……BY BILLY SUTER……
IT HAS been a while since I took a road trip to Johannesburg to review shows but it was well worth the journey to see two new productions at Montecasino – Dear Evan Hansen at the Teatro and Thrill Me at the Pieter Toerien Theatre.
Both productions are having their South African premieres. Both have only recently opened in Johannesburg after successful Cape Town seasons. Both are unusual productions with a deeper, darker core than most musicals. Both have only short Gauteng seasons. And both are great!
I have always loved most of the music from Dear Evan Hansen, the first theatre venture from Pasek and Paul, the songwriters who went on to give us La La Land and The Greatest Showman. Dear Evan Hansen took six Tony Awards in 2017 and became a less successful, 2021 movie, featuring its original stage star, Ben Platt.
Through dialogue and brilliant songs with strong lyrics, the show tells a convoluted yet compelling and moving story of disconnect and deceit; of a chaos borne from isolation, anxiety, lies and exploitation. It is a cautionary tale touching on issues involving mental health, child-parent tensions and disappointments, manipulation, grief, hope and, not least of all, the power and perils of social media and the internet.
At the centre of this maelstrom is the quirky, lonely, troubled 17-year-old of the show title (Stuart Brown, who was the lead in the touring Queen musical, We Will Rock You), whose therapist suggests the teenager write a letter to himself, highlighting good things that might cheer him up.
That letter unintentionally ends up in the hands of another troubled teen, school bully and outcast Connor (Michael Stray), who later takes his own life.
When Evan’s letter is found by Connor’s parents (Sharon Spiegel Wagner and Charlie Bouguenon), they assume Evan was a close friend of Connor. They then approach Evan for more details about the son with whom they – and Connor’s sister, Zoe (Durban’s Keely Crocker) – could not connect.
Evan, long aching for any kind of acceptance and love, tells one lie after another, his fibs fuelling his sense of belonging. This leads to the plot taking several new turns, tumbling towards escalating complexity and an ending that seldom sees a dry eye in the house.
However, for all its many weighty issues, not commonly associated with a musical, Dear Evan Hansen remains full of heart. I was emotionally drained by the show’s final bows, but quick to join the majority in the audience for a standing ovation during the eight-member cast and eight-member band’s final bows.
This is one of the best musicals I have seen at the Teatro theatre and I will be very surprised if it does not sweep the boards at all national theatre awards next year.
The show, under the assured direction of Greg Karvellas, is a non-replica production, meaning the South African creative team could create their own vision of the show. In this regard, thunderous applause is due for the wonderful set and lighting design by Niall Griffin, who also designed the costumes.
The set and lighting rig remains a dominant, high-tech, constantly hypnotic presence throughout this show, exuding a sense of foreboding and almost becoming a character itself. It’s a blue haze of a towering, incandescent structure – all flashing lights and random twinkles, bleeding digital code and with video projections on screens in its innards.
A giant, circular contraption of lights at the set’s centre rises and falls at intervals throughout the show. Hovering over a revolve at its base, the structure constantly alludes to the seduction, dominance and unpredictability of social media and the online world which are so pertinent to this story. Hugely effective!
Dear Evan Hansen has musical direction by Kurt Haupt and features a wonderful live band. The eight-member cast includes Lucy Tops, who is excellent as Evan’s hardworking, single mother (her poignant So Big/So Small is a standout); Justin Swartz as Evan’s only ‘pal’, the amusing and tech-savvy Jared; and an ebullient Ntshikeng Matooane as attention-seeking Alana, one of Evan’s classmates.
Standouts are Stuart Brown as Evan (a very moving, nuanced performance) and Durban’s Keely Crocker, in her professional debut, as Evan’s love interest, Zoe, who performs one of the show’s most memorable songs, Requiem.
Any gripes? Well, while feeling for the show’s title character I have always had a problem with Evan and Jared getting off way too lightly for the magnitude of the pain and problems they cause. Also, while loving the spectacle of this terrific production, the acting is so very good that sometimes the nuances can disappear into the set and I wonder if a slightly more intimate setting would better allow closer connect to the many troubled souls depicted on stage.
That said, this Dear Evan Hansen remains truly remarkable and a must-see – captivating in its approach to challenging themes, laden with emotional depth, visually impressive and with uniformally terrific performances, both vocally and dramatically.
Featuring choreography by Louisa Talbot and excellent sound design by David Classen, the show is at the Teatro only until early April. Booking is via Ticketmaster.
Also a different kind of musical and of note, albeit on a far smaller scale than Dear Evan Hansen, is Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story, which is at Joburg’s Pieter Toerien theatre only until Sunday (March 30).
Imaginatively directed by Chris Weare, it features musical direction and onstage accompaniment by Jaco Griessel, and stars exciting relative newcomers, young John Conrad and Gianluca Gironi.
Don’t expect a cheerful, singalong kind of musical. An Annie or Mamma Mia, this most certainly ain’t! It definitely won’t be everyone’s cup of rooibos (the couple seated next to me looked shellshocked and refused to clap during the final bows), but there is no denying the talent on display here. The discerning theatregoer should find much to captivate.
Thrill Me is a dark, taut, offbeat, haunting production, impeccably well delivered, which is billed as a murder-musical. It tells the true story of a young and troubled homosexual couple, both men from pretty good homes, who, in early-1920s Chicago, develop a penchant for burglary and arson.
They constantly push the envelope for the thrill of satisfying a delusion of being superior and unstoppable. They form a pact to stay together at all costs, both strongly reliant on each other in different ways, and this eventually leads to them killing a young boy, simply for the hell of it…
Created by Stephen Dolginoff, and first produced off-Broadway in 2005, the production highlights the cocky, cagey, dominating, self-loving Richard Loeb (a striking Gironi) and his fawning, younger and more timid, but eager-to-please, friend-turned-lover, Nathan Leopold (Conrad).
They unleash an unnerving tale told through dialogue and a mix of songs which, if they become a little samey at times and are unlikely to see you humming anything when you leave, offer some vague hints of Sondheim and captivate while the story unfolds over 80 minutes, with no interval.
The set has pianist Jaco Griessel (superb throughout) perched at the back, stage right, behind a structure that could be a prison cell or a cage, both appropriate as symbolism. The action unfolds on a raised platform in front of this structure. It’s flanked by exposed lighting that is effectively manipulated to embellish on the air of menace and intrigue, most noticeably in a standout moment, There’s Nothing Like a Fire, showcasing both arson and the hesitant physical attraction between the men.
The story zooms in less on the murder itself than the escalating complexity of the troubled relationship, and the strong control Loeb has over the love-sick Leopold. An interesting direction technique here is for Loeb to often move in a sharp, overmannered, choreographed way. It’s a little jarring at first but as the plot progresses, it fits the character well, underscoring his lack of outward emotion when alongside Leopold.
As with the Dear Evan Hansen cast, the performers in Thrill Me are dramatically and vocally top notch. I enjoyed the production immensely and hope this powerful and arresting pocket musical finds its audience.
.....SoSuterBill..... 