BSC's Dear Evan Hansen Opens in Las Vegas — Here's the Full Picture

Broadway Stage Collective's Dear Evan Hansen opened March 26 at Summerlin Library and Performing Arts Center — the Nevada premiere of the six-time Tony Award-winning musical. It runs through April 19. The short version: it's worth seeing. The production is honest about the material, the leads deliver, and the design makes an interesting choice rather than a safe one.

The Direction

Director Jen Hemme — 25-year CCSD theatre educator, Smith Center Heart of Education Award, MTI Courage in Theatre Award, founding BSC board member — has stripped the show of its stadium instincts. This production doesn't try to approximate the Broadway scale. It pursues intimacy, and the choice is consistent from the opening number to the finale.

The Performances

Gus Pappas (Evan Hansen) climbs the role's mountain. It's technically brutal and emotionally relentless, and his personal investment — his program note mentions his own experience with depression and anxiety — shows in the performance. Shannon Payette Seip (Cynthia Murphy), who made her Off-Broadway debut and played Beverley Bass in the Western Australian premiere of Come From Away, brings professional scale that elevates the room without dominating it.

Tristen Serpa (Connor Murphy, Boston Conservatory at Berklee) handles a structurally demanding role with precision. Emma Phillips (Zoe) makes her character feel real. Khloe Judd, 17, student at Las Vegas Academy of the Arts with professional credits already at Majestic Repertory Theatre and the Smith Center, plays Alana Beck with authority.

The Design

Jeff Tidwell's projection design inverts the original Broadway vocabulary: instead of screens externalizing Evan's viral moment, the design renders interiority — fragmentation, the texture of an anxious mind. It's a coherent interpretive choice with 40 years of professional design experience behind it. Jeremy Jones' lighting (Cirque du Soleil's O, Miss Saigon National Tour) keeps the cues tight. Holly Stanfield (Stephen Schwartz's 2021 Musical Theatre Teacher of the Year) leads a pit that sustains the Pasek & Paul score.

The Hope Means Nevada Partnership

BSC partnered with Hope Means Nevada — a statewide nonprofit dedicated to eliminating teen suicide — specifically because of this show's subject matter. HMN representatives are present at select performances. The National Crisis Line is 988.