understudies for Evan (and Connor, and Jared), but I think only Colton has gone on.

Saw the show today - Ben was off still and Colton Ryan was playing Evan.

As far as the show goes, I wanted more. I feel like the staging and production in general was too minimal. I don't have any negative comments at all - in fact I enjoyed it, and cried twice. But the show just didn't give me anything more than I wanted or expected.

Colton as Evan did a good job, but his portrayal was inauthentic, a carbon copy of Ben's characterisation. If he had his own interpretation of the role I dont think you would have realised he is the understudy. That being said he was incredibly well received - I think this show will do well without him IF the guy playing Evan has his own interpretation.

Loved everyone else - I liked Mike Faist but I'm not sure exactly what made his performance tony worthy??

I saw Colton on Saturday - he did a decent job but having seen Ben in a bootleg, there was a massive gap between performances. He has potential but I felt that he sometimes struggled to remain consistent, both vocally and acting-wise and the performance was not as deep as Ben's. I do agree that it felt like he tried (or was asked?) to copy Ben in most scenes.

I would have loved to see Ben but considering how difficult it was to get SRO during Tony's week, I am 100% happy that I just got to see the show. Rachel Bay Jones alone would have made all the hassle worth it.

He's alright. I like how he has his own reading and a little riff here and there without being annoying. I could imagine he can grow into it if he goes on more often. Ben has the advantage of having done all the workshops and the two major productions before going to Broadway and rarely missing shows. I believe Colton went on no more than 5 times (I would think 4 max). He sounds fine but I doubt he'd get bumped up once Ben leaves. I think they'll probably recruit someone new to create a new buzz and invite in the media again.

I wouldn't be surprised considering how "people" is synonymous with spoiled teenage brats (the "like OMG I cried when he signed my Playbill" type). I mean, people who ACTUALLY cry because of an experience like this are just too much.

Anastasia too..Sad to say that I'm on the Facebook group and the the amount of "omg I cried when I saw Christy at the stage door" posts is in double digits. This tends to alternate with "omg I will cry like right now" (or "omg I'm like about to cry").

Unfortunately, it seems it may have stemmed from this Trump-loving (I say this not to use that as an excuse to dislike her, but it features quite heavily on her twitter feed, and as you can see, she's not the nicest of them...) mother:

I think he's probably a better judge of whether there's a reason he can't do it than you are - given that he is actually there at the time, and you are not.

If he needs to have rest, a physical therapy session, eat or drink, or just keep himself well away from the accumulated germs of a stage door crowd to avoid getting ill, how would you know?

Buying a ticket to a show gets you just that - a ticket to the show. It doesn't get you a meet-and-greet.

Looking at the crowds at some Broadway stage doors (and Dear Evan Hanson's stage door is CRAZY, I've walked past more than once) I think it does take much to spend time there after a demanding performance. It's not a thing of going outside for a couple of minutes. Popular actors spend up to 45 minutes at stage door post show because there are SO many people and once they are out there they don't want to disappoint anyone.
Insulting Ben because he chooses not to stage door after every performance is completely out of line.

Then you should know well enough that a performer's first responsibility is to make sure they are fit enough to give the best performance they can each night. For Ben Platt on DEH that means not going to the stage door every night. You should respect that it's his voice, his body, and his choice. After all, one day you might be in a position where you make the same decision.

That her side is expressed in comments such as "you suck and you are not that cute" makes her sound like she's twelve. It's reasonable to be disappointed. It's not reasonable to throw a public tantrum over it.

It does indeed take extra energy (physical and mental)and I know we're in summer now but in winter spending 20-30 minutes in the freezing cold is not doing any actor's voice/immune system any favours (plus all the people germs). And anyway, nothing in the contract says you HAVE to.

I think there's a real shift with younger fans used to the 'Meet and Greet' world of conventions etc where you DO pay to meet a star that is bleeding over to theatre fans. Not to say that there haven't always been entitled brats, old and young but I think the social media/online fandom element is feeding it a bit too.