Production
About
A letter that was never meant to be seen, a lie that was never meant to be told, a life he never dreamed he could have. Evan Hansen is about to get the one thing he’s always wanted: a chance to finally fit in.
Both deeply personal and profoundly contemporary, DEAR EVAN HANSEN is a new American musical about life and the way we live it.
“A gorgeous new musical for anyone with a beating heart! The marvelous Ben Platt is giving a performance that’s not likely to be bettered on Broadway this season in this gorgeous heart-breaker of a musical. What’s more, the show has grown in emotional potency during its journey to the big leagues. Under the superb direction of the veteran Michael Greif, the show has been subtly refined, its brasher comedy softened, and the performances have grown in delicacy. Rarely – scratch that — never have I heard so many stifled sobs and sniffles in the theater.
For those allergic to synthetic sentiment, rest assured that the show, with a haunting score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul matched by a book of equal sensitivity by Steven Levenson, doesn’t sledgehammer home its affecting story. On the contrary, the musical finds endless nuances in the relationships among its characters, and makes room for some leavening humor, too. The musical is ideal for families looking for something more complex than the usual sugary diversions. But then it should also appeal to just about anyone who has ever felt, at some point in life, that he or she was trapped ‘on the outside looking in,’ as one lyric has it. Which is just about everybody with a beating heart.”
Press / Reviews
September 23. 2017
The actor, who has stepped in for the demanding title role, walks us through the workout routine that keeps him healthy. Read more…
http://www.playbill.com/article/dear-evan-hansens-colton-ryan-gets-fit
September 29, 2017
Ben Platt, who won a Tony Award earlier this year for his performance in the title role of Dear Evan Hansen, heads to the small screen as a guest star on the newly revived Will & Grace. Read more…
http://www.playbill.com/article/get-a-first-look-at-ben-platt-guest-starring-on-will-grace
September 22. 2017
A lot goes into putting on a Broadway show, from the performances and sound engineering to stage management and lighting. There’s so much happening onstage, that often, theatregoers miss the smaller details—like the props.
We went backstage at the Music Box Theatre for an up-close look at the props used in the Tony-winning Dear Evan Hansen, and spoke to props supervisor for the the show Buist Bickley. Read more…
http://www.playbill.com/article/get-up-close-with-the-props-of-dear-evan-hansen
July 17, 2017
Just over a month after winning the 2017 Tony Award for Best Musical, Dear Evan Hansen has recouped its Broadway investment. The production gained its $9.5 million capitalization in eight and a half months.
Produced by Stacey Mindich and directed by Michael Greif, the show opened officially at Broadway’s Music Box Theatre December 4, 2016. The musical features a Tony-winning score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and a Tony-winning book by Steven Levenson.
The production has played to Standing Room Only capacity since opening, and by taking in a figure floating around $1.3 million each week, it consistently surpasses its potential gross. Read more…
http://www.playbill.com/article/tony-winning-dear-evan-hansen-recoups-broadway-investment
July 31, 2017
Dear Evan Hansen, the 2017 Tony winner for Best Musical starring Ben Platt, had one of its strongest weeks to date, earning $1,709,346—just shy of its $1,725,297 box office record from July 9.
Get an in-depth look at this past week’s Broadway grosses.
Paula Vogel’s drama Indecent, which is entering the final week of its Broadway extension, enjoyed its second-most lucrative week, bringing in $533,355. The production will shutter August 6. Read more…
http://www.playbill.com/article/grosses-analysis-dear-evan-hansen-and-come-from-away-deliver-strong-summer-box-office-returns
La La Land didn’t win the Academy Award for best picture, but it may give Broadway hit Dear Evan Hansen an Oscar bounce.
Dear Evan Hansen sold $1.13 million in tickets during the seven days ending Feb. 26, its best nonholiday week since it began previews in November. The average seat was $141, the third-highest on Broadway, after Hamilton and The Book of Mormon. The show is about a troubled teen caught up in a series of convenient lies that go viral.
The music and lyrics are by Justin Paul and Benj Pasek, who won the Oscar (that wasn’t revoked) for the original song “City of Stars,” which they wrote with La La Land composer Justin Hurwitz. (Pasek and Paul wrote the music and lyrics for Dear Evan Hansen but only lyrics for La La Land.) Although ratings for the Feb. 26 Oscars telecast were down about 4% from a year earlier, an estimated 33 million people watched, a huge audience for a pair of Broadway composers, even if their stage musical wasn’t specifically named.
“That they won the Oscar will help build the Evan Hansen momentum,” said Scott Mallalieu, president of greatwhiteway.com, a group-sales service. Mallalieu said Faye Dunaway’s mistakenly announcing La La Land as best picture probably won’t affect Dear Evan Hansen one way or another.
Elsewhere on Broadway, plays and musicals featuring stars also did well. Sunset Boulevard with Glenn Close had its best week to date, selling $1.33 million in tickets, at an average price of $130. The first full week of Arthur Miller’s The Price, featuring Mark Ruffalo and presented by the Roundabout Theatre Co., was a sellout, grossing $544,000. And the contemporary star–less comedy Significant Other is struggling. It grossed just $228,000, with an average ticket price of $44. It will need a repeat of the great reviews it got off-Broadway when it opens Thursday night.
The Broadway show “Dear Evan Hansen” is being hailed as the next “Hamilton.” Its stars, Ben Platt and Laura Dreyfuss perform “Only Us” live on TODAY. Click on link below
Ben Platt, the 23-year-old star of the gripping, psychological Dear Evan Hansen, heralds the arrival of a new generation of Broadway talent. He’s been ready for it almost since the day he was born.
Most of us struggle for years trying to figure out what we want to do with our lives, but for Ben Platt that was never a question. “From day one,” the baby-faced actor says, “musical theater was my bread and butter.” When he was sixteen, Platt, who had made his stage debut ten years earlier as the Prince in an all-kids Cinderella, auditioned for the director Michael Greif to star in the touring company of the musical Next to Normal but ended up withdrawing to finish high school. A year later, he tried out for the Off-Broadway musical adaptation of Dogfight, for which he was deemed too young—but not before catching the eye of the show’s young songwriters, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Pasek promised that he would be in touch about another project down the line. “I thought, That’s very kind,” says Platt, “but things like that never really come to fruition.” Read more…
http://www.vogue.com/13498214/dear-even-hansen-musical-broadway-ben-platt/
Click on the link below to see the opening night on Broadway…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=
DEAR EVAN HANSEN
WILL OPEN ON BROADWAY AT THE BELASCO THEATRE
ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2016
BEN PLATT TO REPRISE HIS OBIE-WINNING PERFORMANCE ALONGSIDE LAURA DREYFUSS, RACHEL BAY JONES, JENNIFER LAURA THOMPSON, MIKE FAIST, MICHAEL PARK, WILL ROLAND & KRISTOLYN LLOYD
OBIE, OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE & HELEN HAYES AWARD-WINNING ‘BEST MUSICAL’ BEGINS PREVIEWS IN NOVEMBER
TICKETS ONSALE JUNE 19, 2016
New York, NY – Producer Stacey Mindich has confirmed that the recently-announced Broadway premiere of the new musical Dear Evan Hansen has found its home: it will officially open at the Belasco Theatre (111 West 44th Street) on Sunday, December 4, 2016. Previews begin in November. With a book by Steven Levenson, score by Tony® Award nominees Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, and direction by 3-time Tony® Award nominee Michael Greif, Dear Evan Hansen had its world premiere at Arena Stage, Washington D.C., this past summer and recently concluded its record-breaking New York debut at Off-Broadway’s Second Stage. Tickets for the open-ended Broadway engagement go on sale June 19. For more news and information on tickets, visit www.DearEvanHansen.com.
Ben Platt, who led the world and New York premieres of the musical, will once again star as Evan Hansen, a performance for which he recently won the 2016 Obie Award plus nominations from the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Platt will be joined by his Second Stage co-stars Laura Dreyfuss, Rachel Bay Jones, Jennifer Laura Thompson, Mike Faist, Will Roland and Kristolyn Lloyd. Emmy® Award winner Michael Park, who originated the role of Larry Murphy at Arena Stage in Washington D.C., returns for the Broadway production. Casting is by Tara Rubin Casting.
Dear Evan Hansen recently won ‘Best Musical’ prizes from the Obie Awards, Outer Critics Circle Awards and Helen Hayes Awards. It was also nominated for Distinguished Production of a Musical from the Drama League Awards. Among its many honors, Michael Greif won the Helen Hayes Award for Best Director of a Musical; Ben Platt won an Obie Award for Performance; Steven Levenson won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Book of a Musical; and composers Benj Pasek & Justin Paul won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics.
Dear Evan Hansen features scenic design by David Korins, projection design by Peter Nigrini, lighting design by Japhy Weideman, costume design by Emily Rebholz, and sound design by Nevin Steinberg. Music supervision, orchestrations and additional arrangement are by Alex Lacamoire. The musical director is Ben Cohn. Vocal arrangements and additional arrangements are by Justin Paul. Danny Mefford is the choreographer. Adrienne Campbell-Holt serves as Associate Director. Judith Schoenfeld will serve as Production
261 Fifth Avenue 2nd floor New York NY 10016 t 212 695 7400 omdkc.com
Stage Manager, with Michael McGoff as Stage Manager. Jayne Hong is Associate Producer. 101 Productions serves as Executive Producer.
Dear Evan Hansen is produced on Broadway by Stacey Mindich, Mickey Liddell, Hunter Arnold, Caiola Productions, Double Gemini Productions, Fakston Productions, Roy Furman, Harris Karma Productions, On Your Marks Group, Darren Bagert, Bob Boyett, Colin Callendar, Caitlin Clements, Freddy DeMann, Dante DiLoreto, Bonnie & Kenneth Feld, FickStern Productions, Eric & Marsi Gardiner, Jere Harris and Darren DeVerna, Mike Kriak, Arielle Tepper Madover, David Mirvish, Eva Price, Zeilinger Productions, Adam Zotovich in association with Arena Stage and Second Stage Theatre.
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“A superb new musical with great heart and humor. The finest, most emotional resonant score
yet from Benj Pasek & Justin Paul.” – Charles Isherwood, The New York Times
“Theatrical magic of a special magnitude. An extraordinary work whose captivatingly generous spirit is matched by its exemplary intelligence and fearless embrace of deep feeling.” – Peter Marks, The Washington Post
“Powerfully emotional! A musical gem with the kind of surprising song only found in the best musical theater” – Jesse Green, New York Magazine
“An intimate show with a gigantic heart.” – Jeremy Gerard, Deadline