✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Theatre

Dear Evan Hansen, Noel Coward Theatre review ★★★★★

26 Oct 21 – 22 Oct 22, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM

Extended run: smash hit musical Dear Evan Hansen brings a heartfelt story of teenage isolation and a soaring songbook to London

By Lucy Brooks on 21/2/2020

21 CW readers are interested
Sam Tutty (Evan Hansen), Lucy Anderson (Zoe Murphy) photo by Matthew Murphy
Sam Tutty (Evan Hansen), Lucy Anderson (Zoe Murphy) photo by Matthew Murphy
Dear Evan Hansen, Noel Coward Theatre review 4 Dear Evan Hansen, Noel Coward Theatre review Lucy Brooks
Musical theatre takes on Gen Z in Dear Evan Hansen, which brings a fresh version of the teenage misfit trope to London.


The heartfelt story of a loner who accidentally goes viral has already charmed Broadway, winning six Tony awards and a Grammy for Best Musical Theatre Album. The music and lyrics come courtesy of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the dream team behind La La Land and The Greatest Showman. And these soaring, soulful songs tell a timely story of isolation and unlikely salvation.


For all the hype, Dear Evan Hansen is fairly low key for a West End musical: it’s a subtle, intimate story with just eight actors and minimal choreography. The wider world beyond is conjured with a set built from suspended screens, showing a constant stream of social media messages.


The titular Evan Hansen (played by newcomer Sam Tutty) is an anxious and lonely high-school student, who has been advised by a therapist to write himself letters with positive mantras. ‘Dear Evan Hansen, today is going to be a good day and here’s why…’ he writes on the first day of the new term. But when school bully Connor Murphy snatches the letter, everything changes for Evan.



Sam Tutty (Evan Hansen), Rebecca McKinnis (Heidi Hansen). Photo: Matthew Murphy

Without spoiling too much of the story, Evan tells a white lie that grows, opening up his world as it spreads. Suddenly, he’s writing himself into the spotlight, cosying up with his long-term crush and slotting into the nuclear family he never had.


Sam Tutty is remarkably confident in his West End debut, playing Evan with a squirmy shyness and a sweet but strong singing voice. He makes the adolescent awkwardness at once funny and deeply tender. He has strong support from Rebecca McKinnis as Evan’s overworked single mum, juggling worries and ambitions for her son with the guilt and devotion of parenthood.


There’s plenty of pithy comedy, especially in the silliness of an escalating lie, but the show is most striking in its unflinching honesty. It explores suicide and depression with a light but probing touch. The result is moving but never melodramatic or preachy.


Dear Evan Hansen is universally heart-warming and thought-provoking, but it’s particularly pertinent for teens and young adults whose impulse is to bottle everything up and retreat into themselves. The show zings with zeitgeisty details about a generation who grew up online, but there’s also a timelessness in the emotional arc of an outsider who finds his way in.


We left feeling uplifted – and itching to stream the soundtrack on repeat.


Click here to book tickets for Dear Evan Hansen at Noël Coward Theatre


What Dear Evan Hansen, Noel Coward Theatre review
Where Noel Coward Theatre, St Martin's Lane, London, WC2N 4AU | MAP
Nearest tube Leicester Square (underground)
When 26 Oct 21 – 22 Oct 22, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM
Price £30+
Website Click here for more information and tickets



Up to £149
Sam Tutty (Evan Hansen), Lucy Anderson (Zoe Murphy) photo by Matthew Murphy
Booking closed
26 Oct 21 - 23 Jul 22

Dear Evan Hansen

See all tickets

Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 3–5 February
Things to do in London this weekend: 3–5 February
Gemma Arterton in Funny Woman, Sky Max (Photo: Sky)
What to watch on TV this week
London exhibitions on now — Peter Doig, Courtauld Gallery
Top 15 exhibitions on now in London

Editor's Picks

London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London (Photograph: Peter Lewicki)
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London, 2023
Immersive London: pop-ups and secret adventures in the city
Immersive London: pop-ups and secret adventures in the city
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

We recommend nearby

  • The Alchemist, Covent Garden

    Renowned for its molecular mixology, placing theatre and immersive experiences at its core, The Alchemist opens its second London branch in Covent Garden

    Read more...
    Map
  • Henrietta Hotel and Restaurant

    Michelin-starred chef Ollie Dabbous has teamed up with luxury hospitality specialists The Experimental Group to open a modern British bistro within a boutique Covent Garden hotel.

    Read more...
    Book Map
  • Cora Pearl

    Cora Pearl, the second restaurant from the team behind Kitty Fisher's, takes its name from the infamous 19th-century French courtesan. The menu, consisting of both French and British influenced cuisine, is deceptively simple, with cheese and ham toasties, fish stew, and chocolate ganache on offer.

    Read more...
    Book Map
21

Musical Theatre

West End Shows

Broadway transfer

Musicals

You might like

  • Timothée Chalamet's London Theatre debut

    Timothée Chalamet in 4000 Miles, The Old Vic

  • To Kill a Mockingbird, Gielgud Theatre review. Harry Redding (Jem Finch), David Moorst (Dill Harris), Gwyneth Keyworth (Scout Finch), background Pamela Nomvete (Calpurnia). Photo: Marc Brenner

    To Kill a Mockingbird, Gielgud Theatre review ★★★★★

  • Jessie Buckley and Josh O'Connor in Romeo and Juliet, National Theatre via Sky Arts (Photo: Sky)

    Romeo and Juliet, National Theatre via Sky Arts review ★★★★★

  • Jessica Chastain, A Doll's House. Photo by Charlie Gray

    Jessica Chastain in A Doll's House, Playhouse Theatre

  • The Book of Dust, Bridge Theatre

    The Book of Dust - La Belle Sauvage, Bridge Theatre ★★★★★

  • The Effect, Boulevard Theatre

    The Effect, Boulevard Theatre



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×