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Ben Platt defines “entertainer.”
Watching him on the recently reopened Palace Theatre stage, where he will be through June 15 as part of a three-week residency supporting his new album Honeymind, feels like a celebration of the power of entertainment.
It’s not just Platt’s phenomenal vocals or his storytelling abilities that capture the audience’s attention. And although his funny jokes certainly add character to the experience, the residency is about more than a great voice and heartfelt laughter. Every movement that Platt makes—from his unabashed dancing to his facial expressions—makes you feel like you’re at a show: all your senses are titillated. You want to dance along but also sit down, close your eyes and just listen. It’s not Broadway … but it is.
This well-rounded night of entertainment is exactly what Platt is going for this time around—and it’s the first chance he has to grace a Broadway stage to sing his own tunes and not someone else’s music.
“It’s a cabaret meets a concert meets a night at the theater,” Platt says over the phone a few hours before his second night at the Palace. “There is a lot of pressure because of the list of amazing performers [that have been on that] stage but I really tried to focus on giving a version of a show that feels more individual to me because this is an opportunity: to perform on a Broadway stage while not in a musical or play.”
I really tried to focus on giving a version of a show that feels more individual to me because this is an opportunity.
The shows support the release of Platt’s third studio album, which heavily focuses on his relationship with now-fiancé Noah Galvin.
In a way, the Palace Theater act is a love letter to Galvin. During the production, Platt talks through his professional arc—from his childhood in New York to his time on Dear Evan Hansen (spoiler alert: you won’t be hearing those songs from him during the residency) and his TV roles (unlike what Wikipedia suggests, The Politician is not coming back to Netflix any time soon because, according to Platt, “[creator] Ryan Murphy is the busiest man alive”)—while constantly relating it all back to Galvin, who actually succeeded him in the title role on Dear Evan Hansen back in 2017.
“I worked on the album in Nashville a lot with some great co-writers,” recalls the 30-year-old Broadway star. “Obviously, a huge part of it is about Noah because there are a lot of love songs in the album and he is top of mind as we’re getting married this year. But the album is also about this stage of my life and arriving into adulthood, whatever that means.”
So far, adulthood has brought him closer and closer to the role of his dreams—Georges Seurat in the James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim musical Sunday in the Park with George.
“I have [been talking about it] for a decade in every interview,” Platt says about the part. “I think I got another four or five years until I’m in that sweet spot but it’s never too early to plant seeds.” Do you hear him, Broadway gatekeepers?
When asked what it is about the role that touches him so, Platt is quick to mention the “beautiful score” and the compelling story.
“Throughout my life, I have been really focused on my career since I was really young,” says Platt. “I have always connected to Georges and the kind of bittersweet songs that he sings about how much he loves what he does and how much fulfillment it brings him but how, sometimes, he struggles to connect and be extroverted while he’s doing that. I always felt a connection to that character.”
That propensity to live a quiet existence while off the stage is particularly obvious when Platt discusses the way social media has impacted his craft.
“I think that, for me, social media is way more relevant to putting out my own music,” he explains. “If I did not have a venture as my own artist, I would probably quietly bow out of it.”
When not performing, Platt seems to treasure his day-to-day in Brooklyn, where he and Galvin recently moved to.
“We’re just enjoying discovering all the amazing restaurants out there,” says the actor when pressed about their go-to local spots. “We love Miss Ada, the delicious Mediterranean restaurant, and sister eatery Theodora.”
Alas, Platt is a public figure, especially in New York theater circles, and was thrown into the spotlight on Instagram last year, when he starred in the revival of Parade as Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-raised Jewish man in 1913 Atlanta who was lynched for the murder of a 13-year-old factory worker.
When previews for the show began in February, masked protesters distributing antisemitic hate pamphlets stormed the area outside of the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. The show, of course, went on.
“I loved doing [Parade] and it helped remind me the parts of Judaism that I relate to the most … and just being proud of that,” said Platt. “That certainly hasn’t wavered. I do think it would be a much more volatile time to be in it right now. So, just for my mental well-being and emotional safety, I’m glad it happened when it did. But that story will always be valuable to tell.”
As for the future of Broadway, Platt believes that the currently crowded field—13 new shows opened in April!—will (hopefully) give way to a more balanced situation fairly soon.
“We’re still in that post-pandemic push where we are so eager to get all these things out that have been developing for so long,” he says. “I think that, over time, we will start to sharpen and focus on each individual thing that is coming out and have the proper amount of time to develop it. Hopefully, we’ll get back to a place where the art is just coming in on an organic timeline.”
If there’s anyone we trust when it comes to Broadway predictions, it’s Platt. Here’s to hoping he is right.