The 2017 Tony winner for Best Musical, Dear Evan Hansen, is now also the first profitable new musical of the season.
The show, which has shattered multiple box office records since opening in December, recouped its capitalization of $9.5 million in just 8.5 months, announced lead producer Stacey Mindich.
Hansen, which picked up five other Tonys, including trophies for actors Ben Platt and Rachel Bay Jones, was an early standout in a crowded season. Several shows postponed initial runs to avoid competing with Hamilton last year, leading to a glut of thirteen new musicals this season. But Hansen’s success meant they were up against something almost as formidable.
Since opening, it’s broken the house box office record at the Music Box Theater multiple times, spurring its quick recoupment. As of last week, it was the 4th highest-grossing show in the biz, behind only juggernauts Hamilton, Wicked, and The Lion King, all of which occupy significantly larger theaters. At $1.7m, Hansen broke the industry record for a theater with fewer than 1,000 seats.
Written by wunderkind duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, with a book by Steven Levenson, Hansen follows an anxious teenager who, after the suicide of a classmate, gets wrapped up in the dark side of social media.
The topical subject matter has resonated with audiences of all ages, particularly those younger than the average Broadway buyer, at forty-four. The cast album is one of only four to crack the Billboard top 10 in the last half-century (along with Hamilton, The Book Of Mormon, and Hair).
But with celebrity comes scrutiny, as the producers of Hamilton well know. Hansen has struck a chord not just with fans, but with skeptics who see it as an irresponsible depiction of social media in an era of fake news.
It’s also caught flak for a lack of diversity, featuring only two people of color among its core cast and creative team. This is notable mostly in comparison to Hamilton and last year’s Tonys, where all the major acting awards went to artists of color, in a season that was as far from white as Broadway has ever been. But as we’ve covered extensively, Broadway as an industry continues to struggle with racial parity – Hansen is far from an outlier.
It is, however, the only show this season (and in recent memory) that is led by a lone, female producer. Most of the CEO level prods on Broadway are men – that Mindich cultivated this show without other general partners is a massive step forward for an industry whose gender gap is almost as wide as Hollywood’s.
Thus far, the whole endeavor is a textbook case of ‘all press is good press.’ The box office is soaring and shows no sign of slowing. And indeed, most of the press has been unequivocally excellent (it was certainly one of my favorite shows that opened in 2016).
The duo responsible for its music and lyrics is also now halfway to being the youngest people ever to EGOT (winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.) They won an Oscar for La La Land’s song "City Of Stars," and are a lock for Best Cast Album at the next Grammys.
The big question: can they beat Hamilton mastermind Lin Manuel Miranda to the EGOT title? He lost the Oscar to them this year, which is the only blank slot left on his award shelf. It may depend on whether the Academy looks favorably on his role in the upcoming Mary Poppins sequel, due out next year.
