I really didn’t know very much about Dear Evan Hansen when the show rolled into town on its current UK tour. The song You Will Be Found is obviously the biggest hit and pops up on various musical reviews and occasional variety shows, but outside of that I could only have told you that the main character has a cast on his arm, and Ben Platt was in the film.

That being the case, I was not at all prepared. It’s intense, isn’t it? Right from the start, this kid owning the stage with his angst and social anxiety was both excruciating and completely relatable. (Ryan Kopel was beyond outstanding in this role.) You add in the extra layers of the parents being completely human and not knowing what to do for the best, and the main plot where a small lie to make people feel better suddenly becomes out of control, and you’ve got a very interesting and complex musical.

The songs are great, written by the creators of The Greatest Showman, I’m not sure they will be ones I listen to over and over but a couple of them have definitely stuck in my head… such sweet sadness in For Forever! I haven’t been brave enough to listen to the soundtrack yet, because being such a mess at the end of the show is still pretty vivid in my mind, I’m not ready to relive it yet.

Which is part of the problem, because as I am a bit of a hoarder, knowing I liked this show, I bought the novel adaptation and also the film… but when am I going to feel ready to devour these two? I related to these characters so much, even though my mental health is in a much better place and my teenage angst is tucked away safely in the past. I can see why this show has been such a great success as I can imagine many, many people getting comfort from seeing themselves on stage. And that glimpse of hope that things will get better. This too shall pass!

It’s a difficult one to review and recommend, because I found it intense and a bit raw but so BRILLIANT. I’m slightly annoyed it’s taken me so long to see the show but very, very glad that I have done so now. Watch this space for book and film reviews coming… soon?