Why were eyes painted on the outside of the coffin?

According to ancient Egyptian belief the deceased could see through the coffin, they placed eyes in the same position where they would usually sit on the deceased because after they died they eyes would decay so they could no longer tell where they were.

They were basically painted there so that the eyes would be more easily located after the person had died.

explanation:

dear evan hansen is a stage musical with music and lyrics by benj pasek and justin paul, and book by steven levenson.

the musical opened on broadway at the music box theatre in december 2016, after its world premiere at the arena stage in washington, d.c., in july 2015 and an off-broadway production at second stage theatre from march to may 2016.

at the 71st tony awards, it was nominated for nine awards, winning six, including best musical, best score, best actor in a musical for ben platt, and best featured actress in a musical for rachel bay jones.