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Evan Hansen
Evan Hansen is the titular character and main protagonist of the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen by Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. A bullied 17-year-old high schooler with social anxiety and depression, who lives with his single mother Heidi Hansen after she divorced from his father Mark Hansen ten years before, he attempts to find the acceptance and love he has been lacking in his life. On his journey to be found, he discovers the consequences of risking it all for the chance to be heard.
The character of Evan was originated on stage by Ben Platt, who won the Tony Award for Best Actor for his performance and reprised it in the 2021 film adaptation of the musical. In the show, he appears in a total of 11 musical numbers. The character's signature song is "Waving Through a Window," which is sung early in the musical's first act as his "I Want" song and has become an anthem for those hoping to make a connection while in a state of isolation and depression.
The musical, as well as the character, are said to have been inspired by an incident that happened during Benj Pasek's high school years. Stacey Mindich, who produced the Broadway, national tour and West End productions, explained "A student in [Pasek's] class died tragically of a drug overdose. It was someone who had been sort of a loner, didn't have a lot of friends or status at school, but suddenly in the wake of the death, Benj watched as everyone wanted to claim that they had been friends with him and claim that they had been a part of this person's life..." Author Steven Levenson, during a panel event at the 2019 New York Comic Con, added "We all [noticed] a really fascinating, bizarre phenomenon of public grieving [on social media]. Whenever a celebrity would die or something really tragic would happen, there was this outpouring online of people kind of making it about themselves."
On stage, the role of Evan was originated by Ben Platt, beginning with the musical's workshop production in 2014 and performing the role publicly for the first time in Washington, D.C. at the Arena Stage. The overwhelming positive reception toward the production and Platt's performance resulted in the show being transferred to Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theater in 2016 and finally to Broadway at the Music Box Theatre later that year. Platt played his final on-stage performance in the role on November 19, 2017. Notable replacements and understudies who have played the role on Broadway include Platt's future partner Noah Galvin, Taylor Trensch, Jordan Fisher, Ben Levi Ross and Colton Ryan, the latter of whom would go on to play Connor Murphy in the 2021 film version. In 2019, history was made when then-16-year-old Andrew Barth Feldman, following his win at the 2018 Jimmy Awards, became the first age-accurate actor to play the role on Broadway. He exited the role on January 26, 2020, prior to Jordan Fisher's run. Serving as Evan alternates for the Broadway production included Michael Lee Brown and Zachary Noah Piser. During the show's US tour, which launched in October 2018 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts' Buell Theatre and concluded on July 2, 2023 at the Koger Center for the Arts in Columbia, South Carolina, Ben Levi Ross originated the role of Evan, followed by Stephen Christopher Anthony (who served as the tour's first Evan alternate) and Anthony Norman. When Stephen Christopher Anthony assumed the role full-time, the alternate Evan position was later assumed by Sam Primack and Jeffrey Cornelius. During the show's second US tour, which launched in September 2024 at Theater Under the Stars in Houston, Texas, Evan was played by Michael Fabisch with Michael Perez as his alternate. Fabisch reprised his role in the musical's first Midwest region production at The Muny in St. Louis, Missouri from July 28 to August 3, 2025, with Oscar Williams as his understudy.
Internationally, Robert Markus originated the role of Evan in the Toronto production at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in 2019, with Piser serving as his alternate. Sam Tutty originated the role of Evan in the West End production at the Noël Coward Theatre in London, which began its run that same year before closing in 2022, with a brief halt in performances from March 2020 to October 26, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Marcus Harman served as his alternate. In the 2024 South Korean production, which opened on March 28, 2024, at the Chungmu Arts Center in Seoul by S&Co, the role of Evan was triple-cast, featuring Park Kang-hyun, Kim Sung-kyu and Lim Kyu-hyung. Máximo Meyer played the role in the Argentinian production which opened in May 2023 at the Metropolitan Theatre in Buenos Aires. In the Finnish production, which opened on September 28, 2023, Evan was played by Petja Pulkkinen, with Julius Suominen serving as his alternate. In the 2024 UK Tour, Evan was played by Ryan Kopel with Sonny Monaghan both serving as his alternate at every matinee performance twice a week, and being in the production's ensemble. Beau Woodbridge played Evan in the 2024 Australian production, which ran from October 12 to November 17, 2024 at the Roslyn Packer Theatre.
The musical was adapted into a young adult novel by actor and singer-songwriter Val Emmich, in collaboration with Pasek, Paul, and Levenson. The novel, which features additional material based on scenes and songs cut from the show's development that flesh out and expand upon the story, was released by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on October 9, 2018. Despite not being entirely canon to the stage version, the novel adds in new scenes and story elements to explore more of Evan's character background, such as his appointments with Dr. Sherman, his family history involving his divorced father, attending Connor's wake and interactions with other characters.
Ben Platt reprised the role of Evan in Universal Pictures' 2021 film adaptation of the musical, produced by his father, Marc Platt, and directed by Stephen Chbosky. On his casting, Chbosky explained that the film's main goal was to capture and immortalize Platt's performance, saying that "His understanding of the character is so complete and so profound. I couldn't imagine anybody else playing it. It's his part. I felt very strongly about it. And to me it was never even a consideration." He later explained that this was the reason why the film omitted the musical's opening number, "Anybody Have a Map", saying that "We're really on Evan's journey. It freed us up to meet all the characters through Evan. And it binds the audience to a way in Evan that is so valuable." In the film, Evan's journey remains mostly the same, except for two notable changes: He does not see visions of Connor telling him to push forward with the lies and keep his memory alive (resulting from the cutting of "Disappear") and the story's ending was slightly altered to show him coming clean publicly through a video he posts on social media, followed by getting in touch with those who knew Connor to get to know him better and receiving a video of Connor performing music while in rehab, which he passes along to the Murphys, Alana, and Jared.
In a February 2021 interview with Drew Barrymore on The Drew Barrymore Show, Ben Platt described his experience of recreating his performance as Evan Hansen as "really special" and "bizarre", while also hoping the film will be "a really moving experience for a lot of different ages of people ... I think it's going to be particularly poignant in terms of everybody's inability and ability to reach out, and the ways in which we struggle to do that, and the magic that can happen when you do connect with someone and finally feel seen." On May 13, 2021, Ben Platt admitted he was apprehensive about translating his performance for the screen. "I think I was nervous about having to meet that same level in a medium that I'm not necessarily as instinctually comfortable in, and that doesn't necessarily lend itself to the same kind of fireworks as a live performance." Ultimately, Platt overcame his personal reservations because they felt like "small beer...Having an opportunity to share this story with, like, millions more people is ultimately much more important than my being worried that my performance won't be as good as it was on stage." Platt also confirmed he lost weight and grew his hair out to look "authentic" as a gawky and fresh-faced 17-year-old.
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Evan Hansen
Evan Hansen is the titular character and main protagonist of the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen by Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. A bullied 17-year-old high schooler with social anxiety and depression, who lives with his single mother Heidi Hansen after she divorced from his father Mark Hansen ten years before, he attempts to find the acceptance and love he has been lacking in his life. On his journey to be found, he discovers the consequences of risking it all for the chance to be heard.
The character of Evan was originated on stage by Ben Platt, who won the Tony Award for Best Actor for his performance and reprised it in the 2021 film adaptation of the musical. In the show, he appears in a total of 11 musical numbers. The character's signature song is "Waving Through a Window," which is sung early in the musical's first act as his "I Want" song and has become an anthem for those hoping to make a connection while in a state of isolation and depression.
The musical, as well as the character, are said to have been inspired by an incident that happened during Benj Pasek's high school years. Stacey Mindich, who produced the Broadway, national tour and West End productions, explained "A student in [Pasek's] class died tragically of a drug overdose. It was someone who had been sort of a loner, didn't have a lot of friends or status at school, but suddenly in the wake of the death, Benj watched as everyone wanted to claim that they had been friends with him and claim that they had been a part of this person's life..." Author Steven Levenson, during a panel event at the 2019 New York Comic Con, added "We all [noticed] a really fascinating, bizarre phenomenon of public grieving [on social media]. Whenever a celebrity would die or something really tragic would happen, there was this outpouring online of people kind of making it about themselves."
On stage, the role of Evan was originated by Ben Platt, beginning with the musical's workshop production in 2014 and performing the role publicly for the first time in Washington, D.C. at the Arena Stage. The overwhelming positive reception toward the production and Platt's performance resulted in the show being transferred to Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theater in 2016 and finally to Broadway at the Music Box Theatre later that year. Platt played his final on-stage performance in the role on November 19, 2017. Notable replacements and understudies who have played the role on Broadway include Platt's future partner Noah Galvin, Taylor Trensch, Jordan Fisher, Ben Levi Ross and Colton Ryan, the latter of whom would go on to play Connor Murphy in the 2021 film version. In 2019, history was made when then-16-year-old Andrew Barth Feldman, following his win at the 2018 Jimmy Awards, became the first age-accurate actor to play the role on Broadway. He exited the role on January 26, 2020, prior to Jordan Fisher's run. Serving as Evan alternates for the Broadway production included Michael Lee Brown and Zachary Noah Piser. During the show's US tour, which launched in October 2018 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts' Buell Theatre and concluded on July 2, 2023 at the Koger Center for the Arts in Columbia, South Carolina, Ben Levi Ross originated the role of Evan, followed by Stephen Christopher Anthony (who served as the tour's first Evan alternate) and Anthony Norman. When Stephen Christopher Anthony assumed the role full-time, the alternate Evan position was later assumed by Sam Primack and Jeffrey Cornelius. During the show's second US tour, which launched in September 2024 at Theater Under the Stars in Houston, Texas, Evan was played by Michael Fabisch with Michael Perez as his alternate. Fabisch reprised his role in the musical's first Midwest region production at The Muny in St. Louis, Missouri from July 28 to August 3, 2025, with Oscar Williams as his understudy.
Internationally, Robert Markus originated the role of Evan in the Toronto production at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in 2019, with Piser serving as his alternate. Sam Tutty originated the role of Evan in the West End production at the Noël Coward Theatre in London, which began its run that same year before closing in 2022, with a brief halt in performances from March 2020 to October 26, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Marcus Harman served as his alternate. In the 2024 South Korean production, which opened on March 28, 2024, at the Chungmu Arts Center in Seoul by S&Co, the role of Evan was triple-cast, featuring Park Kang-hyun, Kim Sung-kyu and Lim Kyu-hyung. Máximo Meyer played the role in the Argentinian production which opened in May 2023 at the Metropolitan Theatre in Buenos Aires. In the Finnish production, which opened on September 28, 2023, Evan was played by Petja Pulkkinen, with Julius Suominen serving as his alternate. In the 2024 UK Tour, Evan was played by Ryan Kopel with Sonny Monaghan both serving as his alternate at every matinee performance twice a week, and being in the production's ensemble. Beau Woodbridge played Evan in the 2024 Australian production, which ran from October 12 to November 17, 2024 at the Roslyn Packer Theatre.
The musical was adapted into a young adult novel by actor and singer-songwriter Val Emmich, in collaboration with Pasek, Paul, and Levenson. The novel, which features additional material based on scenes and songs cut from the show's development that flesh out and expand upon the story, was released by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on October 9, 2018. Despite not being entirely canon to the stage version, the novel adds in new scenes and story elements to explore more of Evan's character background, such as his appointments with Dr. Sherman, his family history involving his divorced father, attending Connor's wake and interactions with other characters.
Ben Platt reprised the role of Evan in Universal Pictures' 2021 film adaptation of the musical, produced by his father, Marc Platt, and directed by Stephen Chbosky. On his casting, Chbosky explained that the film's main goal was to capture and immortalize Platt's performance, saying that "His understanding of the character is so complete and so profound. I couldn't imagine anybody else playing it. It's his part. I felt very strongly about it. And to me it was never even a consideration." He later explained that this was the reason why the film omitted the musical's opening number, "Anybody Have a Map", saying that "We're really on Evan's journey. It freed us up to meet all the characters through Evan. And it binds the audience to a way in Evan that is so valuable." In the film, Evan's journey remains mostly the same, except for two notable changes: He does not see visions of Connor telling him to push forward with the lies and keep his memory alive (resulting from the cutting of "Disappear") and the story's ending was slightly altered to show him coming clean publicly through a video he posts on social media, followed by getting in touch with those who knew Connor to get to know him better and receiving a video of Connor performing music while in rehab, which he passes along to the Murphys, Alana, and Jared.
In a February 2021 interview with Drew Barrymore on The Drew Barrymore Show, Ben Platt described his experience of recreating his performance as Evan Hansen as "really special" and "bizarre", while also hoping the film will be "a really moving experience for a lot of different ages of people ... I think it's going to be particularly poignant in terms of everybody's inability and ability to reach out, and the ways in which we struggle to do that, and the magic that can happen when you do connect with someone and finally feel seen." On May 13, 2021, Ben Platt admitted he was apprehensive about translating his performance for the screen. "I think I was nervous about having to meet that same level in a medium that I'm not necessarily as instinctually comfortable in, and that doesn't necessarily lend itself to the same kind of fireworks as a live performance." Ultimately, Platt overcame his personal reservations because they felt like "small beer...Having an opportunity to share this story with, like, millions more people is ultimately much more important than my being worried that my performance won't be as good as it was on stage." Platt also confirmed he lost weight and grew his hair out to look "authentic" as a gawky and fresh-faced 17-year-old.