The 'Dear Evan Hansen' Movie Premieres in Theaters on September 24
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Time to dust off your blue striped polo—Dear Evan Hansen is hitting the big screen. Universal Studios is coming out with a film adaptation of the acclaimed musical, which garnered six Tony Awards.
The show follows an anxious high school student named Evan Hansen who becomes entangled in a web of lies and familial and romantic relationships following his classmate's suicide. The plot kicks off with a misunderstanding: one of the deceased student's family members mistakes Hansen's diaristic letter to himself for the classmate's suicide note. What follows is an exploration of loss, anxiety, dishonesty, and how we can still feel alone even with the world at our fingertips.
Keep reading to learn more about the Dear Evan Hansen adaptation.
Universal released a full trailer.
On May 18, Universal released the first trailer for the new Dear Evan Hansen movie. Watch the full trailer, which gives an extensive overview of the show's plot set to the song, "You Will Be Found," above.
Watch another trailer for the movie below.
The film will be released on September 24, and already premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.
For its public release, the movie is set to air in theaters beginning on September 24, 2021. But, Dear Evan Hansen already opened the Toronto Film Festival on Thursday, September 9.
“There was no question that Dear Evan Hansen was the ideal film to launch the festival this year,” said Cameron Bailey, the artistic director and cohead of TIFF, per Vanity Fair. “This film is ultimately about healing, forgiveness, and reaffirms how connected and essential we all are to one another. We couldn’t think of a more important idea to celebrate this year as we come together once again to share the power and joy of cinema in theaters together.”
Ben Platt is reprising his titular role.
Starting in 2015, Platt originated the musical's lead role of Evan Hansen, playing the part from early workshops to off-Broadway to Broadway. His portrayal garnered him the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Platt concluded his Broadway run in 2017, but returns to the role for the film adaptation.
The movie has a star-studded cast, including Kaitlyn Dever and Amandla Stenberg.
It will be hard to follow the award-winning original Broadway cast, but the film adaptation certainly lined up some heavy-hitters. Actress Kaitlyn Dever is playing Zoe, Hansen's longtime crush. The pair grow close after Zoe's brother, Hansen's classmate, dies by suicide. Dever is best known for her starring roles in Booksmart, an Olivia Wilde-directed coming-of-age feature, and Unbelievable, a Netflix miniseries, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination.
Actress Amandla Stenberg is also in the cast. Stenberg, known for her roles in The Hate U Give and Everything, Everything, will play Alana, another member of Hansen's high school class. The role has been expanded from the stage production, giving Stenberg her own musical number that she's co-writing. According to Variety, Alana is "a high school senior whose cheery façade and social-media savvy mask a deeper loneliness and isolation, and whose response to the death of a classmate ignites a movement."
The movie's behind-the-scenes team is also worth noting. Director and novelist Stephen Chbosky directed the feature. Chbosky wrote the successful young adult novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower and directed the 2017 film Wonder, starring Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson. Steve Levenson, who wrote the musical's Tony-winning book, wrote the script.
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who wrote all of Dear Evan Hansen's lyrics, are also executive producing the adaptation.
Amy Adams plays Cynthia Murphy.
The Academy Award-nominated movie star, known for her roles in American Hustle and Arrival, is playing Cynthia Murphy in the film adaptation. Murphy is Zoe's mother, a complex woman grappling with the death of her son, Connor. Throughout the play, Cynthia tries to keep her family together and grows close with Evan, whom she believes was her son's best friend. Cynthia participates in a few of the show's musical numbers, including "Does Anybody Have a Map?" and "Requiem."
This will be the first film in years to showcase Adams' singing voice, but it is not her debut in a musical feature. Adams' breakout role was in 2007's Enchanted and she also was featured in the 2011 movie The Muppets, based on the hit franchise.
A few more casting choices also include Colton Ryan, who was Platt's understudy for the Dear Evan Hansen stage production, will play Connor Murphy, who often appears as a posthumous vision. Nik Dodani, known for his role in the Netflix series, Atypical, will play Hansen's friend, Jared.
Julianne Moore appears as Evan Hansen's mother.
The Academy Award winner was also added to the Dear Evan Hansen cast. Moore is playing Heidi Hansen, Evan's mother. Throughout the play, Heidi is spread thin, torn between her demanding work to support her family (nursing and attending school at night) and her duties as a single mother. While she sings fewer songs than some of the other characters, she has two major numbers: "Does Anybody Have a Map," a duet with Cynthia Murphy, and "So Big / So Small," a solo. She also sings in "Good for You," an Act II number.
Moore is especially familiar with some of her fellow cast members. She recently starred alongside Adams in The Woman in the Window, a thriller released in May 2021.
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