FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE
Press Contact: Molly Sommerhalder Email: [email protected] Phone : 414-273-7121 x399
TONY AWARD-WINNING MUSICAL DEAR EVAN HANSEN WELCOMES NEW CAST MEMBERS ON BROADWAY & ON TOUR THIS FALL
TOUR CAST MEMBERS JESSICA PHILLIPS, CHRISTIANE NOLL, JARED GOLDSMITH & PHOEBE KOYABE TO JOIN THE BROADWAY COMPANY
TORONTO CAST MEMBERS STEPHANIE LA ROCHELLE, JESSICA SHERMAN, CLAIRE RANKIN, AND ALESSANDRO COSTANTINI TO JOIN THE TOUR
Milwaukee (August 15, 2019) – Dear Evan Hansen producer Stacey Mindich is pleased to announce several casting changes for the Broadway and North American touring productions of the Tony Award-winning musical, Dear Evan Hansen. Stars of the First National Tour, including stage and screen favorite Jessica Phillips (‘Heidi Hansen’), Tony Award-nominee Christiane Noll (‘Cynthia Murphy’), Jared Goldsmith (‘Jared Kleinman’) and Phoebe Koyabe (‘Alana Beck’) will reprise their critically acclaimed roles on Broadway this fall; Toronto company members Jessica Sherman (‘Heidi Hansen’), Claire Rankin (‘Cynthia Murphy’), Stephanie La Rochelle (‘Zoe Murphy’) and Alessandro Costantini (‘Jared Kleinman’) will hit the road for the second year of Dear Evan Hansen’s recording-breaking North AmericanTour.
Johnson Financial Group Broadway at the Marcus Center and Broadway Across America- Milwaukee will bring the Milwaukee premiere of DEAR EVAN HANSEN on September 24-29 and tickets will go on sale this Friday, August 16 at 1:00 pm. Tickets are available at Marcus Performing Arts Box Office at 929 North Water Street, Downtown Milwaukee, by phone at 414- 273-7206 or by visiting Ticketmaster.com or MarcusCenter.org.
Dear Evan Hansen is so fortunate to attract some of the best talent on Broadway and beyond for each of our productions,” Mindich said. “We are grateful to feature some stunning Broadway debuts, as well as revered theater actors in these authentic portrayals of very complex characters. I’m thrilled we’re able to maintain the excellence of this show as we continue our third year on Broadway and head into our second year on a national tour.”
As previously announced, Ivan Hernandez and Ann Sanders assumed the roles of Larry and Cynthia Murphy on Broadway beginning August 6. Noll (taking over from Sanders), Goldsmith and Koyabe will join the Broadway company on October 22, the latter two making their Broadway debuts at the Music Box Theater; Jessica Phillips will join the Broadway company on November 26, 2019, succeeding Lisa Brescia in the role of Heidi Hansen. Jane Pfitsch also joins the Broadway company from the tour as a Heidi/Cynthia understudy, beginning November 5.
In addition to Sherman, Rankin, La Rochelle and Costantini, the full cast for the second year of the Dear Evan Hansen national tour includes Stephen Christopher Anthony as Evan (who begins September 17), Noah Kieserman as Connor, John Hemphill as Larry, Ciara Alyse Harris as Alana (through November 3) and Samantha Williams as Alana (beginning Nov 5), Sam Primack as the Evan Alternate, and understudies David Jeffery, Matthew Kemp, Asher Muldoon, Coleen Sexton, Daniel Robert Sullivan, Kelsey Venter and Maria Wirries. The new company begins performances in Milwaukee on September 24.
The current Broadway company of Dear Evan Hansen includes Andrew Barth Feldman, Gabrielle Carrubba, Lisa Brescia, Ann Sanders, Alex Boniello, Ivan Hernandez, Sky Lakota-Lynch, and Samantha Williams, and Michael Lee Brown (Evan alternate), Roman Banks, Jessica Bogart, Lorna Courtney, Dan Macke, Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Asa Somers, Josh Strobl and Nicole Van Giesen.
The current National Tour company of Dear Evan Hansen includes Ben Levi Ross, Maggie McKenna, Jessica Phillips, Christiane Noll, Marrick Smith, Aaron Lazar, Jared Goldsmith, and Phoebe Koyabe, and Stephen Christopher Anthony (Evan alternate), Noah Kieserman, Ciara Alyse Harris, John Hemphill, Asher Muldoon, Jane Pfitsch, Coleen Sexton, and Maria Wirries.
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The winner of six 2017 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Dear Evan Hansen features a book by Tony Award-winner Steven Levenson, a score by Academy Award, and Tony & Grammy Award-winning composers Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, and direction by 4-time Tony® Award nominee Michael Greif.
Declared “one of the most remarkable shows in musical theater history” by the Washington Post’s Peter Marks, Dear Evan Hansen opened at the Music Box Theatre to rave reviews on December 4, 2016. There, it has broken all box office records and struck a chord with audiences and critics alike, including New York Times critic Jesse Green, who, in his May 2019 re-review of the show, declared it “more and more ingenious with each viewing. It is more hopeful than ever.”
The Broadway production celebrated its two-year anniversary with a special donation to the Smithsonian, where the show’s iconic blue polo and arm cast will now be part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. In addition to the Broadway and Tour productions, Dear Evan Hansen is currently on-sale for its highly anticipated London premiere, which starts performances October 29 and opens November 19 at the Noel Coward Theatre.
The Grammy Award-winning Original Broadway Cast Recording of Dear Evan Hansen produced by Atlantic Records, was released in February 2017, making an extraordinary debut on the Billboard 200 and entering the chart at #8 – the highest charting debut position for an original cast album since 1961 – and went on to win the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album and hit Gold Record status, a rare feat for a Cast Recording. A deluxe version of the cast recording, including six bonus tracks and a pop cover from Katy Perry of “Waving through a Window” is now available digitally.
A special edition coffee table book authored by Levenson, Pasek and Paul, Dear Evan Hansen: through the window (Grand Central Publishing / Melcher) is now available, offering an in-depth, all-access look at the musical, including never-before-seen production photos and cast portraits, behind-the-scenes stories, and a fully annotated script by the authors.
In addition to winning six 2017 Tony awards and a 2018 Grammy Award, Dear Evan Hansen has won numerous other awards, including the 2017 Drama League Award for Outstanding Musical Production and for the off-Broadway production, two Obie Awards, a Drama Desk Award, and two Outer Critics Circle Awards and two Helen Hayes Awards. Dear Evan Hansen is also the winner of the Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards three years running, and was just proclaimed the Best Long-Running Show and the Best Touring Production in the 2019 Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards.
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About Marcus Performing Arts Center Established in 1969, the Marcus Performing Arts Center is the premier performing arts community gathering space in Southeastern Wisconsin. As the Marcus Center celebrates its 50th anniversary, it continues to build bridges between diverse members of our community through high-quality arts entertainment in the region and the state. The touring Broadway series, sponsored by Associated Bank, is recognized as bringing the best of Broadway entertainment to Milwaukee for the past 20 years and provides opportunities to educate, entertain and engage audiences. The Marcus Center is also the home to the Milwaukee Symphony, Milwaukee Ballet, Florentine Opera, First Stage plus a variety of other important community and family events throughout the year. For more information about events visit the Marcus Center website at www.MarcusCenter.org. The Marcus Center is a private non-profit 501(c) 3 corporation and is a dedicated veterans memorial in Milwaukee.
Johnson Financial Group is a privately owned financial services company offering banking, wealth and insurance solutions through Johnson Bank, Johnson Wealth, and Johnson Insurance. The $5 billion financial services company operates in Wisconsin, Arizona and Minnesota. Principal owners of Johnson Financial Group are members of the Samuel C. Johnson family. Helen Johnson-Leipold is Chairman of Johnson Financial Group. For more information visit www.johnsonbank.com.
Broadway Across America (BAA) is part of the John Gore Organization family of companies, which includes Broadway.com, The Broadway Channel, BroadwayBox.com and Group Sales Box Office. Led by 14-time Tony-winning theater producer John Gore (Owner & CEO), BAA is the foremost presenter of first-class touring productions in North America, operating in 45 markets with over 400,000 subscribers. Presentations include Disney’s The Lion King, Wicked, The Book of Mormon, The Phantom of the Opera and Hamilton. Current and past productions include Ain’t Too Proud, Beautiful, Cats, Chicago, Dear Evan Hansen, Mean Girls, Moulin Rouge! and To Kill A Mockingbird. www.dearevanhansen.com www.instagram.com/dearevanhansen www.twitter.com/dearevanhansen www.facebook.com/DearEvanHansen