Dear Evan Hansen

Plot

Evan Hansen, a high school senior in Maryland with social anxiety and depression, is assigned by his therapist to write letters to himself detailing what will be good about each day, starting each with "Dear Evan Hansen, today is going to be a good day, and here's why". Evan's overworked mother, Heidi, suggests that Evan ask people to sign the cast on his arm, having fallen out of a tree and broken his arm, to make friends. Meanwhile, Cynthia and Larry Murphy struggle to connect with their own 17-year-old son, Connor, a sullen and equally depressed drug abuser who is abusive to his younger sister, Zoe.

At school, Evan meets compulsively-overachieving classmate Alana Beck and his reluctant "family friend" Jared Kleinman, both of whom neglect to sign his cast. Evan runs into Connor, who misinterprets his awkwardness for hostility and pushes him to the ground. Zoe, with whom Evan is infatuated, feels obliged to apologize for her brother's behavior. Evan writes the letter to himself in the school library, wondering how he could talk to Zoe and if anyone at school would notice if he disappeared.

Connor bumps into Evan again, this time ironically offering to sign Evan's cast. He finds Evan's letter on the printer and, thinking that Evan intentionally made the letter so Connor would find it, becomes furious and storms out, taking the letter with him. A few days later, Evan is called to the principal's office, where Connor's parents tell him that their son has died by suicide. They found Evan's letter in Connor's pocket, and mistakenly believe it is a suicide note Connor wrote to Evan.

Despite Evan's fumbling attempts to explain the truth, the Murphys believe the two boys had a close friendship and invite Evan to their house for dinner. There, Evan tells them what he thinks they want to hear to avoid discomfort, pretending that he and Connor had secretly been best friends, and recounting a fictional version of the day he broke his arm at an abandoned apple orchard the family had visited years ago. Evan enlists Jared's help in creating fake, backdated email conversations between him and Connor.

Productions

Dear Evan Hansen began its journey at Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage, running from July 10 to August 23, 2015, with an official opening on July 30. Michael Greif directed that initial production, with orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire, music direction by Ben Cohn, set design by David Korins, and projection design by Peter Nigrini. Ben Platt originated the title role. The musical then moved to off-Broadway's Second Stage Theater, starting previews on March 26, 2016, and officially opening on May 1.

The cast included Platt, Laura Dreyfuss, Mike Faist, Rachel Bay Jones, Will Roland, and Jennifer Laura Thompson, all reprising their Arena Stage roles, with new additions John Dossett and Kristolyn Lloyd. Greif returned to direct, with choreography by Danny Mefford. The off-Broadway run closed on May 29, 2016. The Broadway premiere began previews on November 14, 2016, and officially opened on December 4 at the Music Box Theatre, after initially being announced for the Belasco Theatre.

Michael Park, who played Larry at Arena Stage, returned for Broadway, replacing Dossett. Platt performed his final show on November 19, 2017, succeeded by Noah Galvin (November 21, 2017, to February 2018), Taylor Trensch (February 6, 2018), Andrew Barth Feldman (January 30, 2019), and Jordan Fisher (January 28, 2020). In November 2018, producers donated items including a shirt, arm cast, Connor Project button, a letter copy, and sheet music to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

The show suspended production on March 12, 2020, due to the pandemic, resuming on December 11, 2021, with Fisher returning. It played its final Broadway performance on September 18, 2022, after 21 previews and 1,678 regular performances (some sources cite 1,672).

Critical response

Dear Evan Hansen has been praised for its book, lyrics, and particularly Ben Platt's performance in the lead role. The musical has sparked conversations about mental illness and youth suicide. It won the 2015 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award. In a review of the Arena Stage production, Derek Mong highlighted David Korins' inventive set design, which turns a small stage into everything from an intimate living room to the vastness of internet cyberspace.

He noted that Steven Levenson's book, combined with Benj Pasek and Justin Paul's lyrics and music, features heartfelt, universal lyrics paired with acoustic accompaniment that shifts from somber to celebratory to sinister within a single bar. Barbara Mackay, also reviewing the Arena Stage production for TheatreMania, observed that Levenson, Pasek, and Paul set themselves two ambitious goals: exploring a community's grief and examining a lonely protagonist desperate for connection.

She called Ben Platt outstanding, noting that the musical's success hinges on whether Evan's solitary nature comes across as funny or weird, and that Platt charms audiences as he twists his shirt tails and hangs his head. Mackay emphasized that while the themes of grief and loneliness are serious, the musical is not somber; it addresses challenging facts of life but contains far more joy than sadness, especially when Evan leaves his room to find an authentic life.

Adaptations

The stage musical "Dear Evan Hansen" was turned into a young adult novel by Val Emmich, who is an actor and singer-songwriter, working alongside the show's creators Pasek, Paul, and Levenson. Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on October 9, 2018, the book includes extra content from scenes and songs that were removed during the musical's development, which help to deepen the story. That same day, an audiobook came out, narrated by Ben Levi Ross, Mike Faist, and Mallory Bechtel.

For the week of October 28, 2018, it hit number two on the New York Times bestseller list. Universal Pictures announced on November 29, 2018, that it had secured the rights to produce a film version, directed by Stephen Chbosky with a script by Levenson. Ben Platt returned to play the lead role, and Colton Ryan, who had understudied the part on Broadway, also reprised his role as Connor Murphy. New cast members included Kaitlyn Dever as Zoe Murphy, Julianne Moore as Heidi Hansen, Amy Adams as Cynthia Murphy, Danny Pino as Larry Murphy, Nik Dodani as Jared Kleinman, and Amandla Stenberg as Alana Beck.

Stenberg helped write "The Anonymous Ones," a new song for her character, whose part was made larger for the movie. Larry Murphy was rewritten as Larry Mora, the step-father of Zoe and Connor, instead of their biological father. Jared Kleinman's character was also changed to "Jared Kalwani" to match Dodani's casting.

Did You Know?

• The show is orchestrated for a band of eight, including the music director, with parts for MD/Keyboard, Violin, Viola, Violoncello, Guitar 1, Guitar 2, Bass Guitar/Double Bass, and Drums.