Vancouver native Robert Markus has landed the title role in the upcoming Canadian premiere of Dear Evan Hansen. The production, which marks the first international engagement of the Tony-winning musical, will begin performances March 5, 2019, at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto.
Markus has frequently performed with the Stratford Festival, having appeared in Tommy, The Rocky Horror Show, The Music Man, and Fiddler on the Roof. He is a graduate of the University of Alberta's BFA program.
The young actor won the coveted role following an extensive search that included an open call earlier this year. "After more than eight months of a cross-country search and more than 800 individual auditions, I’m so pleased that we’ve finally found our Evan Hansen," said producer Stacey Mindich. "Robert has all of the qualities and more that we look for in an Evan Hansen, and I can’t wait to see him in the blue polo.”
David Mirvish, who joins Mindich in producing the Canadian engagement, added, "The actor playing [Evan] must not only be able to scale the acting and singing challenges, but also be able to lead the entire acting company, Robert Markus meets all these criteria and more."
Additional casting will be announced at a later date.
The musical, featuring a Tony-winning book by Steven Levenson and a Tony-winning score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, continues its record-breaking run at Broadway's Music Box Theatre. A U.S. national tour launched in September. A London bow is slated for fall 2019.
