Isaac Powell, star of Ivo van Howe’s 2020 Broadway revival of West Side Story, is joining the cast of Universal’s screen adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen, it has been announced. 

He will play the role of high school jock Rhys in the new adaptation of the six-time Tony Award winning musical, which also picked up a number of Olivier awards recently. He will join a cast which also includes Ben Platt, Julianne Moore, Amy Adams, Danny Pino, Amandla Stenberg, Nik Dodani, DeMarius Copes, Colton Ryan and Gerald Caesar. 

Powell scored critical reviews and received the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical for playing the role of Tony in West Side Story, after making his Broadway debut as Daniel in Once on This Island two months after graduating from the University of North Carolina’s School of the Arts. 

A release date for the movie adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen is yet to be revealed.