A colorful rendering of the stage in Dear Evan Hansen

Eye for Scenery: Dear Evan Hansen

If there is a triple threat in scenic design, it may be David Korins. Known for an illustrious career in Broadway, TV and music, Korins was tapped to bring Dear Evan Hansen to visual life on stage.

His resumé includes Tony nominations for Hamilton and War Paint as well as designs for Bandstand, Misery, Motown, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Annie, Bring It On, Magic/Bird, An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, Godspell, Chinglish, The Pee-wee Herman Show, Lombardi, Passing Strange and Bridge and Tunnel.

He’s transferred his considerable skills to the small screen in “Grease: Live,” which earned him an Emmy. And he has designed concerts for the likes of Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Sia, Mariah Carey, and Andrea Boccelli.

In tackling Dear Evan Hansen, he said, “Every design process has many steps — there is research involved, and ground plans, renderings, and models — but what was unique about the Dear Evan Hansen process was that I had an immediate visceral, emotional response to what I was seeing and hearing. I was trying to maintain this idea of people floating through a void, on tectonic plates of life with their own internal monologues and their own emotional space, while at the same time trying to connect to each other and the world around them.”

Here you can see his sketch-to-stage evolution. It illustrates the separate journeys of the characters that, upon further reflection, converge until Evan realizes that he is not alone, has never been alone and, in fact, he has been found.

Chunky black graphic drawn on a white page

David Korins’ initial sketch for the Dear Evan Hansen set.

A black and white rendering of the space onstage

A small-scale set model indicates separate space for the characters.

A colorful rendering of the stage in Dear Evan Hansen

The model is recreated to illustrate how the stage lighting and projections will enhance the action on the set.

A group of actors sit on couches in Dear Evan Hansen

Korins’ design is brought to life in the initial production of Dear Evan Hansen at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway.