Recently this year I discovered a musical called Dear Evan Hansen. One of the songs came on my recommended Spotify lists, and have been hooked ever since.
From Wikipedia: Evan Hansen is a high school senior with severe social anxiety, which inhibits his ability to connect with other people and make friends. After the death of one of his classmates, he fabricates a lie that inadvertently brings him closer to the classmate’s family, while also allowing him to gain his own sense of purpose.
Below are some of my favorite songs from Dear Evan Hansen. If you haven’t seen it, a little explanation might be in order to follow along with the meaning of each song.
“Waving Through a Window” is sung by Evan Hansen (Ben Platt) and gives the viewer insight on how the main character feels lost.
“Sincerely Me” sung by Evan Hansen (Ben Platt), Connor Murphy (Mike Faist) and Jared Kleinman (Will Roland). Connor Murphy commits suicide and his parents believe Connor and Evan were friends. Evan’s cousin Jared has agreed to help him write fake letters from Connor – to prove they had a friendship that existed mostly through secret emails.
Connor’s parents are desperate to recall one positive memory about Connor. Cornered in conversation, Evan fabricates a story when he and Connor were hanging out in this beautiful song, “For Forever.”
One of my favorite songs is “If I Could Tell Her” sung by Evan (Ben Platt) and Zoe Murphy (Laura Drefuss). In this song, Evan “recalls” how Connor thought highly of his younger sister, Zoe Murphy. Fun twist, Evan has a huge crush on Zoe, so all the facts “Connor” remembers are really all the subtle nuances that Evan notices about Zoe.
And the crowning jewel of this musical is “You Will Be Found” sung by Evan. He gives a chilling speech on stage to his school and his message quickly spreads across all media channels.
