‘Dear Evan Hansen’ to Close on Broadway This Fall
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Dear Evan Hansen has posted a Sept. 18 closing date after six years on Broadway.
The production, which won the 2017 Tony Award for best musical, reopened at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway in December 2021, after the pandemic-induced closure of theaters. Before the pandemic, the show regularly sold out and grossed more than $1 million, but it has since struggled to bring in the same numbers.
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“From our earliest reading of Dear Evan Hansen in 2011, there have been two great joys that stand out above all the others (and there are many),” producer Stacey Mindich said in a statement. “One is the sweeping and soaring show itself, which never fails to make me think, cry, laugh and try to be a better mother and person. The other is watching the profound change in the audience from when they walk into the theater to when they leave.”
Mindich added, “I feel grateful to have been part of bringing Pasek, Paul, Levenson and Greif’s original musical to life — which has captured the hearts of so many, impacted millions of audience members across the globe, and literally changed lives with its breathtaking score and its vital and universal message.”
The Broadway closure follows the announcement that the West End production of the show will end its three-year run in October 2022. Dear Evan Hansen also has a currently running North American tour.
The musical features a score by The Greatest Showman’s Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, a book by Steven Levenson and direction by Michael Greif.
Ben Platt originated the role of Evan Hansen, a teenager who is catapulted to popularity after lying about his friendship with a troubled schoolmate, on Broadway, as well as in the 2016 Off-Broadway production and the 2015 world premiere in Washington D.C.
Platt took the role to screen in the 2021 film adaptation, which received poor reviews and may have hurt the public’s enthusiasm in seeing the Broadway show.
This marks one of the highest-profile productions to post a closing notice since Broadway’s return. Many productions, including Ain’t Too Proud and Jagged Little Pill, closed this winter but cited the threat of the omicron variant and the number of canceled performances it caused.
Dear Evan Hansen’s closing underlines a trend seen in grosses across the season, in which productions that had been on Broadway for several years, but were not long-runners, faced more of a struggle at the box office this season than in years past.
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, which originally opened on Broadway in November 2019, also announced Tuesday that the musical biopic is closing on Aug. 14. The production — with a book by P-Valley’s Katori Hall and produced in association with Turner by Stage Entertainment, James L. Nederlander and Tali Pelman — had been grossing more than $1 million when it opened, and when original star Adrienne Warren returned to portray the title role this fall but had seen grosses and attendance dip this winter and spring.
Meanwhile, big brands, such as Wicked and Hamilton, continue to reign, while new productions such as The Music Man have also slid into the top spots.
When it first opened on Broadway, Dear Evan Hansen broke several box office records and recouped its initial investment in less than nine months. At the mid-point of its run, the critically lauded musical was commanding average ticket prices of more than $200 and selling out the theater.
In recent weeks, the musical has posted an average ticket price of less than $100 and played to capacities of around 70 percent. The production grossed $588,371 in the week ending May 29.
At the time of closing, the musical will have played 1,678 regular performances and 21 preview performances. Zachary Noah Piser leads the current cast as Dear Evan Hansen, alongside fellow cast members Talia Simone Robinson, Jessica Phillips, Christiane Noll, David Jeffery, Manoel Felciano, Jared Goldsmith and Phoebe Koyabe.
