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<\/p>\nLA MIRADA, Calif. \u2014 A number of years before he donned the striped shirt and arm cast to play Evan Hansen, Tyler Donovan McCall was studying musical theater in New York and went to see the show on Broadway.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it definitely changed my life,\u201d he admitted. \u201cIt altered my brain chemistry for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Never before, he said, had he seen a show that so accurately depicted the modern-day high school experience or featured a young character as complicated and nuanced.<\/p>\n
As an actor, it thrilled him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a dream part to get to express so many different kinds of emotions, and I immediately latched on,\u201d McCall said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a dream role since, for almost a decade now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephen Christopher Anthony knows the role well. He starred in \u201cDear Evan Hansen\u201d on Broadway in 2018 and then launched the first national tour.<\/p>\n
In fact, the exact set pieces from that tour are being used in the production of the musical currently on stage at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, a production he\u2019s directing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is Evan\u2019s bedroom, where I spent four years of my life, and I\u2019m very happy to turn it over to Tyler,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s revisited the show a few times since his own Evan days and is honored now to be helming its Southern California regional theatre debut.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One thing he loves about the Tony-winning musical is that it acknowledges the grey areas in life.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of music theater, everything\u2019s perfect or everything is awful,\u201d he explained. \u201cThis show takes this approach that feels very true to life, which is that not everything is going to be perfect all the time, and how do we keep going?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(Spectrum News)<\/p>\n
The show deals with a number of very difficult themes. Mental health, anxiety, suicide, grief and loneliness \u2014 something Anthony said has gotten more pronounced since the show first debuted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re in a time of a little bit of a loneliness epidemic,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have more opportunities to connect with each other than ever, and yet we\u2019re more alone than ever. And it\u2019s a show about reaching out to each other. About looking for a connection.\u201d<\/p>\n
Real connection \u2014 not digital connection \u2014 although social media is in a way a character in the show, looming over Evan on massive LED screens.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s part and parcel of the story,\u201d Anthony explained as the light of the scrolling displays shined on his face. \u201cWe\u2019re immersing Evan in this hyper-digital social media landscape that becomes part of his anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n
Presenting mental health issues like anxiety and depression accurately is very important to both Evans \u2014 past and current. They know from experience how this musical impacts audience members who may recognize themselves or a loved one in the story.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just hope people take this story and know that they\u2019re not alone,\u201d McCall said, \u201cand choose to communicate with their family and with their friends rather than keeping things inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDear Evan Hansen\u201d runs at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts through Nov. 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LA MIRADA, Calif. \u2014 A number of years before he donned the striped shirt and arm cast to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,14438,7,967,5999,129322,5996],"class_list":["post-521668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-app-arts-entertainment","tag-california","tag-entertainment","tag-socal-what-you-need-to-know","tag-tara-lynn-wagner","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}