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Xavier Haynes, center, plays Evan Hansen in Mid City Civic Theatre's production of the hit Broadway musical, 'Dear Evan Hansen.' 

Evan Hansen messes up.

That's not giving away a spoiler preceding Mid City Civic Theatre's production of the hit Broadway musical, "Dear Evan Hansen." It's the story's premise.

Because if Evan doesn't knowingly mess up his already precarious situation, there would be no story. And the story is complicated.

Mid City Civic will open this musical with all of its complexities on Friday on its stage at 7155 Florida Blvd. The production will mark the community theater's second show since its inception in October 2025.

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Marion Mayfield as single mom Heidi Hansen hugs her son, Evan Hansen, played by Xavier Haynes, in an emotional scene in Mid City Civic Theatre's production of 'Dear Evan Hansen.'  

"We're almost to a year from when we took the keys and changed our name," board member Caty Lejeune said. "And we're getting ready to open this giant musical with an amazing cast. Every time I watch one of their rehearsals, it's like watching a dream. They're singing, and I'm sitting there with tears in my eyes."

Lejeune refers to Mid City Civic Theatre's taking stewardship of the late Theatre Baton Rouge's nonprofit charter, then reviving the theater space. Mid City staged its first production, William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing," in June.

Now it's a major shift to "Evan Hansen," which won the 2017 Tony Award for Best Musical. It tells the story of a Maryland high schooler named Evan who suffers from social anxiety and depression.

Evan is assigned by his therapist to start out each day by writing himself a letter about how the day is going to be good and why. Each letter begins with the salutation, "Dear Evan Hansen."

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As for the Murphy family, from left, Cameron Augustine is Zoe, Coy Lyles is Connor, Natalie Overall is Cynthia and Chase Duhe is Larry in 'Dear Evan Hansen.'

But things go sideways when Evan purposely leaves one of his letters on a printer to be discovered by an anti-social student, Connor Murphy. Without giving too much more away, something happens to Connor, and his parents discover Evan's note in their son's pocket.

They believe their son wrote the note to Evan. Instead of fessing up, Evan opts to perpetuate a lie that wins him friends while spiraling into disaster.

The 18-member cast is led by 15-year-old Xavier Haynes as Evan, a role that requires the Zachary High School sophomore to be onstage 99% of the musical.

"I didn't think I was going to be in this show at first," he said. "And I didn't think I was going to be Evan. Then I wondered if I would even accept the role, because it's so demanding."

But here he is wearing Evan Hansen's signature blue and white striped shirt, tackling the musical's demanding numbers like a pro.

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From left, Xavier Haynes is Evan, Anthony Burton Jr. is Jared and Coy Lyles is Connor in Mid City Civic Theatre's 'Dear Evan Hansen.' 

"This is a monster of a role, and it requires the lead to sing in a high range," Music Director John Thomas said. "Xavier is great in this part."

Thomas not only is impressed with Haynes' musical ability but also the rest of the cast, which includes three adults, Natalie Overall and Chase Duhe in the roles of Connor's parents, and Marion Mayfield in the role of Evan's single mom, Heidi Hansen.

Rounding out the main cast is LSU theater and marketing student Coy Lyles as Connor Murphy and LSU accounting student Cameron Augustine as Connor's younger sister, Zoe.

The show is directed by Lily McGill with Rebecca Smith as assistant director.

"We're the first theater in Baton Rouge to perform 'Dear Evan Hansen,' so this is a Baton Rouge premiere," McGill said. "And we're so blessed to have an age-appropriate cast for this show, meaning, for the most part, we have teenagers playing teenagers. And in staging 'Dear Evan Hansen,' it's like saying this theater is back."

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Antoni Amina Rogers as Ophelia hugs Louis Mangiaracina as Hamlet while rehearsing a scene for the h Shakespeare Company's production of 'Hamlet: Prince of Denmark.'

'Hamlet: Prince of Denmark'

Now for something completely different.

That's how the Monty Python comedy troupe would put it, and they would be exactly right. But the main character in the h Shakespeare Company's upcoming production is a bit more serious.

Make that a lot more serious, because the company will be tackling Shakespeare's saga, "Hamlet: Prince of Denmark." The play is not only one of the Bard's best-known but also his lengthiest.

"If we were to perform 'Hamlet' in its entirety, it would be a four-and a-half hour play," said Jennifer Bouquet, executive and artistic director. "So, we've cut the roles down from 28 to 14, and we've cut the script down to the major scenes."

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Aubrey Wesley, left, is Bernardo, and Devin Bureau is Horatio in 'Hamlet: Prince of Denmark.'

Even with all the cuts, "Hamlet" will run two hours when it opens on Friday in the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center, 233 St. Ferdinand St. It will tell the same story of Prince Hamlet's attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize the throne and marry Hamlet's mother.

"We thought it was high time for us to do a tragedy," Bouquet said. "We've gotten the audience to know that we can take care of them with comedy, because everything we've done up until this point has been Shakespeare's comedy. But we wanted to let the audience know that we could take care of them with a tragedy, too."

When the company announced that it would be staging "Hamlet," 31 actors showed up to audition for its 14 roles.

"I mean, just the amount of talent we have in this area is amazing," Bouquet said. "And we have an incredible cast for this show."

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Julie Roundtree, left, is Queen Gertrude, and Louis Mangiaracina is Hamlet in the h Shakespeare Company's production of 'Hamlet: Prince of Denmark.'

Shakespeare wrote his tragedy between 1599 and 1601. The play was first performed in 1601, though it wasn't published until 1603.

Louis Mangiaracina plays Hamlet while Travis M. Daigle plays his uncle, King Claudius. Julie Roundtree plays Hamlet's mother, Queen Gertrude; Devin Bureau plays Hamlet's best friend Horatio and Antoni Amina Rogers plays Ophelia.

Rounding out the principal roles are Chase Bernard as Laertes and Chris Dalton as Polonius.

"Hamlet" will not only mark the company's first Shakespeare tragedy but its first production with swordplay.

"We have the sword fight at the end between Laratis and Hamlet," Bouquet said. "You have to choreograph sword fights, and that was the first thing we did. We had our first read-through right after July 4 weekend, and we told everyone to get familiar with their characters. And then when we came back, we started with the combat. That way, they could practice it throughout the rehearsal process."

The sword fight is a key part of this tragedy.

"And it was time for us to do it," Bouquet said.

Email Robin Miller at romiller@theadvocate.com.