CHRIS THURMAN: Drama musical is not simply a parable with an easy moral
Gazing up at the astonishing lighting and tech rig that loomed over an empty stage at the start of Dear Evan Hansen, its blue light suffusing the auditorium of the Artscape Opera House, I had the briefest sensation that I was underwater. It brought a feeling of quiet exhilaration — peaceful, free, like a moment floating in the sea-shallows before bursting through the surface into the sun.
I admit that perhaps I was overly primed for such analogies; this was, after all, opening night of a much-anticipated production, the kind of occasion that can send musical theatre fans into fits of lyricism. But the maritime metaphor proved appropriate, albeit in a different mood...
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