Jared Kleinman

Jared Kleinman portrayed by Will Roland

Jared Goldsmith

Jack Loxton

Alex Wyse

Alessandro Costantini

The insanely cool Jared Issac Kleinman is a kinky, unsupporting character in Dear Evan Hansen and its sequel, Dearer Evan Hansen. He is the closest person that Evan has to a "guy named Jared who he is friends with." And is deeply involved in forging the emails and running The Connor Project. He was originated by Will.i.am Roland, and has since been portrayed by Jack Loxton (West End), Alessandro Costantini (Toronto/US Tour), and Jared Goldsmith, among others
Jack Loxton won an emmy award for a different performace, which had nothing to do with Dear Evan Hansen, or its sequel, Dearer Evan Hansen.

## Appearance

He has short brown hair and wears large tortoiseshell glasses. His catchphrase is not applicable to the human ear, His original actor, Will Roland, stands at 5'7 feet tall. Will Roland wears size 11 shoes. Size 11 shoes are famously hard to find, His most famous outfit, seen in "Sincerely, Me" is a gray Map of Westeros (Game of Thrones) t-shirt along with a red and white checked button-up shirt, jeans, and black Vans skate shoes. He was back at it again with the white fans. Unfortunately, Damn Daniel does not make an appearance in the movie, or its sequel, Dearer Evan Hansen, In the final scene of the show which is 47 minutes in length and is an unedited shot of Jared playing League of Legends, he wears a faded red sriracha t-shirt with a short-sleeved blue and pink button-down shirt, khaki pants, and gray Vans, a classic Jared look. Classic Jared is an unlockable character in LEGO Star Wars 3; The Clone Wars. Other select clothing items include a gray and blue H&M hoodie, a pair of Brooklyn Calling cutoff shorts, blue Adidas tennis shoes, and a variety of JonnyPops t-shirts worn underneath open-front shirts. Based on his original actor, he is most often portrayed as having heterochromia (multicolored irises), being short in comparison to Evan, and sometimes having a tooth gap.
His iconic tooth gap did not make a return in Dearer Evan Hansen.

## Personality

Jared is the crass, sarcastic, and slightly inappropriate "family friend" of Evan Hansen. Jared often acts rather insensitively and is brutally honest with his words. His words often include those of “that,” “what,” and “is.” He brushes off Evan throughout the entire show, but later we learn that he actually truly cares for Evan but does not know how to show it, however all of the scenes that proved this were unfortunately cut. Jared is afraid of being vulnerable and open with his emotions and he ends up pushing others (and his only friend) down a flight of stairs because of that. It is commonly suggested that Jared is deeply insecure but hides it through his crude jokes and sarcasm, however none of his jokes won an Emmy.

## Relationships

### Evan Hansen

Jared Kleinman expresses that he is not Evan's friend and is instead a "family friend," and only talks to him because his parents won't pay for his car insurance otherwise. However, as the show progresses and Evan asks him to help with the fake emails, Jared starts showing that he cares more than he is willing to admit, and he is a true friend of Evan. He and Evan bond over making this fake identity for Connor, and despite stating earlier that he would rather not spend time with Evan, he is clearly shown to be enjoying this. Later on as Evan spends more of his time with the Murphy's (and with Zoe in particular), Jared increasingly becomes more and more envious of this as he realizes that he secretly misses being around Evan. It also becomes clear that Jared doesn't have many friends of his own. Eventually Evan abandons Jared and only comes to him when he needs more emails. When he confronts Evan about this, they get into a full-blown argument and it hurts Jared more than he would like it to. Feeling helpless and heartbroken, he stammers, "Fuck you, Evan. Asshole," before storming off.

### Zoe Murphy

Jared frequently teases Evan about his crush on Zoe Murphy, making snarky or ridiculing remarks whenever her name is brought up (and later on, when he becomes resentful of her and Evan's relationship). He is seen in the Murphys' house during "Disappear" when Evan suggests that Zoe's jazz band play a song for the Connor Project assembly. Jared then responds, "Great idea, Evan," sarcasm laced through his voice. When Evan begrudgingly thanks him, he mutters back, "No sweat."

Additionally, during Act 2, he invites Evan over to his house while his parents are away to drink alcohol from their liquor cabinet. Evan immediately declines, saying he has to "help the Murphys," and when Zoe then comes onstage, she greets him before giving Evan a peck on the cheek. Jared steps back before retaliating, "Look at you, helping the Murphys," and stalking away.

### Alana Beck

Alana collaborates with Jared and Evan on the Connor Project, making him the official treasurer (or tech consigliere, according to the novel). Together they work on creating the Connor Project website, although Jared is arguably the least involved out of the three of them.

### Heidi Hansen

Heidi and Jared's mom are the reason why Jared and Evan know each other in the first place. She is pleased that they are supposedly spending more time together, and suggests how she has "always said he's a great friend" for Evan.

## Quotes

* "Is it weird to be the first person in history to break their arm from jerking off too much or do you consider that an honor?" - Act I
* "You fell out of a tree? What are you, like, an acorn?" Act I
* "Hey, Connor. I'm loving the new hair length. Very school shooter chic." - Act I
* "A letter to yourself? What the crap does that even mean? It's, like, some kind of sex thing?" - Act I
* "That does not bode well for you." - Act I
* "Holy shit. Holy. Fucking. Shit." - Act I
* "The truth. Really. You're gonna go to the Murphys' house and explain that the only thing they have left of their son is some weird sex letter that you wrote to yourself?" - Act I
* "His parents think you were lovers. You realize that, right?" - Act I
* "Oh, right. One of those 'secret' email accounts. Sure. For sending pictures of your penises to each other." - Act I
* "Fine. But you're a dick." - Act I
* "Have you ever *seen*a woman run on a treadmill?"- Novel Adaptation
* "There is nothing unrealistic about the love that one man feels for another. In fact, some would say there's something quite beautiful..." - *Sincerely, Me*
* "Who says that?" - *Sincerely, Me*
* ”Kinky.” - *Sincerely, Me*
* "No.. No.. Absolutely not." - *Sincerely, Me*
* "Okay. Please stop hyperventilating. You're having considerable trouble breathing. Do you need a paper bag?" - *Sincerely, Me*
* “My sister's hot. (What the hell?) (My bad.)” - *Sincerely, Me*
* "You *what?* I can't believe you tried to kiss Zoe Murphy on her brother's *bed*. After he *died*."- Act I
* "Grapefruits. Your balls are the size of grapefruits." - Novel Adaptation
* "You're totally right. I mean, what was I thinking, just making things up in a completely fabricated email exchange that never happened?" - Act II
* "Because, if there was one thing about Connor: the guy loved trees. Or, no, wait, *you* love trees. That's weird. Isn't that weird?" - Act II
* "Uh, remember you told me you didn't need my help?" - Act II
* "Well, but, no, think about it. If Connor hadn't died, no one would know who you are. I mean, people at school actually talk to you now. You're almost... *popular*. Which is just... wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles." - Act II
* "Look at you, helping the Murphys." - Act II
* "It means, you should remember who your friends are." - *Good For You*
* "I could tell everyone *everything*." - *Good For You*
* "Fuck you, Evan. Asshole." - *Good For You*
* "And if somebody's in your way, crush them and leave them behind." - *Good For You*
* "So you got what you always wanted." - *Good For You*
* "Evan. Please, listen to me. Do *not* do that." - Novel Adaptation

## Songs

### 'Sincerely, Me'

Evan enlists Jared's help in creating fake, backdated emails between Connor and him, but Jared doesn't really take it that seriously and makes a lot of jokes.

### 'Disappear'

Evan imagines Connor Murphy there, who tells him that no one should be forgotten like Connor was. This inspires Evan to create the Connor Project, a big group to make sure that Connor's memory stays alive, and everyone else's too.

### 'You Will Be Found'

At an assembly for the Connor Project, Evan gives a speech about how no matter what, you will be found. Someone puts a video of this online, and it quickly goes viral, causing the Connor Project to blow up in popularity.

### 'Good For You'

Heidi tells Evan off for having been lying to her about basically everything for months. Alana starts noticing a bunch of inconsistencies within the emails supposedly written between Connor and Evan, and suspects that it's all fake. And Jared is mostly heartbroken that Evan completely left him behind. So they all have this big power anthem that makes Evan guilty.

## Trivia

* Jared Kleinman is featured in four musical numbers, his most popular being *Sincerely, Me*.

* Jared is canonically Jewish, as evidenced by his Hebrew name as well as a line in the script that references his family celebrating Rosh Hashanah, Jewish new year.
* His initials are JK, an abbreviation for "just kidding."
* In Dutch and German, the word "klein" means "small," which may allude to Jared's small stature compared to the other characters.
* Although it is never confirmed, it is speculated that Jared is LGBTQ+ due to him making quite a few jokes about homosexuality and acting oddly around the subject. Along with that, in the 2021 movie adaptation, one of his lines was changed from “Brazilian girl” to “Brazilian guy”. He then implied that they possibly had sex. This pretty much confirms him as queer, but it might not apply to the musical version.
* Jared went to summer camp sometime before the start of the show, as his friends there are referenced as his "real friends."
* The fandom has headcanoned that Jared eats bath bombs, which stemmed from the Tumblr "Lov the Cronch" memes. Will Roland, the original actor for Jared, has stated before that he is not a huge fan of that meme.
	+ Along with the bathbomb meme, it is also headcanoned that Kleinman is not very good at reading, based on the popular vine "What up, I'm Jared, I'm 19, and I never learned how to [\_\_\_\_] read".
* In the musical, the last time Jared appears onstage is during *Good For You* (minus his brief appearance as a silhouette in *Finale*). He never speaks to Evan again after that. However, in the Dear Evan Hansen novel adaptation, they meet again one last time about a year later after Jared heads home from college for winter break.
* It's hinted (and possibly confirmed by our supreme ruler aka Will Roland) that Jared has a crush on Evan.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/character/Jared-Kleinman-331542/
2. ↑ https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/lov-the-cronch
3. ↑ https://youtu.be/5eJHgw1dFRA?t=4881