Lawrence Woodmere Academy junior earns lead in ‘Dear Evan Hansen’

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Andrew Feldman, a junior at Lawrence Woodmere Academy in Woodmere, will become the first teenager to lead a Broadway production on Jan. 30, when he plays the title role in “Dear Evan Hansen,” which won six Tony Awards in 2017. The play follows a high school senior with social anxiety and currently stars Taylor Trensch and is being performed at the Music Box Theatre in Manhattan.

Feldman had a taste of Broadway this summer, winning the top prize at the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, also known as the Jimmy Awards, on June 25 at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre. The Jimmy Awards were named in honor of James M. Nederlander, a theater owner and Broadway producer who died in 2016.

He took home Best Performance by an Actor for his role as Frank Abagnale Jr. in LWA’s performance of “Catch Me If You Can.” The character, played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2002 movie stole millions of dollars by impersonating an airline pilot, a doctor and a prosecutor and used misdirection and distractions to elude Carl Hanratty, an FBI agent played by Tom Hanks.


Broadway has been a major part of Feldman’s life since first seeing “Beauty and the Beast,” before performing in his first play, a production of “Annie,” at eight.


He has also started his own production company, Zneefrock Productions. It was born out of his bar mitzvah project in 2014. This past July they staged a production of “Be More Chill” to raise money for NEXT for Autism.

For tickets, go to www.telecharge.com/Broadway/Dear-Evan-Hansen/.