Dear Evan Hansen

It’s such a small untruth—a harmless, almost analgesic lie—that begins the Tony-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen. But when the title character takes the easy way out while explaining why a letter addressed to him was found in the pocket of a high school bully who’s just committed suicide, the falsehood is taken up and amplified, first by his family, then by his friends. It makes them feel better about themselves and the deceased. The falsehood somehow makes its way online, where it goes viral on social media, becoming irrevocably immortalized in a video. More lies are required to shore up the initial falsehood, as Evan realizes that the deception has grown much bigger than him and cannot be sustained. The touring version of the 2016 Broadway hit, which The New York Times called a “gorgeous heartbreaker of a musical,” touches down at DPAC this week. —Byron Woods