Tony Winner Dear Even Hansen
Manatee Performing Arts Center
By: Jay Handelman - Oct 23, 2026
The characters in the Tony Award-winning musical “Dear Evan Hansen” are all troubled in some way, struggling to fit in, trying to make connections or understand problems with loved ones they somehow missed.
Yet amid the sorrow and the somberness there are signs of hope of how we might all live better lives. I did shed a tear or two watching the final preview of the show’s first local production at the Manatee Players on Oct. 21 staged by Producing Artistic Director Rick Kerby. I also laughed and felt exhilarated, impressed by the strong staging, technical elements and the human and honest performances.
This is one of those all-too-rare productions that elevates your appreciation and expectations of community theater, where just about every performance feels genuine and right. The high school students who are at the heart of the story are or really look like teenagers. And they convincingly play all the mixed-up emotions the characters go through in their daily lives and as they deal with the loss of a classmate who nobody really knew.
It is also one of the few original contemporary musicals, not based on pe-existing materials, written by Steven Levenson and the songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who created a wonderfully tuneful and sometimes emotionally wrenching score.
Tragedy is at the heart of the story about the socially anxious Evan Hansen, whose therapist encourages him to write optimistic letters to himself to build his confidence. When his classmate Connor dies by suicide, he is found carrying one of Evan’s letters and people assume they had some kind of connection.
Evan does nothing to stop the spreading chatter about this “secret” friendship and starts to embellish tales of their time together, which brings him new and surprisingly welcome attention from classmates, Connor’s parents and, most importantly, Connor’s sister, Zoe, who Evan has liked from a distance.
Evan revels in the newfound feeling of being popular by association with tragedy –until everything spirals out of control. And with the truth comes a calmer Evan, one who might be able to grow into whatever future is to come.
It’s not an easy role, but Luke Magro, in his Manatee Players debut, makes Evan feel real. He delivers a heartbreaking performance that allows us to see how twisted up in knots he gets even in a simple chat with his overworked mother. That’s when he starts to speak so rapidly that it’s almost impossible to understand him (and I hope there’s a way to adjust that pace), but it reveals who he is and what he’s dealing with inside. You also get to see how he grows as his connection to Connor leads to an embrace from the grieving family and a community-wide campaign to address self harm.
Magro’s voice wavers at times in his opening “Waving Through a Window,” sometimes straining to hit the notes on pitch, but he sings his songs, particularly the inspirational “You Will Be Found” and the near-final “Words Fail,” with such honest emotion and passion, that it rarely matters. He’s nicely matched with another Manatee Players newcomer((,)) Bailey Sheridan as Connor’s sister, Zoe, who comes to care about Evan even with a big chip on her shoulder about all the things she didn’t know about her older brother. She makes you care as she sings “Requiem” and “Only Us.”
Carter Hasbrouck, as Connor, also has a challenging role. He’s kind of a bully when we first see him, but he appears to be nicer in Evan’s imagined version of their friendship, sort of a fantasy Connor, the way others might have liked him.
Shannon Wright is moving as Cynthia, Connor’s mother, trying to make sense of her loss and trying to use Evan as a kind of replacement son.
And Sarah Yonko, who has played dozens of roles at the theater, has rarely had a character so rich and deep as Heidi Hansen, Evan’s too-busy but present mother. She makes the most of it. You couldn’t ask for a more caring mother and you can feel her pain and hurt in the final scenes when she discovers everything that has been happening that Evan never mentioned. It looks like her heart is almost bursting during “So Big, So Small,” in which she tells her son that even when things are at their worst, she’s not going away.
The cast also features some humor from Kyle Johnson as Evan’s cousin and internet helper Jared, and Lena Wigfall as another classmate who may go too far in dealing with loss.
Kerby has put together a visually stunning production that features Nick Jones’ impressive collection of video projections of social media posts about Connor and Evan that say a lot about the good and bad of online commentary. Jones also designed the equally impactful lighting that adds another dimension to the story.
Caren Brady has designed costumes that that perfectly suit the characters we come to know.
Musical director Paul Smith has done well working with the cast on the score and making the words clear, even if some of the harmonies occasionally miss the mark.
I have rarely felt so connected to the characters I was watching on stage. It’s wonderful to be carried along in a story by performers who make you believe their every awkward move and then come to the finale feeling a little changed.
“Dear Evan Hansen.” Book by Steven Levenson. Music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Directed and choreographed by Rick Kerby. Reviewed Oct. 21. Manatee Players at the Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave., West, Bradenton. Through Nov. 1. Tickets are $35-$43. manateeperformingartscenter.com; 941-748-5875
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