Universal has released the first trailer for Dear Evan Hansen, the movie adaptation of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical created by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. The film opens in theaters on September 24th.
Ben Platt returns in his Tony-winning role as Evan Hansen, an anxious and lonely high school student who writes motivational letters to himself on assignment from his therapist. Evan’s classmate Connor Murphy gets ahold of one of the letters, then dies by suicide shortly afterward with the letter in his pocket, leading his family to believe that Connor wrote the letter as a suicide note to Evan before he died. Caught up in the lie that he was Connor’s best friend, Evan forms a relationship with the Murphy family and plans a memorial service for Connor at school, gradually learning more about Connor — and himself — as he goes along.
Along with Platt, the cast for the film includes Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Amy Adams, and Julianne Moore. Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Wonder) directed the film from a script by Steven Levenson, who also wrote the book that inspired the stage musical. The film is one of the first major releases to have been filmed during the Covid-19 pandemic.