Submitted photo “Dear Evan Hansen” be screened Saturday and Tuesday.

The next film in the 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center Cinema Series is the feature film adaptation of the Broadway blockbuster “Dear Evan Hansen.” It will be screened this Saturday and Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Thanks to an anonymous donor, the first 20 SUNY Fredonia students attending the Saturday screening will be given free admission.

Opera House Executive Director Rick Davis notes that “due to the continued high positivity rate of COVID in Chautauqua County, and in accordance with CDC and State guidelines, we are requiring all patrons to wear masks before, during and after Opera House events.”

The breathtaking, generation-defining Broadway phenomenon becomes a soaring cinematic event as Tony, Grammy & Emmy Award winner Ben Platt reprises his role as an anxious, isolated high schooler aching for understanding and belonging amid the chaos and cruelty of the social-media age. The film features Grammy winning songs “You Will Be Found,” “Waving Through a Window,” “For Forever” and “Words Fail,” and stars six-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams, and Oscar winner Julianne Moore.

Steve Pond, in The Wrap, calls the film “messy at times and melodramatic at others… but those feel like quibbles given the joy you can find in its best moments. Even if you go in with reservations, even if you don’t succumb to its most extravagant moments, it sneaks up on you. Go ahead, smile or ache or shed a tear – you are not alone.” Betty Jo Tucker, in ReelTalk, says “Platt grabs your heart with words and song. An Oscar nod would not be wrong.” Michael Rechtshaffen, in the Hollywood Reporter, says the film “delivers the right message at precisely the right time.” Rated PG-13 for some thematic material involving suicide, brief strong language and some suggestive references, “Dear Evan Hansen” runs two hours, 17 minutes.

Tickets are available at the door for $7 (adults), $6.50 (seniors & Opera House members) and $5 (students) the night of each screening. A book of 10 movie passes is available for $60 at the door or online at www.fredopera.org “http://www.fredopera.org/” . For more information, call the Opera House Box Office at 716-679-1891. The Opera House Cinema Series is sponsored by Lake Shore Savings Bank.