Dear Northport High School,

Today is going to be a good day, and here’s why.

Dear Evan Hansen is the most well known play of this generation. The story plot addresses modern issues such as social media usage, social anxiety and suicide. It has given those who are struggling with anxiety a community to talk to, to tell them that they are not alone. The story follows a boy with severe social anxiety who fabricates a friendship with a dead classmate which brings him closer to the classmate’s family. He helps them heal, and gives himself a sense of purpose he never had.

The play originally premiered in Washington in 2015 and has taken the world by storm ever since. A year later the play made it to Broadway. The music is composed by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the same composers who wrote the soundtrack to the movie The Greatest Showman. They have won three Tony awards including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score, plus a Grammy award for Best Musical Theater Album.

I have listened to the soundtrack for the last three years, and although I knew the story well before seeing the real thing, seeing the play is so moving and powerful. You can sense the emotion from each actor and actress. Each performance brings the audience to tears by the end. It beautifully encompasses projection screens to put the social media messages relevant to each scene.