Dear Evan Hansen will embark on tour in the UK in a brand-new production. The new production is directed by Adam Penford, artistic director of co-producer Nottingham Playhouse. The show will open at the Nottingham Playhouse on 9 September 2024, ahead of a UK tour. Casting has yet to be announced.
Says Penford:
This first, major, new and exciting UK production offers the opportunity to reexamine some of its contemporary themes and present this brand-new version to Nottingham and around the UK. I’m excited to begin the search for our Evan very soon.
The tour will open at Nottingham Playhouse on 9 September, running until 28 September, with subsequent stops including Curve Leicester (from 1 October), Brighton Theatre Royal (from 15 October), Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham (from 22 October), New Victoria in Woking (from 29 October), Leeds Grand (from 5 November), Liverpool Empire (from 12 November), Sunderland Empire (from 19 November) and New Theatre Oxford (from 26 November).
Into the new year, the show will visit Northampton Derngate (from 14 January 2025), Mayflower Southampton (from 21 January 2025), Milton Keynes Theatre (from 28 January 2025), Marlowe Theatre Canterbury (from 4 February), Bristol Hippodrome (from 11 February 2025), Manchester Palace Theatre (from 18 February 2025), King’s Theatre Glasgow (from 25 February 2025), His Majesty’s Aberdeen (from 4 March 2025), Grand Opera House Belfast (from 11 March 2025), Storyhouse Chester (from 18 March 2025), New Wimbledon Theatre (from 25 March 2025), Wolverhampton Grand (from 1 April 2025), Sheffield Lyceum (from 8 April 2025), Theatre Royal Plymouth (from 15 April 2025), Hull New Theatre (from 22 April 2025), Wales Millenium Centre Cardiff (from 29 April 2025) and Theatre Royal Norwich (from 13 May 2025).
As far as I'm aware this will be the first English language production of Dear Evan Hansen not to feature the original direction by Michael Greif. That production played on Broadway, the West End, Toronto, and toured the United States.
This new Nottingham Playhouse production will just beat out a different new production of Dear Evan Hansen to be staged in Australia. The Sydney Theatre Company production will begin performances on 12 October 2024, and is directed by Dean Bryant.
While these will be the first new English language productions, the show has been staged in Argentina, Finland and Israel in 2023, each with a different creative team.