Dear Evan Hansen star talks 'life changing' phone call on the Tube as smash arrives in Sunderland

Picture the scene - you receive a phone call from your agent about landing your dream job, only you can't react how you'd like to, because you're on a packed Tube train in London. What do you do? Well in Ryan Kopel's case, you get off at the next stop and start celebrating then!

Fast forward to now and, while it still hasn't quite sunk in he got the job, Ryan is wowing packed audiences night after night as the lead in the first ever UK tour of smash hit musical Dear Evan Hansen.

Once in a while, a show comes around that manages to capture the hearts of a generation and, not by whisking them off to a magical world or putting the classic tracks of a music icon on stage; but by telling a story that is so relatable to many people. And that's exactly what Dear Evan Hansen continues to do. Having been a huge success on both Broadway and the West End, one of the biggest musicals has now hit the road for the first time on British soil, with Ryan in the titular role and a score that hits like one hell of an emotional sucker punch.

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Dear Evan Hansen opens at Sunderland Empire on Tuesday, November 19 and, prior to curtain up, ChronicleLive caught up with Ryan, who, while he's now well into the tour, still can't quite believe he landed a job he'd had his heart set on. And, as well as reliving the moment he found out, whilst on a packed carriage on the London Underground, Ryan also opened up about just how much he cares about the show and its impact.

"I do feel the pressure and a responsibility to get it right every night," Ryan began. "A lot of people really care about the show and the topics it deals with are really delicate. I have to try to not let the emotions of the story and the songs overwhelm me while I'm on stage, which is actually really tough.

"I look out into the audience every night during You Will Be Found, which is always a huge moment, and I see people crying or putting their heads on the shoulder of the person they're with or parents cuddling their kids and it's hard not to end up in floods of tears!""

Dear Evan Hansen is centered on student Evan, who struggles with social anxiety, so writes letters to help himself cope. When one of those is found by another student, who then takes his own life, Evan becomes part of a tragedy he had no intention of causing.

Giving its heart-wrenching subj4ect matter, Dear Evan Hansen, which has been reimagined for its UK tour, is a show that provokes all sorts of emotions, something Ryan is very well aware of. "Even though you're in the show, your heart breaks for all the characters and what they've been through and the topics discussed are ones that people can relate to.

"I think it has even more of an impact now with the changes that have been made for the tour. Before it was just the lead actors, but now we have an ensemble, which I think was a great decision as it expands the Evan Hansen world and makes numbers like You Will Be Found Hit Even Harder.