This actor had a bit part in ‘Mare of Easttown.’ He’s back in Philly to star in ‘Dear Evan Hansen.’

Last time actor Anthony Norman regularly came to Philadelphia, he was playing a musician in “Mare of Easttown,” the hit HBO series set in Delaware County. He will be here again next week, in the title role in “Dear Evan Hansen.”

“I’m super-excited to be coming back here as the lead actor in a show,” said Norman, who played band member Nathan Forde in Mare of Easttown. In Mare, “I was a recurring character — a very small part in a hit show. Now I have a major part in another hit show.

“To me, it feels like a big accomplishment in a city I never expected to have such a connection to,” he said.

Interestingly, neither he nor Jeffrey Cornelius, who plays Evan Hansen once a week so Norman’s voice can get a break, were aware of another connection they now have to Philadelphia, besides performing the musical here Aug. 16 through 28 at the Shubert Organization’s Forrest Theatre as part of The Shubert Organization and Kimmel Cultural Campus’ Broadway Series.

Neither knew that the play, which debuted in 2016, was based on an experience composer and lyricist Benj Pasek had growing up in Ardmore where he attended Friends’ Central, a private Quaker school in Wynnewood. In 2000, a student was found dead of an overdose and had more mourners in death than he had friends in life.

“There was this public mourning from those who didn’t know him at all,” Pasek said in an Inquirer interview in 2016.

That’s the inspiration for the plot of Dear Evan Hansen as well. When a classmate dies by suicide, Evan Hansen, a loner, finds himself drawn into the situation. Suddenly, he’s the center of attention, unable — and at times unwilling — to extricate himself. Of course, there are consequences.

“I would love for the audience to see part of themselves in this,” Norman said. “Who hasn’t felt that they are missing out on something, no matter what age they are, and especially with social media?”

Cornelius sees it that way as well. “We’re all struggling to fit in. I think at its core [the play] is about how we interact with each other in this day and age.”

Norman said the role has its challenges beyond the strain the music puts on his vocal cords. For him, it’s the constant pivot from his own persona to Evan Hansen’s.

“I have to learn how to live a full life away from the show and still conserve my energy and focus for the show,” Norman said. Because the character faces so much emotional upheaval, “I have to be careful what I take in. It’s hard. I feel much more vulnerable now. I feel loss way more intensely. I’m way more susceptible to getting my feelings hurt.”

When he is away from the show. Norman plans to revisit his favorite coffee spot, Function Coffee Labs in South Philadelphia, and make a return stop to the Reading Terminal Market, another favorite. For Cornelius, it will be the Liberty Bell and the Betsy Ross House. “I love history,” he said. “I love exploring cities.”

Four-time Tony Award nominee Michael Greif directs. Pasek cowrote the music and lyrics with Justin Paul. Book by Steven Levenson.

Aug. 16-28, Forrest Theatre, 1114 Walnut St., Philadelphia, 215-893-1999 or kimmelculturalcampus.org

Up for a lighthearted, dance-centric musical to close out the summer? “Dames at Sea” sails into the Bucks County Playhouse. Ruby steps off a bus from Utah and into her first Broadway show. That’s improbable, but so what? And then, just hours before the curtain rises on opening night, the cast learns the theater is being demolished. Thank goodness there are handy-dandy adoring sailors ready to help Ruby and her fellow cast members devise an ingenious alternative.

And thank goodness also that some of the crew that created the 2015 Broadway revival will steer the ship, as it were, in New Hope. They are Randy Skinner, director and choreographer; Anna Louizos, set design; and David C. Woolard, costume design. Reprising her role as diva Mona Kent is Lesli Margherita.

Aug. 12-Sept. 11, Bucks County Playhouse, 70 S. Main St., New Hope, 215-862-2121 or bcptheater.org

After a few days last week on Delaware County Community College’s campus, Hedgerow Theatre’s production of “Twelfth Night” returns to home base outdoors at the theater in Media.

“We are eager to open our 2.5-acre campus again for this laid-back summer Shakespeare tradition,” executive artistic director Marcie Bramucci said in a statement. “Audiences are invited to BYO-whatever they’d like to make our backyard feel like home as they delight in these energetic performances of emerging and seasoned professionals alike.”

At Hedgerow, William Shakespeare’s comedy of mistaken identities is set in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Stephen Patrick Smith, an associate professor at the community college, directs.

Aug. 12-28, Hedgerow Theatre, 64 Rose Valley Rd., Media. 610-565-4211 or hedgerowtheatre.org

Mother and daughter both fall in love with a mysterious stranger in “Calliope Rose,” a mythological mystery comedy by Cape May playwright Bill Sterritt staged on weekends down the Shore. Presented by SPQR Stage Company.

Through Aug. 29. Studio;space, 112 Woodland Ave., Somers Point, N.J., 323-793-2153 or studiospacespnj.com

Check with individual venues for COVID-19 protocols.

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