Dear Evan Hansen performance 'halted' in Sunderland as Empire crowd kept waiting

Sunderland Empire have revealed that a 'technical issue' was the reason for the Thursday evening performance of Dear Evan Hansen being brought to a sudden standstill, as the audience kept waiting for close to half an hour for the show to resume.

Having been a colossal hit on both sides of the Atlantic, Dear Evan Hansen has moved from the West End to the road, for its first ever UK tour and this week is making its North East debut at the Empire, which has recently hosted hit productions of Wicked and War Horse. The musical's run on Wearside kicked off on Tuesday, with ChronicleLive there for opening night, as lead Ryan Kopel shone in the titular role and new Wicked movie star Alice Fearn, delivered a masterclass performance as Evan's mum Heidi.

Given its worldwide acclaim and the huge popularity of its soundtrack, there has been a lot of interest in Dear Evan Hansen's first visit to the region, meaning there was a packed house at the Empire to watch it on Thursday. However, things took a turn when the first half was brought to an abrupt halt, as ticket holders were left wondered what was going on.

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It was over 25 minutes until the performance resumed, with a noticeable problem with a spotlight moments after it got going again and now, a spokesperson for the Empire has given The Chronicle a statement on on what happened, on behalf of the show, saying: "Due to technical issues, the performance of Dear Evan Hansen at the Sunderland Empire on Thursday 21 November was paused. This was whilst the technical teams worked to rectify the issue.

"We are pleased to confirm that the performance continued as planned and thank the audience for their patience during the pause.”

Dear Evan Hansen left its opening night audience in floods of tears on Tuesday, with act one closer, You Will Be Found, stirring up a huge amount of emotion within the auditorium as it hit home for many people.