Dear Evan Hansen movie to have two new numbers and rewritten ending, Ben Platt reveals

Speaking to The Telegraph, Ben Platt has revealed that there will be many changes afoot in the new Dear Evan Hansen movie.

Spilling details about the picture while also shrugging off comments about his age (the actor is 27, and was playing a teenager – which Platt rightly comments is relatively common practice on screen), the Evan Hansen and The Politician star stated that the film will have a new ending that will, according to The Telegraph, "holds the deceitful Evan to account more than the musical did." (We won't reveal any spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen the film).

Platt went on: "We see this kid do all these things and tell all these lies in real time, so we need to see the redemption and the forgiveness and the repentance. Watching Evan do the work to figure out who Connor was and heal the family in a much healthier, more removed way, and see him take a breath and heal outside of the trauma he's experienced, is really, really effective."

Tweets over the week have suggested four numbers will be cut from the film as it makes its transition from the stage (where it won a plethora of awards on both sides of the Atlantic).

But in their wake will be two new songs – one for Evan's classmate and social media crusader Alana Beck, titled "Anonymous", while the second will be sung by the deceased teen Connor, who sparks the events of the movie.

All songs were also performed live on set (in a similar vein to Les Misérables and a number from In the Heights), so that it could, in Platt's words, be "a bit unpolished or raw".

The stage version of Dear Evan Hansen will be returning to the West End on 26 October, with the film being released this side of the Atlantic on 22 October (a month after the US!).