Prop letter used in Dear Evan Hansen: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Prop letter used in the original Broadway production of the musical Dear Evan Hansen. In the play, anxiety-stricken teenager Evan Hansen writes the letter to himself on the advice of his therapist. When it is taken from the printer by a fellow student, an unexpected chain of events sets the play's plot in motion.

Dear Evan Hansen tells the story of a teenage boy struggling with social anxiety, relationships, and identity in high school. Through a series of misunderstandings and coincidences (aided by social media), Evan gains popularity and purpose leading a campaign to memorialize a classmate who committed suicide, but his newfound identity is based on a lie. The play, written by Steven Levenson with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, premiered at Washington D.C.'s arena stage before moving to Broadway in 2016. At the 71st Tony Awards in 2017, Dear Evan Hansen was nominated for nine and won six awards, including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Actor in a Musical for Ben Platt, and Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Rachel Bay Jones. The show's soundtrack reached number 8 on the Billboard 200 chart, making it the best-selling original Broadway cast recording in decades.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 2010s
• Object Name: letter
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 11 in x 8 1/2 in; 27.94 cm x 21.59 cm
• place made: United States: New York, New York City
• Subject: Theater
• Subject: High School
• Subject: Health Care
• ID Number: 2019.0033.04
• catalog number: 2019.0033.04
• accession number: 2019.0033
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.