Evan Hansen is the villain of his own story. There are a few people I have seen that are upset over the context of Dear Evan Hansen ruining the songs, but that’s the point. Evan could have easily told the Murphys that he was not friends with Connor when they assumed so due to Connor’s name on his cast, but he chose to lie. The context of the musical is an anxious and isolated high schooler who is aching to be understood and belong in the chaos of the social media age. Evan is supposed to be writing letters to himself for therapy; one of these just so happened to fall into Connor’s hands before Connor had overdosed on drugs, leading to Connor’s parents having said letter. Evan being anxious and antisocial should not be an excuse for him lying and keeping that lie up.
The songs in the musical paint an amazing story of grief and coming to terms with it, but that vision is ruined by the fact that Evan is a genuinely terrible person. Evan kept up this lie because he got the taste of the life he wanted and because he finally got the girlfriend he wanted (which just so happened to be Connor’s sister). Even if Evan is anxious, it is not that hard to tell the Murphys that he was not friends with their son at all.
It does not matter that Evan went and made a page for Connor so people would remember him. He still took Connor’s life as his own and manipulated a grieving family. The song “Good For You” represents the absolute anger Evan’s mom and friends have when they find out this is all just a huge lie, while in “Requiem,” Connor’s family is saying they aren’t going to mourn his death for their own reasons. Zoe is doubtful that Connor was as kind as Evan makes him out to be; Connor’s mother has the fake emails written in “Sincerely Me” to remember her son; and the reason that Connor’s dad has is unclear.
This musical is a story told from the villain’s perspective. Evan got the life he wanted but lost it because his web of lies collapsed in on itself because he could not keep up the lie anymore; he had run out of lies to tell to keep his story straight, which led to the Murphys figuring out his lie and hating him for it, rightfully so.
The way the story is told is what makes it my favorite musical. The way it is told makes Evan seem like the good protagonist that stories are used to, but after a little digging, it is exposed that Evan is his own antagonist.
