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It's the most highly anticipated West End opening of the year and now it has a star. The lead for Dear Evan Hansen has been found.

Newcomer Sam Tutty will play the coveted role. The 21-year-old Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts graduate beat 8,000 others, first taking part in open auditions in February. Tutty has recently appeared in musical Once On This Island at the Southwark Playhouse, where he made his professional debut.

The story follows Evan, an anxious high school student, who finally finds himself at the centre of attention when a lie he tells spirals out of control.

The core cast consists of eight characters: Lucy Anderson will play Evan’s friend Zoe Murphy, with Doug Colling playing her brother Connor Murphy. Fellow students Jared and Alana will be played by Jack Loxton and Nicole Raquel Dennis.

Rebecca McKinnis, who starred in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, will play Evan’s mother, while Zoe and Connor’s parents will be played by Lauren Ward (Caroline, or Change on the West End) and Rupert Young (Twelfth Night at the Young Vic). Marcus Harman will play the alternate Evan Hansen.

The cast is completed by Tricia Adele-Turner, David Breeds, Haydn Cox, Natalie Kassanga, Hannah Lindsey, Mark Peachey, Courtney Stapleton, Alex Thomas-Smith and James Winter.

The musical debuted on Broadway with Ben Platt in the lead, and was met with six Tony Awards in 2017, including for best musical and best original score. The music and lyrics were composed by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the team behind The Greatest Showman.

Dear Evan Hansen will begin performances at the Noel Coward Theatre on October 29, officially opening on November 19.