Pentadic Criticism: Dear Evan Hansen

For Critical Essay number two, I plan on using the Broadway musical, Dear Evan Hansen. It’s one of my favorites, coming in at a close second to Hamilton. This musical is about teen suicide and the effect of social media on today’s society. Evan, the main character, accidentally gets looped in Connor’s friend after Connor commits suicide, even when they didn’t know each other. When his memorial speech of Connor goes viral, Evan realizes that he’s too far into the lie to fix it, and everything blows up in his face. This musical is primarily aimed towards teenagers and their parents but is not meant at all for small children. It uses music as a method of getting the message across and invoking emotions in the audience.