DEAR EVAN HANSEN: THE NOVEL Audiobook to be Voiced by Past and Present Stars of the Hit Broadway Show

Ben Levi Ross (“Evan Hansen”), Mike Faist (“Connor”), with Mallory Bechtel (“Zoe”) To Read Hachette Audio Production

New York, NY — October 1, 2018

Hachette Audio is pleased to announce the casting of the audiobook edition of Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel; performers from the original and current production of the hit Broadway show will voice the 8-hour production, which will release simultaneous with the hardcover and ebook on October 9, 2018.

Earlier this year, the acquisition of Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel, a young adult book by Val Emmich and Broadway show creators Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, was announced by Megan Tingley, Executive Vice President and Publisher, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel will expand upon the story and characters popularized by the six-time Tony Award–winning Broadway musical of the same name. National tour cast-member Ben Levi Ross (“Evan Hansen”), and original Broadway cast member Mike Faist (“Connor”), with current Broadway cast member Mallory Bechtel (“Zoe”) were selected by Levenson, Pasek, and Paul to read the audiobook edition for Hachette Audio.

“It has been deeply rewarding to work with Val and the entire team at Little, Brown to bring this story to life in an entirely new medium,” said Levenson, Pasek and Paul. “Now, to have our collaborators and friends Mike, Ben, and Mallory join the audiobook has really brought the journey full-circle for us.”

This audiobook is also accented by musical interludes. Mallory Bechtel sings excerpts of two songs from the Broadway production: “Requiem” and “Only Us,” accompanied by Dillon Kondor, a Dear Evan Hansen guitarist who also performed instrumentals of both songs to open and close the Hachette Audio production.

The Tony and Grammy Award-winning production of Dear Evan Hansen, which has struck a chord with critics and audiences of all ages, continues its record-breaking run on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre. This fall, the show launched a multi-city national tour and will open its first international production in March 2019 in Toronto.

 

ABOUT THE READERS
Originally from Los Angeles, Ben Levi Ross went on to study at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. He made his Broadway debut in 2017 with the company of Dear Evan Hansen and headlines the first national tour of Dear Evan Hansen, launching this fall.

Mike Faist was nominated for a 2017 Tony Award for originating the role of “Connor” in the hit Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen. Other Broadway includes Newsies (original company). Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Mike is the Founding Artistic Director of the Ohio Artists Gathering.

Houston-grown Mallory Bechtel has been singing and dancing most of her life. A 2018 honors high school graduate, she relocated to New York in August to make her Broadway debut as “Zoe” in Dear Evan Hansen. Mallory can also be seen in the A24 hit, Hereditary.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Val Emmich is a writer, singer-songwriter, and actor. His debut novel, The Reminders, was a B&N Discover selection that Library Journal called “quirky, touching and addictive.”

Steven Levenson is the Tony Award-winning playwright of Dear Evan Hansen. Other plays include Days Of Rage, If I Forget, and The Language of Trees. In television, he worked for three seasons as a writer and producer on Showtime’s Masters of Sex. Upcoming projects include the limited series Fosse/ Verdon (FX) and the film adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s tick, tick…boom!
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are the Oscar®, Grammy, Tony, and Golden Globe-winning songwriting team behind the Broadway musicals Dear Evan Hansen and A Christmas Story, The Musical. Their film projects include: The Greatest Showman, La La Land and Trolls, as well as the upcoming live action musicals Snow White and Aladdin and original animated musical Foster.

ABOUT THE PUBLISHERS
Hachette Book Group is a leading trade publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the third-largest trade and educational publisher in the world.

Hachette Audio is a publisher of a variety of popular genres in audio form, which matches HBG material with talented actors, composers, and producers to find its fullest expression. Their audiobooks are primarily based on material published in print and online by Grand Central Publishing, Little, Brown & Company, FaithWords, Center Street, Orbit, JIMMY Patterson, Hachette Books, Black Dog & Leventhal, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, and Perseus, and have been recognized for the highest quality of content and production with numerous GRAMMY, Audie, Listen Up! And Earphone awards. Unabridged and abridged titles are available on CD and as digital downloads.

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers is a division of Hachette Book Group, a leading trade publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre (a Lagardère company), the third-largest trade and educational publisher in the world. HBG is made up of eight publishing groups: Little, Brown and Company; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Grand Central Publishing; Perseus Books; Orbit; Hachette Books; Hachette Nashville; and Hachette Audio. For more information, visit hbgusa.com.