DEAR EVAN HANSEN's Ben Platt Praises Successors: 'It Fills My Heart with Gratitude'

As BWW reported yesterday, Taylor Trensch, currently starring on Broadway in HELLO DOLLY, will star as the title character in the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Dear Evan Hansen, beginning mid-January 2018, following his run in Hello, Dolly!. In additional casting news, the production is thrilled to announce that Noah Galvin, fresh off the starring role in ABC's "The Real O'Neals," will play the role of Evan Hansen, beginning November 21, 2017 until Trensch begins performances on Broadway in mid-January.

It was also announced today that original cast members Laura Dreyfuss, 2017 Tony Award-winner Rachel Bay Jones, Jennifer Laura Thompson, 2017 Tony Award nominee Mike Faist, Michael Park, Will Roland have all extended their contracts and will remain in the hit musical through May 2018; Kristolyn Lloyd will remain with the show through February 2018.

Today, Tony Award winner Ben Platt took to Twitter to praise yesterday's casting news in a string of posts:

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 winning composers Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, and direction by 4-time Tony® Award nominee Michael Greif. The 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.

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.

Photo Credit: Kevin Thomas Garcia