Harry's gang: When suicide takes center stage

“Dear Evan Hansen” is a popular Broadway musical that centers around young people and how they deal with a suicide among their peers.

Sound like an odd theme for a musical? Well, in some ways, it is. The musical is funny, romantic, tragic and thought-provoking. It’s also shallow, overwrought, ironic, and sentimental.

But it’s been wildly popular, especially with young people.

The story centers around a young man, Evan Hansen, who just started his senior year in high school. Evan has an emotional issue, unidentified in the story because it’s not important, but we learn that he suffers from severe anxiety and takes medication for it.

We also learn that Evan has an unrequited crush on a girl who is a year younger; he’s spent an awful lot of time thinking about her, but whenever he gets the chance to talk to her, his anxiety overtakes him and he ends up saying something stupid, odd, or both.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because, on some level, this happens to everybody. But try telling a 17-year-old boy that. Frankly, kids that age simply don’t have enough of a worldview to understand that they are, in fact, not alone. That the stress of growing up is experienced by everyone. That it’s normal. That it’s also unavoidable.

Like most angst-ridden teen dramas, there are familiar characters. The rich parents, who fight a lot and have just about no clue on how to raise their pretty daughter and a troubled son; a peppy overachiever who is prone to hyperbole and drama; a close friend who is only a friend because his parents are friends with Evan’s parents. Then, it turns out Evan doesn’t even have two parents; his father left when he was 7 and his mother is left trying to raise her son, work full-time, and get educated to get a better job.

I don’t want to risk giving away the plot, but another troubled student commits suicide pretty early in the story. (I felt a little sorry for the actor who finally gets his big break in a major Broadway production, and his character gets killed off 10 minutes into the show.)

What happens next is an example of how the best intentions, as it has been said, can be a roadmap to damnation. At first, Evan seems to have found a cure for his anxiety, but like any temporary solution, it falls apart quickly. Soon, events have escalated beyond anything Evan could have possibly imagined, and his anxiety roars back even worse than before.

It was a fun show to see, and I admit I used every tissue in my pocket during the first act.

During intermission, Tara mentioned that she needed more tissues, and a man in front of us turned around to say “Why, do you have a cold?” which drew laughter from those around us. The man’s eyes looked a little red and puffy too, if you ask me.

Every generation has its issues, I suppose. Drunk driving was a huge issue when I was growing up. I personally knew several people who died that way, and while the problem has been curtailed, it still happens. Suicide is more common now, it seems, and the pain it causes is intense.

I think the play “Dear Evan Hansen” is popular with kids because it explores the feelings, emotions, and alienation felt by kids today, especially in this tech-driven world. It’s given me a lot to think about.

Pete Radosevich is the publisher of the Pine Knot News community newspaper and an attorney in Esko who hosts the talk show Harry’s Gang on CAT-7. Reach him at [email protected].