The most powerfully emotional musical I have ever seen is Dear Evan Hanson (on stage, not the film) and, I am rather shocked to say, this show equals it.
The emotional journey of this family as they deal with the mother's mental illness is overwhelming. You are completely drawn in, sharing their pain and confusion and loss and the deep love that just can't seem to heal that loss and bring them back together.
They are completely believable as a family, exhibiting love, affection, annoyance, anger, recrimination - all the complications of family relationships, but pushed to extremes by the mother's illness and the unspoken loss they have suffered and the struggle to repair the damage.
There is humor as well, amidst the anguish, showing that each character is more than just the sum of their pain. These are real, three-dimensional people that you totally believe and come to deeply care about.
The show is perfectly cast with each actor brilliantly manifesting their character and each with a phenomenal voice that could not possibly be improved upon. Caissie Levy and Jack Wolfe create a beautiful, albeit dysfunctional bond as do each of the other actors. I honestly can't imagine anyone else playing these roles. A perfect cast.
There is little dialogue with the vast majority of the show being sung and the songs are perfect: baring their souls, expressing pain and longing and love and, yes, even some humor. And there is no easy, pat conclusion; by the end, you will be heartbroken and yet, somehow, also inspired.
This is not a show with a happy, sentimental conclusion or a devastating, tragic conclusion but a story that is as honest and complex and deeply emotional as real life.
