'Dear Evan Hansen' movie release date announced

Universal Pictures announced today that the highly anticipated movie adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen will be released in theaters on September 24th, 2021.

Ben Platt will be reprising his Tony-winning role as the title character. The show centers on Evan Hansen, an anxious and isolated high school student. After the suicide of his classmate Connor Murphy, Evan inadvertently gets caught up in a lie as Connor’s parents mistake one of Hansen’s letters for their son’s suicide note.

Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Wonder) directed the film from a script by Steven Levenson, who wrote the book of the stage musical by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. The cast also includes Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Amy Adams, and Julianne Moore.

Dear Evan Hansen opened on Broadway in December 2016 to rave reviews.

ABC News said, “It’s been a long time since there’s been a musical as touching as this one, both topical and timeless, and featuring adolescent pleas for understanding that are as old as the human race. Yet never before have the implications of our 21st-century social media been better explored.”

Charles Isherwood, in his review of the Second Stage production for The New York Times, noted: "The songs, by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dogfight, A Christmas Story), strike the same complex notes, with shapely, heartfelt lyrics that expose the tensions and conflicts that Connor’s death and Evan’s involvement cause in both families. The music, played by a small but excellent band on a platform upstage, is appealingly unstrident pop-rock, with generous doses of acoustic guitar, keyboards, and strings. It's the finest, most emotionally resonant score yet from this promising young songwriting team."

It was nominated for nine Tony Awards and took home six, including best musical and best actor in a musical for Platt. The original Broadway cast album, which includes the catchy songs “You Will Be Found,” “Waving Through a Window” and “Sincerely, Me,” won a Grammy.

Ben Platt’s father Marc Platt, who produced La La Land served as a producer for Dear Evan Hansen with Adam Seigel. Pasek, Paul, Levenson, and Michael Bederman executive produced. Universal Pictures will distribute the film globally.