Ryan Kopel will take the lead role in Nottingham Playhouse’s production of Olivier, Tony and Grammy award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen in September 2024.
Kopel played Davey in the musical Newsies, with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman and book by Harvey Fierstein, at Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre in 2022. Lauren Conroy, who will play Zoe Murphy, made her stage debut as Little Red Riding Hood in Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods at the Theatre Royal, Bath in 2022. Alice Fearn, who will play Evan’s mum Heidi, appeared as Beverley and Annett in Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s Come From Away at the Phoenix Theatre in 2021.
They will be joined by Helen Anker as Cynthia Murphy, Richard Hurst as Larry Murphy, Killian Thomas Lefevre as Connor Murphy, Tom Dickerson as Jared Kleinman, Vivian Panka as Alana Beck and Sonny Monaghan as alternate Evan.
This is the first UK production of Dear Evan Hansen to perform with an ensemble, which will comprise Lara Beth-Sas, Will Forgrave, Daniel Forrester, Jessica Lim, Sonny Monaghan and Shakira Simpson.
During the audition process, the casting team collaborated with TikTok, which invited users who were interested in being cast in the production to upload a video of themselves singing any number from the show. The team reviewed all submissions and invited those they felt could be a part of the cast to take part in the formal audition process.
More than 2,000 videos were submitted and 36 people were invited to in-person auditions. Monaghan was cast in the ensemble. As alternate Evan, he will perform the role twice a week at matinée performances.
Director Adam Penford said, “I’m beyond thrilled with the talented cast we‘ve assembled. It’s an exciting mix of musical theatre legends and rising stars. It's been nine years since the original show premièred and it's an honour to be the first production to reimagine this powerful story through a contemporary lens.”
The creative team includes Morgan Large (set and costume designer), Carrie-Anne Ingrouille (choreographer), Matt Daw (lighting designer), Tom Marshall (sound designer), Ravi Deepres (video designer), Matt Smith (musical supervisor), Natalie Gallacher (casting director), Michelle Payne (associate director) and Laura Llewellyn-Jones (orchestral manager).
With a score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and book by Steven Levenson, Dear Evan Hansen will run at Nottingham Playhouse from Monday 9 until Saturday 28 September before touring to Brighton, Birmingham, Woking, Leeds, Liverpool, Sunderland, Oxford, Northampton, Southampton, Milton Keynes, Canterbury, Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Belfast, Chester, London and Wolverhampton until 5 April 2025.