Roman Banks Will Make Debut as First Evan Hansen of Color Today!

History is being made at the Music Box Theatre today! Roman Banks will make his debut as the title character in Dear Evan Hansen as the show's first Evan of color. Banks is currently the understudy for Evan, Jared and Connor.

The current cast of Dear Evan Hansen includes Taylor Trensch, Lisa Brescia, Mallory Bechtel, Jennifer Laura Thompson, Michael Park, Alex Boniello, Sky Lakota-Lynch, Phoenix Best and Roman Banks, Michael Lee Brown, Garrett Long, Olivia Puckett, Asa Somers, Nicole Van Giesen, Diamond Essence White and Dan Macke.

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 -- and went on to win the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. A deluxe version of the cast recording, including six bonus tracks and a pop cover from Katy Perry of "Waving through a Window" was released earlier this month and is now available digitally.

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. The first national tour is currently underway with performances scheduled across America, and international productions have been announced for Toronto (March 2019) and London (Fall 2019).

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.