The multiple Tony-winning Dear Evan Hansen gets its Southern California Regional Premiere at the La Mirada Theatre a whopping ten years after its Broadway debut in a production that reaffirms its status as one of the most powerful and emotionally compelling musicals of this or any century.

Not only that, but Tyler Donovan McCall makes this year’s breakout star turn as Evan, a high school senior assigned by his shrink the self-esteem-building task of writing “You can do it!” letters … to himself.

Unfortunately, one of these letters finds its way into the hands of campus stoner Connor Murphy (Nic Hermick), thereby giving the school sociopath one more opportunity to show Evan who’s boss.

Worse still, when the unthinkable happens and the letter is presumed to be Connor’s to his “secret best friend,” things begin spiraling out of control, and not just for Evan but also for his single mom Heidi (Gwen Hollander), whose day job and night classes leave her unable to give her son the attention he needs.

Equally affected are Connor’s parents Larry and Cynthia (Josh Adamson and Jill Van Velzer), already driven apart by their son’s antisocial behavior; his younger sister Zoe (Kendyl Sayuri Yokoyama), suffering from parental neglect and unaware of Evan’s unrequited crush; Evan’s classmate Jared (Gabriel Vernon Nunag), whose insistence upon being called a “family friend” leaves Evan with not a single real one to his name; and fellow student Alana (Analisa Idalia), invisible at school until events propel her to the center of “The Connor Project.”

Not only does Dear Evan Hansen (Tony-winning book by Steven Levenson and Tony-winning music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul) prove riveting in its depiction of families in crisis and the moral conundrum faced by its title character, it probes such hot-button topics as drug use, bullying, alienation among high schoolers, and the consequences of all three in an age when because of social media, no one can call their private life their own.

Add to that a teen hero who both wins and breaks your heart in equal measure, the most charming of love stories, and a twisty-turny plot sure to keep audiences on the edge of their seats from the musical’s engaging start to its stunningly powerful climax, and you’ve got a show whose nine Tony nominations and six wins were more than justified.

Not that Evan’s story is all teen angst and tears. It serves up plenty of laughs along the way, and never more so than when Evan, Connor, and Jared join voices in inventing the kind of email one of them might have written in “Sincerely Yours,” or when Alana elevates her status in Connor’s life from “I barely knew him” to “He was my best friend” in her quest for visibility, or just about any time Evan lets loose with his particular brand of verbal diarrhea.

Directing and choreographing Dear Evan Hansen’s SoCal Premiere is Stephen C. Anthony, who having starred as Evan both on Broadway and on tour, knows precisely how to convey the musical’s dramatic power, its comedic charms, and its emotional punch, not to mention the engaging bits of dance he inserts along the way as music director Ryan O’Connell and the production’s eight-piece orchestra bring Alex Lacamoire’s Tony-winning orchestrations to life.

It helps enormously that in his New York-based leading man, Anthony has found an Evan Hansen who makes us feel we’re discovering the character for the very first time as a teenager whose gangly frame makes it painfully impossible to hide from view.

And cringeworthy as Evan’s awkwardness can be, we can’t help but fall in love with him in spite of (or because of) his tics and quirks, and never more so that when McCall breaks our hearts every time he opens his mouth to sing Evan’s own heart out.

There’s not a weak link in Dear Evan Hansen’s all-around superb supporting cast, from Van Velzer’s emotionally fragile Cynthia to Adamson’s distant, quietly grieving Larry to Hermick’s edgy but adorable Connor to Yokoyama’s guarded but caring Zoe to Idalia’s increasingly out-of-control Alana to Nunag’s opportunistic but decidedly droll Jared. I fell in love with them all and never more so than with the ever revelatory Hollander’s profoundly loving Cynthia, who makes “So Big/So Small” the eleventh-hour stunner Pasek & Paul meant to be.

David Korins’ original Broadway designs may have been scaled down for the musical’s 2nd National Tour, but combined here with David Murakami’s onslaught of computer and cell phone screen images and lit to gorgeous, striking effect by Brian Gale, less may indeed add up to more in a La Mirada production design completed by Adam Ramirez’s costumes, Melissa Dupont’s hair, wigs, and makeup, and Josh Bessom’s sound design, all Grade A.

Last but not least, swings Amanda Angeles, Trent Mills, Michael Raul Perez, and Toni Elizabeth White get to show off vocal gifts both offstage and on in addition to covering the musicals eight leading roles.

Coby Getzug is assistant director and assistant choreographer. Michael Polak is fight and intimacy coordinator. Courtney Widgerton is production stage manager and Kathryn Davies and Lisa Palmire are assistant stage managers. Casting is by Julia Flores. David Elzer is publicist.

Ten years is an awfully long time to make an audience wait for a Broadway smash to get staged locally, especially one as deeply moving as Dear Evan Hansen. Luckily for Southern California audiences, Dear Evan Hansen at the La Mirada Theatre makes it well worth the wait.

McCoy Rigby Entertainment at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Boulevard, La Mirada. Through November 22. Thursdays at 7:30, Fridays at 8:00, Saturdays at 2:00 and 8:00, and Sundays at 1:30 and 6:30.
www.lamiradatheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
October 31, 2026
Photos: Jason Niedle

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts, Los Angeles Theater Review, McCoy Rigby Entertainment, Pasek & Paul, Steven Levenson