Quiet sniffling could be heard from across the audience nearing the end of Splinters Theatre Group’s performance of ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ at the Montgomery Theatre. Despite persistent technical difficulties, the show came together quite nicely, with plenty of pleasing vocals from the cast. Director Kate Parkin has tackled Steven Levenson’s book with grace, ensuring scenes do not just disappear into memory. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s music was in good hands with Musical Director Adam Walker, and Aggie Gryszel’s choreography was satisfactory and suited the musical itself but felt slightly uninspired.
‘Dear Evan Hansen’ is a musical about 17-year-old high schooler, Evan Hansen, who is learning to cope with depression and anxiety by writing letters to himself as per his therapist’s advice. Connor Murphy, his classmate, takes a copy of a letter Evan has written home after realising it mentions Hansen’s crush on his sister, Zoe Murphy. Connor is then found dead by suicide, with the note still on him. Evan falls into a pit of deceit after telling the Murphy family a story about how he was best friends with Connor. ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ is a story about struggles with grief and mental illness, and dealing with the consequences of spinning a web of lies.
The technical mishaps were very hard to ignore during the performance. All leading roles, apart from Evan and Zoe, seemed to have unbalanced and lower-quality microphones, distorting vocals massively. This was most noticeable at the start, with ‘Anybody Have A Map?’ sounding odd at best. Thankfully, the delightfully talented band’s microphones were significantly better, so all songs were still beautiful, but it’s a shame to hear the same treatment wasn’t given to the cast.
The lighting choices felt inconsistent, haphazard and inattentive, with the cast members being shrouded in shadow or completely blocked out by the projections for a majority of the show. The projections seemed to have several obvious spelling mistakes too, but I’m unsure if that was a stylistic choice. Although I must mention the lighting during ‘Sincerely Me’ was a rousing change and added some extra excitement to an already fun number.
Josh Fishburn as Evan Hansen was a fabulous choice for the role. His vocals were consistently sweet and healthy, and his belting was certainly impressive. I thoroughly enjoyed his rendition of Evan’s character, and he navigated emotional scenes with ease.
Madison Bland as Zoe Murphy was beyond great. Her chemistry with Fishburn felt slow, thoughtful and genuine, and her vocals, particularly during ‘Requiem’ and ‘Only Us ’, were tear-inducing.
The other standout performer, in my opinion, was Ruby Harker as Alana Beck. Her energy and dedication to the character were unmatched; she pivoted smoothly when any mishaps occurred, and her harmony lines were always clear and confident.
Charlie Hopper’s Connor Murphy had splendid emotional variety, and his suave dance moves didn’t go unnoticed; Joe Williams’ Jared Kleinman got several big laughs from the audience, including myself, due to his stoic, straight-faced humour.
Georgina Hartley-Willows as Heidi Hansen, Danni Hibbert as Cynthia Murphy and James Parkin as Larry Murphy all managed to show off their theatrical abilities, with Hartley-Willows’ ‘So Big / So Small’ leading to plenty of sobs from audience members and Parkin’s rendition of what would typically be seen as a “throw-away” song, ‘To Break in a Glove’, being the most memorable performance for me. I’d argue all the adult roles within the show were fantastically allocated.
The ensemble of ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ were a nice addition to some scenes, but I felt they were potentially underutilised, with some “high school” scenes feeling empty and the finale partially using a pre-recorded track rather than offstage vocals. I also saw them stumble into a bit of human traffic on stage when moving heavier set pieces. However, I found much enjoyment in the wristband scene, with the front group of girls making me chuckle.
To consolidate, the performance was produced to a well-done standard, and words fail to describe how proud each of the cast members should be.
The Splinters Theatre Group’s production of ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ is running from Tuesday 20th October to Friday 24th October 2026, with more information available at: https://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/events/dear-evan-hansen-2
Reviewer: Natalia Prucnal
Reviewed: 20th October 2026
North West End UK Rating:
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