Dear Evan Hansen grew from a therapy exercise into a six-Tony musical
Evan Hansen's therapist asks him to write himself daily letters explaining why today will be good. When one of those letters is mistaken for a message from a classmate who has died, Evan lets a grieving family believe a friendship that never existed. That lie drives the musical that won Best Musical in 2017.
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote the songs, and Steven Levenson wrote the script. Its hero is a 17-year-old in Maryland living with social anxiety, whose overstretched mother, a nurse's aide studying law at night, suggests he make friends by asking people to sign the cast on his broken arm. After the Murphy family finds his letter and draws the wrong conclusion, Evan fabricates backdated emails with the help of his sardonic friend Jared, and the online campaign he builds in their son's memory spreads far beyond his control.
Its songs chart that spiral. Waving Through a Window voices Evan's fear of going unseen, and the Act 1 finale You Will Be Found turns a panicked school speech into a viral moment. When a crowdfunding push to reopen an abandoned apple orchard succeeds, public blame falls on the Murphys, and Evan finally confesses. The story closes a year later at the restored orchard, with Evan apologising and Zoe Murphy telling him the ordeal drew her family together.
After New York readings and a 2015 workshop first called The PPL Project, the musical premiered at Arena Stage in Washington in July 2015, played Off-Broadway in 2016 and opened at the Music Box Theatre that December. It won six of its nine Tony nominations, including Best Actor for Ben Platt. Alex Lacamoire's orchestration for an eight-piece band also won a Tony, and the cast album reached number 8 on the Billboard 200 and took a Grammy.
The 2021 film, directed by Stephen Chbosky with Platt again as Evan, disappointed at the box office and drew poor reviews. Along with weak pandemic-era sales, it contributed to the Broadway run ending on 18 September 2022. Amateur groups gained licensing rights in December 2025.
Source: Dear Evan Hansen
