I didn’t know what this was (an adaptation of a megahit Broadway musical!) until today and now I am quietly drowning in a puddle of my own tears after watching a three minute trailer.
I am very easily manipulated though… Just ask my children. And my dog.
I do know that, like every musical, I will come out thinking I too am an amazing singer, able to belt out Broadway standards with the best of them. (The songs in Dear Evan Hansen are by the team behind The Greatest Showman so are instantly eminently singalongable.)
Evan Hansen is a lonely teen who writes a letter to himself as homework for his therapist. When a friendless classmate steals the letter then kills himself, the boy’s family assume he and Evan were great friends.
Watch the trailer below, and scroll down for images.
Dear Evan Hansen stars Ben Platt as Evan, reprising his much-lauded role in the musical on Broadway, for which he won a Tony. He does look old for the role (there’s a bit of a Grease vibe age-wise to the high school cast), though I suppose if we can suspend disbelief that people burst into song as they wander through life we can cope with that.
Co-starring are Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Nik Dodani and Danny Pink. It’s directed by Stephen Chbosky and is in UK cinemas on 22 October this year.
