Television star Jordan Fisher will don an arm cast and a blue polo shirt when he joins the Broadway production of Dear Evan Hansen in 2020. The performer will succeed the current Evan Hansen of Andrew Barth Feldman for a 16-week engagement starting January 28, 2020. Feldman will play his final performance in the Tony-winning hit on January 26, 2020.
Dear Evan Hansen director Michael Greif weighed in on the announcement, “Jordan’s a remarkably talented, transformational actor, and a great musician. I thought he was spectacular in Rent: Live, and I know he’ll be a thrilling Evan.”
Fisher is well-known to television audiences for his recurring roles on the Disney sitcom Liv & Maddie and the ABC Family drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager. He enjoyed critical success with his turns as Mark in Rent: Live and Doody in Grease: Live. He also was the season 25 “Mirror Ball Champion” on the popularity reality show Dancing with the Stars. Fisher is no stranger to the musical stage, having played the roles of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical Hamilton. For the Disney Channel, Fisher also appeared in the made-for-TV musical Teen Beach Movie and its sequel Teen Beach 2. He is also featured on the Disney animated film soundtrack of Moana. An accomplished singer and dancer, his self-titled EP was released by Hollywood Records in 2016.
“Evan Hansen is a 16-course meal for an actor. The complexity of this boy is akin to climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in my opinion,” Fisher said. “I doubt I’ll ever forget the first time I sat in the Music Box to see it, and the idea of being a part of that memory for others is mind-blowing. I’m so honored to join this amazing company.”
Currently, the Broadway production of Dear Evan Hansen features Andrew Barth Feldman as Evan Hansen, Jessica Phillips as Heidi Hansen, Gabrielle Carrubba as Zoe Murphy, Christiane Noll as Cynthia Murphy, Jared Goldsmith as Jared Kleinman, Phoebe Koyabe as Alana Beck, Alex Boniello as Connor Murphy, Ivan Hernandez as Larry Murphy, and Zachary Noah Piser (Evan alternate). Roman Banks, Jessica Bogart, Lorna Courtney, Jane Pfitsch, Dan Macke, Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Asa Somers, Josh Strobl, and Nicole Van Giesen round out the ensemble.
Dear Evan Hansen opened on Broadway on December 4, 2016 where it garnered glowing reviews and went on to win six 2017 Tony Awards including Best Book, Best Score, and Best Musical. With a book by Steven Levenson and a score by the Academy Award-winning team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La-La-Land), Dear Evan Hansen was directed for Broadway by Michael Greif.
Mark Robinson is the author of the two-volume encyclopedia The World of Musicals, The Disney Song Encyclopedia, and The Encyclopedia of Television Theme Songs. His latest book, Sitcommentary: The Television Comedies That Changed America,released on October 15. Hemaintains a theater and entertainment blog at markrobinsonwrites.com.