Everything the ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ Movie Changed From the Broadway Show, From Cut Songs to Character Changes
The Dear Evan Hansen movie comes out in theaters Sept. 24. And the Dear Evan Hansen movie soundtrack comes out the same day. The movie will be a little different from what audiences saw in the Broadway show. From new songs to cut songs and a brand new ending, here’s everything the Dear Evan Hansen movie changed from its Broadway counterpart.
New ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ songs get celebrity covers
Let’s start with the music. Dear Evan Hansen‘s music was created by the music and lyrics team Benj Pasek and Justin Paul—the same duo behind La La Land and The Greatest Showman‘s tunes. For the Dear Evan Hansen movie, Pasek and Paul wrote two new songs. The first is “The Anonymous Ones,” performed and co-written by Amandla Stenberg. Stenberg plays Alana Beck in the film.
The second new song is “A Little Closer.” It was written for the character Connor Murphy, played by Colton Ryan. In the stage production, Connor sings the song “Disappear,” but it’s one of the songs cut from the movie. The other cut Dear Evan Hansen songs include the show’s opening number, “Anybody Have a Map?” which would have been sung by Amy Adams’ Cynthia Murphy and Julianne Moore’s Heidi Hansen. “To Break in a Glove” was sung by Connor and Zoe Murphy’s dad, Larry Murphy, and Ben Platt’s Evan Hansen. But it won’t be in the film. “Good For You” was cut as well.
The Dear Evan Hansen Broadway songs that remain in the film are “Waving Through a Window,” “For Forever,” “Sincerely Me,” “Requiem,” “If I Could Tell Her,” “You Will Be Found,” “Only Us,” “Words Fail,” and “So Big/So Small.” The Dear Evan Hansen soundtrack also has celebrity covers. Carrie Underwood and Dan + Shay teamed up for “Only Us.” Finneas covered “A Little Closer.” Sam Smith and Summer Walker teamed up for a new rendition of “You Will Be Found.” SZA covered “The Anonymous Ones.” And Tori Kelly covered “Waving Through a Window.” “Only Us” and “The Anonymous Ones” covers are already out.
Some ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ characters were changed
Dear Evan Hansen director Stephen Chbosky and his creative team also tweaked aspects of the story’s supporting characters. For example, Connor and Zoe’s dad will now be their stepfather, Larry Mora (Danny Pino). The character Jared Kleinman’s name has been changed to Jared Kalwani to reflect actor Nik Dodani’s Indian heritage. Stenberg’s character has also been expanded. Alana and Evan have a unique dynamic in the show, and Platt told Vanity Fair the film dove into that more.
“I’m really excited for people to get a deeper look into her and maybe understand more why she and Evan had this interesting friendship,” he said.
‘Dear Evan Hansen’ movie changed the Broadway show’s ending
The Dear Evan Hansen movie has also fixed a big plot hole from the Broadway show’s ending. Without spoiling what happens, the Broadway show effectively doesn’t make Evan experience real consequences for his actions that definitely merit some form of atonement. Platt told Vanity Fair that won’t be the case in the movie. He said:
“I think the main change, other than the fact that there are two new songs, is a kind of extended third act of the film in which we get to see a little bit more of Evan’s repentance and redemption and the work that he does subsequently to make amends and really get to know who Connor was and try to help the family heal. He’s not, like, quite as off the hook as he is in the musical, where you’ve been sitting in a theater for two and a half hours and you’re kind of ready to wrap it up.”
One big thing the Broadway show and film have in common? Live singing!
