{"id":84929,"date":"2025-02-13T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=84929"},"modified":"2025-02-13T07:41:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T15:41:04","slug":"dear-evan-hansen-musical-cerritos-center-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/art\/dear-evan-hansen-musical-cerritos-center-review","title":{"rendered":"Theater News: \u2018Dear Evan Hansen\u2019 \u2014 a musical that explores social anxiety \u2014 plays at Cerritos Center this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to Theater News, a regular column by longtime reviewer Anita W. Harris. Look for it most Thursdays. Or\u00a0sign up<\/a>\u00a0for our Eat See Do newsletter to get it in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who among us has never felt anxious, alone or disconnected from others? For some, it\u2019s a way of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those feelings are explored in depth in the musical \u201cDear Evan Hansen,\u201d set to perform for four shows this weekend at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts \u2014 just up the freeway from Long Beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The musical centers on Evan Hansen, a lonely high school teenager who suffers from social anxiety. When a letter he writes gets mistaken for coming from a classmate who has committed suicide, Evan is put in the awkward position of having to create a backstory of the fake friendship for the boy\u2019s parents and sister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

While you may have heard of the 2021 film of the same name, it wasn\u2019t reviewed as well as this critically acclaimed, award-winning stage musical that ran on Broadway for six years. Its six Tony Awards in 2017 and three Olivier Awards in 2020 include best musical and best score, and it also won a Grammy Award in 2018 for best musical theater album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul complement Steven Levenson\u2019s book by bringing forward the characters\u2019 inner feelings, with titles like \u201cWaving Through a Window,\u201d \u201cIf I Could Tell Her\u201d and \u201cYou Will Be Found<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides music, \u201cDear Evan Hansen\u201d has been lauded for depicting bullying and anxiety among teens, and these problems have only increased as social media makes it easier for youth to fall prey to both, with suicide rates among young people rising over the past 20 years, according to the CDC<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while the National Institute of Mental Health estimates that about 9% of young adults suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) \u2014 which is Evan\u2019s diagnosis in the play \u2014 70% of teens say anxiety and depression are a \u201cmajor problem\u201d among their peers, whether diagnosed or not, according to a Pew Research study<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ensemble cast of the national touring production of “Dear Evan Hansen.” Photo by Evan Zimmerman. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Due to its sensitive themes, the Cerritos Center recommends the show for ages 12 and up, describing it as \u201can intimate and poignant story about mental illness, the fragility of life and the human need for connection with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michal Fabisch, who plays the role of Evan in this national touring production, says the musical has evolved to be more than just about Evan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEnergetically, the show has shifted from a show centered around one character into a show that centers around everyone involved,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is about an incredibly gut-wrenching situation and how everyone involved handles it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The national tour bringing this meaningful musical to the Cerritos Center launched this past fall with scheduled stops around the country \u2014 including right up the street from us this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone who comes will recognize themselves in it, and recognize the modern world,\u201d notes Michael Greif, the show\u2019s original director. \u201cIt\u2019s a life-affirming story about how to handle great crisis and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDear Evan Hansen\u201d will perform at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 18000 Park Plaza Dr., Cerritos, Feb. 14-16, with shows Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. For tickets and information, call the box office at 562-916-8500 or visit <\/i>CCPA.cerritos.gov<\/i><\/a>. Free parking is available at the theater. Run time is 2 hours and 30 minutes, including intermission.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This national touring production is \u201ca life-affirming story about how to handle great crisis and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":84935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32337],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32310],"class_list":["post-84929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","tag-theater-news","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84929"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84939,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84929\/revisions\/84939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84929"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=84929"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=84929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}