Ben Levi Ross Will Play Evan in DEAR EVAN HANSEN National Tour

Ben Levi Ross will be donning the iconic blue polo as Evan Hansen - direct from the Broadway company - in the Tony Award-winning musical's First National Tour, launching in Denver this October. Ross made his Broadway debut in Dear Evan Hansen last fall as a cover for Connor, Jared and Evan at The Music Box Theatre.

"Ben has the instincts, humor, emotional transparency and vocal chops to perfectly introduce this extraordinary character to so many cities across America,"Dear Evan Hansen director Michael Greif said. "The creative team and I have been impressed with Ben since first meeting a year ago, and we've watched him develop as an understudy in our Broadway company into a great performer and interpreter of this remarkable role."

Dear Evan Hansen will launch in October 2018 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. The tour will go on to play more than 50 cities over a two-year period, including Los Angeles (Ahmanson Theater), San Francisco (The Curran), Las Vegas (The Smith Center), Chicago (Oriental Theatre), Atlanta (The Fox Theatre), Boston (The Boston Opera House) and many more as part of the 2018-2019 season.

Additional casting will be announced at a later date. For the current tour schedule, ticket information, and more, please visit www.dearevanhansen.com/tour.

In addition to the touring production and the record-breaking Broadway production, Dear Evan Hansen will launch its first international production in Canada, in March 2019 at Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre.

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. 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.

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, where it's broken all box office records and has struck a chord with critics and audiences alike.

In addition to winning six Tony awards, 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. The show's original cast recently won a Daytime Emmy Award for "Best Musical Performance on a Daytime Talk Show" for their April 2017 performance of "You Will Be Found" on NBC's "Today Show," only the second Broadway show in history to win that category.

The show's journey is chronicled in a special edition coffee table book authored by Levenson, Pasek and Paul, Dear Evan Hansen: through the window (Grand Central Publishing / Melcher), 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.

Dear Evan Hansen features scenic design by David Korins, projection design by Peter Nigrini, costume design by Emily Rebholz, lighting design by Japhy Weideman, sound design by Nevin Steinberg, and hair design by David Brian Brown. Music supervision, orchestrations and additional arrangements are byAlex Lacamoire. Ben Cohn is the Associate Music Supervisor. Vocal arrangements and additional arrangements are by Justin Paul. Danny Mefford is the choreographer. U.S. Casting by Tara Rubin Casting/Lindsay Levine. Adrienne Campbell-Holt serves as Associate Director and Adam Quinn is the Assistant Director. Judith Schoenfeld is the Production Supervisor.

The touring production of Dear Evan Hansen will be produced by Stacey Mindich (lead producer), Mickey Liddell, Hunter Arnold, Caiola Productions, Double Gemini Productions, Fakston Productions, Roy Furman, Harris Karma Productions, On Your Marks Group, Darren Bagert, Roger & William Berlind, Bob Boyett, Colin Callender, Caitlin Clements, Freddy DeMann, Dante Di Loreto, Bonnie & Kenneth Feld, FickStern Productions, Eric & Marsi Gardiner, Robert Greenblatt, Jere Harris and Darren DeVerna, The John Gore Organization, Mike Kriak, David Mirvish, Eva Price, Zeilinger Productions, Adam Zotovich, Ambassador Theatre Group, Independent Presenters Network, and The Shubert Organization, in association with Arena Stage, Molly Smith and Edgar Dobie, and Second Stage Theatre, Carole Rothman, and Casey Reitz. Wendy Orshan and Jeffrey M. Wilson are Executive Producers.

Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy