Evan Hansen (Logan Clinger) and Larry Murphy (Brian Golub) in Actors' Playhouse's "Dear Evan Hansen." (Photo by Alberto Romeu)
In 2022, Miami native Stephen C. Anthony headlined a triumphant national tour of “Dear Evan Hansen,” which included a stop in his hometown. Four years later, he has returned — this time as director of the emotionally potent South Florida regional premiere professional production of the multi-award-winning show.
It runs under three hours with an intermission and is at the Miracle Theater through Sunday, March 8 at Actors' Playhouse in Coral Gables. It's the same company where Anthony began his theatrical journey at age 10.
With sensitivity and precision, Anthony directs gifted actors whose performances are astonishingly authentic. Also, their singing voices are clear, controlled, and expressive. They wrap their voices around composer and lyricist Ben Pasek and Justin Paul's heartfelt and sometimes haunting songs with rich accompaniment from live musicians.
Logan Clinger as Evan Hansen in Actors' Playhouse's production of "Dear Evan Hansen." (Photo by Alberto Romeu)
“Words Fail” is one of the songs in “Dear Evan Hansen.” The song highlights the title character's inability to express the truth to repair the damage he caused. But words alone also fail to convey just how successfully these performers imbue this emotionally rich show's flawed, complex characters with humanity.
For many, “Dear Evan Hansen” needs no introduction. Following a successful Washington D.C. premiere and Off-Broadway run, it opened on the Great White Way in 2016.
The show quickly stole audiences' and critics' hearts, netting six Tony Awards, including “Best Musical,” and earned rave reviews. It also brought much-needed attention to people suffering mental health issues.
In addition, audiences reported seeing themselves and/or people they know in the title character and others who populate the show's world. Like “Next to Normal,” “Dear Evan Hansen” uses musical theater to tackle mental health struggles with honesty, compassion, and nuance.
Evan Hansen is a high school senior with social anxiety and depression. A grieving family mistakes a letter he writes as therapy for their son's suicide note addressed to Evan. This misunderstanding leads to social media attention and newfound popularity for Evan.
The layered musical examines grief, mental health, the consequences of deception, the importance of connection, as well as the omnipresence and power of social media. The fact that librettist Steven Levenson never specifies a setting reinforces the notion that these themes are universal.
Logan Clinger is making his Actors' Playhouse and Florida professional theater debut as the title character. While he may lack the extensive credits of veteran actors, Clinger is a gem whose nuanced and moving performance as Evan makes you empathize with him.
Watch and listen as Clinger's Evan, his arms hanging in tension, repeatedly shuts his eyes and raises the pitch of his voice, signs of his anxiety. When his voice rises, he's close to authentic tears, his panic palpable.
Evan Hansen (Logan Clinger) and Zoe Murphy (Maya Jade Frank) in "Dear Evan Hansen." (Photo by Alberto Romeu)
As Clinger portrays him, we hear Evan's attempts to speak the truth — only for the Murphy family to dismiss him as a boy in shock. Watching and listening, we feel we're in the same room with a young man overwhelmed by anxiety and sadness.
He doesn't want to lie; he simply cannot get a word of truth in. But we hardly blame the Murphies for dismissing Evan's honesty — they have just lost their son to suicide. Larry and Cynthia Murphy harbor a strong need to believe that their late son had a friend.
Stacie Bono's sensitive portrayal of Evan's mother, Heidi, credibly conveys a woman who cares deeply for her only child. You sense this devoted mom truly wants the best for Evan and struggles to guide him through challenges. She squats beside her son, gently touches his face, and hugs him tightly. But there's also an unmistakable ache in her voice when she feels that Evan has shut her out of his life.
In a multi-faceted performance, Bono also captures Heidi's motherly demeanor. At the beginning of the production, her face and voice are aglow with cheerfulness, warmth, and optimism. She does laundry, a bit of stage business that enhances the performance's realism. In short, she's the mom we all wish we had.
Logan Clinger as Evan Hansen and Stacie Bono as his mother, Heidi, in Actors' Playhouse's production of "Dear Evan Hansen."(Photo by Alberto Romeu)
Larry and Cynthia Murphy are also good parents who care deeply. As Brian Golub and Jeni Hacker deftly portray them, you never sense that their characters are in any way malicious when they dismiss Evan's attempts to honestly explain that he wrote the letter to himself.
At one point, Golub's Larry struggles to form words when he tries to say his son committed suicide. But he sounds like a different person when Larry sings “To Break in a Glove.” With an upbeat, carefree manner, Golub's Larry bonds with Clinger's Evan as though he were his father. In the metaphor-heavy song, Larry offers Evan Connor's old baseball glove.
Hacker's performance is equally effective. She transitions seamlessly from an emotionally hurting mother (Hacker's naturally expressive face vividly conveys pain and weariness) to an upbeat, pleasant woman who gradually comes to believe Evan's story about his close “friendship” with Connor.
Speaking of Connor, he appears both alive and, after his death, as a ghost haunting Evan. Appropriately dressed in black (costumes by designer Ellis Tillman), his dark hair matching his outfit, Gianni Palmarini delivers a dark, intense, and consistently convincing performance.
Believable menace gushes from his voice when Palmarini's brooding Connor grows angry. With unapologetic directness, he says exactly what's on his mind, his wide, dangerous-looking dark eyes and aggressive posture daring you to cross him.
Maya Jade Frank imbues Connor's sister, Zoe, with a convincingly subdued aura that seamlessly changes to anger, vulnerability, and later charm as she comes to believe Evan's story. Throughout, as Frank deftly portrays her, you sense her character's conflicted feelings toward her late brother and her closeness to Evan. Their chemistry is strong, and you believe the couple were long attracted to each other before the musical begins.
Evan Hansen (Logan Clinger). (Photo by Alberto Romeu)
With a vivid expression marked by deadpan and sarcasm, Paul Tuaty nails Jared Kleinman's dry humor. With technological prowess, Jared fabricates past emails that trace the supposed friendship between Evan and Connor. Tuaty supplies comic relief with irresistible one-liners delivered with the actor's sarcasm and swagger. Beneath the bravado, Tuaty hints at Jared's own insecurities, which surface when his character snaps.
Malaika Wanjiku conveys constant energy and determination as Alana Beck, the student who heads the “Connor Project,” a student-led, online suicide awareness and memorial campaign created by Evan, Alana, and Jared to honor Connor. The initiative aims to keep his memory alive while assuring struggling teens that they are not alone. Wanjiku's can-do spirit helps drive the story forward, and her Alana is a detail-oriented perfectionist who never quits.
Such energy extends to the show's musical numbers, a contemporary, pop-rock theater score. Pasek and Paul, once called “the heirs to Rodgers and Hammerstein,” have created high-intensity, emotional ballads and catchy, melodic pop-influenced songs. A highlight is the act one closer, “You Will Be Found.” It begins softly, in dim lighting, with a lone voice singing, but grows into a hopeful, bright song with multiple voices singing the earnest lyrics: “Even when the dark comes crashing through, / When you need a friend to carry you, / When you're broken on the ground, / You will be found.”
Another musical highlight is “Waving Through A Window,” which Evan sings to describe how he's constantly “on the outside, always looking in.” When he reaches the lyrics “Waving Through a Window,” Clinger's Evan shuts his eyes, as though he can't bear the fact that he's an outsider. Clinger's Evan also disappears into a song in which he sings about his “friendship” with Connor. He looks and sounds like a carefree child at a playground.
Anthony's familiarity with the material shows in his assured direction. He finds the right balance between restraint and heightened emotion without ever tipping into melodrama. He also underscores the musical's humor, an essential counterweight to its darkness.
The staging remains fluid and purposeful, and the production never drags despite lasting nearly three hours. Its forward momentum mirrors Evan's spiraling inner life, while repeated, overlapping sounds reminiscent of social media notifications evoke the constant pressure and inner turmoil consuming him.
Cynthia Murphy (Jeni Hacker), Larry Murphy (Brian Golub), and Evan Hansen (Logan Clinger) in the Actors' Playhouse production of "Dear Evan Hansen." (Photo by Alberto Romeu)
Overhead projections by multimedia designer Josieu Jean complement Brandon M. Newton's minimalist scenic design by filling in environmental details. A simple bed, for instance, establishes a bedroom, while additional information appears across multiple screens. The multiple projection screens arranged haphazardly function as the production's primary scenic element, reinforcing the omnipresence of social media in contemporary life.
Lighting designer Eric Nelson enhances the emotional landscape with carefully calibrated shifts in intensity. Dim lighting deepens the musical's darker moments and creates an intimate, romantic atmosphere during scenes between Evan and Zoe. At other times, brighter, more forceful illumination underscores the urgency of the story's themes.
“Dear Evan Hansen's” enduring themes — the pervasiveness of social media, the need for human connection, and the importance of mental health resources — all resonate during a time of division and isolation for many in 2026. And Anthony's triumphant return to Actors' Playhouse, a well-earned homecoming, establishes him as a perceptive director who treats this vital musical with the care and empathy it deserves. Evan's journey reminds us that even during unbearably painful times, we're not alone – we will “be found.”
Actors' Playhouse has partnered with local mental health organizations to provide resources for audience members who may be struggling. This reinforces the show's message that no one needs to face mental health challenges alone.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Actors' Playhouse's “Dear Evan Hansen”
WHEN: Through Sunday, March 8. Performances are 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday.
WHERE: Miracle Theatre, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables.
TICKETS: Prices range from $40 to $100.
INFORMATION: (305) 444-9293 or www.actorsplayhouse.org.
