World Premiere Set for Benj Pasek & Justin Paul’s Dear Evan Hansen; Will Ben Platt Star?

Tony nominated duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s Dear Evan Hansen will receive its world premiere in Washington D.C. this summer. No casting has been announced, but former Book of Mormon star Ben Platt recently told Broadway.com that he was “working on a new original musical that will be coming out soon with Pasek and Paul.”

With a book by Steven Levenson, lyrics by Pasek and music by Paul, Dear Evan Hansen is a contemporary story of hope, heartache and the things in life we can’t live without—friends, family and a sense of belonging. After living in virtual obscurity, Evan Hansen is about to go viral. Not on purpose, but because of a private letter becoming much too public.

The production will be helmed by If/Then’s Michael Greif, choreographed by Danny Mefford and run July 9 through August 23 at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater.

Other shows in Arena Stage’s 2015-16 season include a revival of Oliver!, Benjamin Scheuer’s The Lion, Karen Zacarías’s Destiny of Desire, Allison Engel and Margaret Engel's Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End, Cheryl L. West’s Akeelah and the Bee, Lynn Nottage’s Sweat, Anthony Giardina’s The City of Conversation, Robert Schenkkan’s Tony-winning All the Way and Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced, which is currently running on Broadway.