Details on the “Dear Evan Hansen” Movie

By: Carlos Glick

“Dear Evan Hansen” Movie Poster. Credit: dehmovie.com

On May 18, 2021, a trailer on YouTube came out regarding a movie version of the Broadway musical, “Dear Evan Hansen” which is expected to be released in theaters September 24, 2021.  

Judging by the trailer, the movie looks like it is going to be fantastically amazing!

The movie will feature an amazing cast with Ben Platt and Colton Ryan reprising their roles from the original Broadway cast of the musical. 

Platt, who played the lead character Evan Hansen, will reprise his role. Ryan, who was the understudy of Evan Hansen and Conner Murphy, will reprise his role as Conner Murphy.

Other cast members include Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Steinberg, Nik Dodani, Danny Pino, Julianne Moore, Amy Adams and more.

Dever will play Zoe Murphy. Steinberg will play Alana Beck. Dodani will play Jared Kalwani, Pino will play Larry Murphy. Moore will play Heidi Hansen. Adams will play Cynthia Murphy. 

Interesting to note, one of Steinberg’s first movie credits is from “The Hunger Games,” which came out in 2012, where she played Rue, alongside Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, to name a few. 

Another interesting fact is that Adams starred in the 2007 film “Enchanted,” where she played Giselle, alongside Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Timothy Spall and Idina Menzel, to name a few. Its sequel, “Disenchanted” will be coming out in 2022.

When the trailer first came out for “Dear Evan Hansen,” people were furious about Platt reprising his role as Evan Hansen, mostly because of the age he is and the age he portrayed in both the Broadway version and the movie. 

In reality, Platt is 27 and is playing a high school student. I honestly don’t see a problem with that at all. Looking back through the entertainment industry, I know of actors and actresses who were older than the characters they portrayed. For example, Jason Earles, who played Jackson Steward in the Disney Channel show “Hannah Montana” was in his late 20’s when the first season premiered and was in his mid 30’s when the last season premiered.

The “Dear Evan Hansen” movie is about a high school senior that has social anxiety disorder and follows his journey of self-discovery and acceptance following the suicide of a fellow classmate. 

The music in the film will be written and produced by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who composed the music for both “The Greatest Showman” and “La La Land.” They were both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and “City of Stars” garnered both the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture.    

Pasek and Paul won the 2018 Golden Globe for Best Original Song for “This is Me” from “The Greatest Showman,” which was also nominated for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Original Song and most recently as of 2019, for the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media.

Other projects they had done include Disney’s  live-action movie musical “Aladdin” and upcoming projects such as Disney’s live-action “Snow White.” 

On Broadway, they composed the score for the six-time Tony Award winning musical, “Dear Evan Hansen,” their highly acclaimed original musical for which they received an Obie Award, a Drama Desk Award and the Tony Award for Best Score. 

Their albums that appeared in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 include “Dear Evan Hansen,” “La La Land” and “The Greatest Showman.” The “Dear Evan Hansen” Original Broadway Cast Recording won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

“The Greatest Showman” Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was recently named the best selling album in the world in 2018, won the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media, the 2019 Billboard Music award for Top Soundtrack, and is certified Platinum in over a dozen countries. 

The “Dear Evan Hansen” movie that is coming out September 24th of this year is going to be epic! This will for sure be watched by millions around the world so watch, share and repost! The world needs to hear this!