HW+Critiques

Halley Wise Richmond Theatre 2000 20 February 2017 Review of Michael Paulson’s review of “Dear Evan Hansen”

I had heard a lot of buzz around the new musical “Dear Evan Hansen” by Steven Levenson but never read into professional reviews. I went over to the New York Times and ironically one of the first reviews to pop up was on this play. It started off by proclaiming that the show is on its way to becoming a rare Broadway hit after grossing $1million at the box office the past week. Paulson mentioned how the show has benefitted from strong reviews and “positive word of mouth”, which holds true to me and how I had heard of the show. This review also brought up the celebrity attraction the play has gotten, and even included a screenshot of (singer) Zendaya’s tweet where she states “One of the best musicals I’ve ever seen, so beautiful, emotional, and honest.”. Paulson also name drops Scarlett Johansson, Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling, Calvin Klein, Emma Stone and Carole King as notable audience members. The review wasn’t solely complimenting the play, but mainly giving details, facts, and statistics that would lead readers (including myself) to think highly of the play and want to go see it. The author of the review discussed how the play has overcome many obstacles to become a “must-see” show with a growing fan base. The review didn’t give much information on the plot besides that is was about “an anxious adolescent whose social status improves after the suicide of a classmate” which I liked because it led to me looking further into the show. Overall the article was concise and shed a good light on “Dear Evan Hansen” and Paulson wrote effectively and in good taste.