Recent music theatre graduate to perform in the first national tour of 'Dear Evan Hansen' 

Jared Goldsmith ’18 will be playing the role of Jared Kleinman in the tour of the Tony-winning musical, set to open on Sept. 25 in Denver, Colorado. 

Jared Goldsmith ’18 attended an open audition in New York City for “Dear Evan Hansen” in November 2017. In January, Goldsmith received a callback, which led to two more callbacks, which ultimately led to Jared receiving the offer of a lifetime: he learned he would be playing the role of Jared Kleinman in the first national tour of the Tony-winning musical “Dear Evan Hansen.”

Goldsmith received this news in late February, three months before graduating. “At the time, I was at Elon prepping for the casting director/agent showcase,” said Goldsmith. “It felt amazing knowing that so much of my hard work over the last few years had truly paid off.

“Frankly, I wouldn’t be in ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ if I hadn’t gone to Elon,” he responded when asked how Elon helped prepare him for this opportunity. “I was simply incapable of singing the callback material four years ago. My amazing voice teacher April transformed my voice. Elon also teaches us how to be great at auditioning as well as how to be great storytellers, so I was able to really take direction and nail it when I was in the room.”

In the midst of this excitement, Goldsmith has also been working alongside his longtime best friend, Adam Quinn (currently the associate director for “Dear Evan Hansen”), co-writing and developing a new musical, “Mazkapan: A New Magical Musical!” According to Quinn’s website, “This new musical tells the story of best friends, Ralph and Harry, who find themselves stuck in the magical town of Mazkapan for the weekend where they are named the Messiah, who’ve come to bring the rain.”

Adam Quinn & Jared Goldsmith '18
“Mazkapan” recently had its first public performance (also featuring recent Elon alum Megan Flynn ’18) at Green Room 42 in New York City. “As for next steps,” says Jared, “we’re planning to stage a reading/workshop sometime in the near future!” “Mazkapan,” as well as the story of Goldsmith and Quinn’s friendship, was recently featured in an article in Playbill Magazine.

Goldsmith is currently in rehearsal for “Dear Evan Hansen,” which is set to play 60 cities around the country beginning this fall. Be sure to catch Jared in a city near you. Read more information about the national tour of “Dear Evan Hansen.”