[1][2][3] The musical follows Evan Hansen, a high school senior with social anxiety, "who invents an important role for himself in a tragedy that he did not earn".

[5] The show continues to be performed worldwide, with Music Theatre International holding the licensing rights, which have yet to be made more widely available to the general public as of February 2022.

Evan Hansen, a bullied 17-year-old with social anxiety, depression, and a recently broken arm, is assigned by his therapist, Dr. Sherman, to write letters to himself detailing what will be good about each day.

Meanwhile, Cynthia and Larry Murphy struggle to connect with their own 17-year-old son, Connor, a sullen and equally as depressed drug abuser ("Anybody Have a Map?").

At school, Evan meets precocious classmate Alana and his reluctant "family friend" Jared, both of whom decline to sign his cast.

The Murphys invite Evan to their house for dinner, where he is awkward and uncomfortable, so he tells them what he thinks they want to hear, pretending that he and Connor had secretly been best friends, and recounting a fictional version of the day he broke his arm at an abandoned apple orchard the family had visited years ago ("For Forever").

Evan and Alana pitch a fundraising campaign on The Connor Project's website, to raise $50,000 to restore the abandoned apple orchard.

Realizing that the letter is the key to fulfilling the fundraising goal for The Connor Project, Alana posts it online where, to Evan's chagrin, it also goes viral.

The public begins to blame Connor's wealthy, previously dysfunctional family for his suicide ("You Will Be Found" [Reprise]), making them the targets of harassment.

The cast album, produced by Alex Lacamoire, featuring the band from both the original off-Broadway and Broadway productions, including Ben Cohn (piano), Jamie Eblen (drums), Justin Goldner and Dillon Kondor (guitars), Rob Jost (bass), Justin Smith, Todd Low and Adele Stein (strings)[23] and won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

Understudies Erin Breen, Malinda Carroll, Jay Davis, David Jeffery, Laura Mae Nason, Kaitlyn Santa Juana and Josh Strobl rounded out the cast.

Understudies and covers included Marcus Harman as the alternate Evan Hansen, Tricia Adele-Turner, David Breeds, Haydn Cox, Natalie Kassanga, Hannah Lindsey, Mark Peachey, Courtney Stapleton, Alex Thomas-Smith, and James Winter.

[59] The show closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom and reopened on October 26, 2021, with all of the cast returning with the exception of Nicole Raquel Dennis, whose role as Alana was taken over by Iona Fraser.

The on-stage ensemble, a first for any production of the show, featured Reeta Vestman, Tuukka Leppänen, Tiina Peltonen, Raili Raitala and Akseli Ferrand.

The show's ensemble (alongside Monaghan) consists of Lara Beth-Sas, Will Forgrave, Daniel Forrester, Jessica Lim & Elise Zavou (who took over for Shakira Simpson after she dropped out in August due to personal reasons).

[72] An Australian non-replica production was announced on September 14, 2023, as part of the Sydney Theatre Company's 2024 program in co-production with the Michael Cassel Group.

The production, directed by Dean Bryant and with new set designs by Jeremy Allen, premiered on October 12, 2024 at the Roslyn Packer Theatre and closed on December 1.

[79][80] The production was the Southeast Asian premiere of the show and featured Filipino-born Angelo Martinez in his professional debut as Evan Hansen[81] as well as Filipino singer and actor Gian Magdangal as Larry Murphy.

[85] Derek Mong, in his review of the musical at the Arena Stage, wrote that the "inventive set design by David Korins...that transforms a small stage into a platform for the most intimate living room where a mother and son share a heart-to-heart to the physical abyss of internet cyberspace... book by Steven Levenson... lyrics and music by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul... heartfelt lyrics with universal appeal joined by the perfect, oftentimes acoustic, accompaniment that can change the mood from somber to celebratory to sinister in a single bar of music.

The music, played by a small but excellent band on a platform upstage, is appealingly unstrident pop-rock, with generous doses of acoustic guitar, keyboards and strings.

"[88] Susan Davidson, in her review of the Arena Stage production for CurtainUp, noted: "it helps to suspend the disbelief that sullen, anti-social teenagers can change quickly.

It is hard to accept that a long-admired-from-afar girl can change Evan's outlook on life so rapidly or that Connor's teenage disequilibrium leads him to do what he does.

Coming through loud and clear, however, is the fact that what starts as deceit can be blown totally out of proportion by the Internet where lies are disseminated with lightning speed leaving plenty of victims in their wake [...] The music is pleasant, not terribly original but good enough to get toes tapping.

Stacey Mindich, lead producer of the Broadway, Tour and West End productions, claimed in her opening speech at the You Will Be Found: A Mental Health Month Symposium event on May 10, 2018, that she and the team did not want the show to be called a "suicide musical" in order to gain an audience.

Not giving voice to anger at Evan Hansen avoids the more unpleasant ramifications of his exploitation of a tragedy for his own personal gain, which might complicate the audience's reaction to him.

Evan Hansen isn't as interested in these themes as it is in keeping the focus on the insecurity of the outsider, the nerd, the teenager yearning for acceptance.

Evan confesses his deceit and makes it clear that all he wanted, really, was to be loved, because of, well, that absent daddy, that inattentive mommy, and the nastiness of the world.

Writing in The Stage, Tim Bano said "Lucy Anderson makes a striking professional debut as Evan's crush Zoe, and Rebecca McKinnis does strong work as Heidi Hansen",[93] while in Theatre Weekly's five-star review, Greg Stewart commented "Sam Tutty gives the performance of the decade.

The novel, which features additional material based on scenes and songs cut from the show's development that flesh out and expand upon the story, was released by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on October 9, 2018.

[130][131] The film was not as well-received as the stage version and was, months prior to the premiere, criticized by the public, who accused it of nepotism for the filmmakers' decision to have Platt, at age 27, reprise his role as a teenager.