Ben Platt wears each his nervous diffidence and his blazing expertise on his sleeve.
Typically his neurotic, navel-gazing aspect will get the higher of his artistry, as was the case at his live performance on the Greek Theatre in the summertime of 2024. Regardless of the glory of his singing and the enviable success of his award-lavished profession, he made his lifetime of huge privilege look like a story of unremitting anguish and woe.
It’s not straightforward rising up LGBTQ+. Stigma and alienation are unavoidable even in essentially the most progressive quarters. Nevertheless it wasn’t at all times straightforward to sympathize along with his trials and tribulations in essentially the most elite enclaves of Los Angeles.
Many younger queer folks endure a very good deal worse, with out a Tony, Grammy and Emmy to console them. However a brand new maturity is in proof in his newest hometown live performance, “Ben Platt: Live at the Ahmanson.” On this exquisitely staged present, directed by Tony winner Michael Arden, Platt recaps the story of his life with an ironic contact whereas singing songs that mark his fretful, meteoric journey.
Most of the anecdotes are the identical, together with some light-hearted point out of his round-robin courting with the few different out college students on the prestigious Harvard-Westlake Faculty. However Platt appears to have realized simply how fortunate he has been. Acknowledging the “horrible year” everybody has simply lived by way of, he guarantees — and delivers — a night of musical escape.
Judy Garland, the inspiration for his 2024 Broadway live performance, “Ben Platt: Live at the Palace,” continues to function muse. Her rendition of “That’s Entertainment!” warms up the viewers earlier than Platt makes his kid-in-a-candy-store entrance.
The present begins with “Corner of the Sky” from “Pippin,” a piano bar staple that hard-core musical theater buffs may sing at any degree of inebriation. However Garland rapidly returns when Platt pairs two songs that grapple in several methods with the scenario of unrequited love.
“Andrew” — from his newest solo album, “Honeymind” —delves into the expertise of falling for a straight man who can’t reciprocate. “The Boy Next Door,” which Garland made well-known within the 1944 movie “Meet Me in St. Louis,” tells a story of heterosexual longing hiding in plain sight.
Choices from Platt’s studio albums make up a good portion of the invoice. All of them are private, however essentially the most affecting are these which are uninhibited of their introspective rumblings, comparable to “Grow As We Go” and the chic “Before I Knew You,” which he prefaced with a loving tribute to his husband, fellow actor and singer Noah Galvin. From “Dear Evan Hansen,” the present that shot him to stardom, he opted for a track that his title character didn’t get to sing, “Requiem.” (Platt acknowledged that he had spent sufficient time residing inside Evan’s troubled thoughts.)
Two songs that he sang on his Netflix drama “The Politician” faucet into his reverence for Joni Mitchell and Billy Joel. Mitchell’s “River,” one of many highlights of the live performance, attracts out the shimmering vary of his voice, which swoops effortlessly right into a breathy falsetto that has the standard of a grasp jazz drummer pulling out the brushes. A strong homage to Joel’s “Vienna” introduced out the storytelling showman in Platt, whose confidence soars in a track that’s proper in his candy spot.
Ah, however I’m burying the lede. Every efficiency includes a completely different particular visitor, and at Friday’s present the visiting luminary was none aside from Josh Groban, whom Platt known as “the G.O.A.T.” Each grew up in Los Angeles, and each expressed gratitude to the humanities educators who impressed them and to the Los Angeles theater scene that spurred them onto greatness.
Josh Groban, left, makes a cameo in Ben Platt’s present on the Ahmanson Theatre.
(Makela Yepez)
Groban thanked Platt for the chance to make his debut on the Ahmanson, a stage they know properly, particularly Platt, who not solely attended performances there commonly however twice appeared in productions, in his personal playful phrases, as an “effeminate, sad child.”
The 2 males sang a duet of “What I Did for Love” from “A Chorus Line” that was memorable largely for the best way it permitted these typically rivals who’ve competed for Tony Awards an opportunity to revel within the communal ties that bind them. The viewers was breathless not solely with pleasure however with cellphone exercise recording the encounter for digital posterity.
Psychologists will make of it what they’ll that the track Platt selected to carry out after Groban left the stage was “The Winner Takes It All,” which he stated he included for no different motive than that he was so moved by Christine Sherrill’s efficiency within the new Broadway manufacturing of “Mamma Mia!”
His model of the quantity, expertly balancing camp with sincerity, was a whole delight — and completely devoid of sinister subtext. Platt simply needed to have enjoyable, as was the case in his moodily reworked rendition of Addison Rae’s social media hit “Diet Pepsi,” which he cheekily launched as an American songbook treasure.
Arden, who directed “Ben Platt: Live at the Palace,” brings the identical degree of meticulous care that earned him a Tony Award this yr for the musical “Maybe Happy Ending.” Matt Steinbrenner’s manufacturing design artfully exposes the historic character of the Ahmanson stage. Ryan Healey’s chic lighting provides the enchantment that makes this providing such an ideal vacation reward.
Two backup singers, Shaunice Alexander and Allen René Louis (who did the vocal preparations) appeared as thrilled to be taking part in the Ahmanson as Platt. The homey feeling they shared was supported by a band that has the stylistic grace of a well-honed orchestra. (Platt gave musical director Chase Foster a shout-out for the bespoke preparations.)
Adorning himself in a white boa, Platt channeled Liza Minnelli, whom he known as the best nepo child of all time. It was a excessive praise from the son of “Wicked” producer Marc Platt, born out of respect for the virtuosity and work ethic that enabled her to maneuver out of the shadow of her mom’s once-in-a-century expertise. He then sang a model of “Maybe This Time” from “Cabaret” that little doubt would have had Minnelli cheering as vociferously because the bowled-over Ahmanson crowd.
However ensuring to offer mom Garland her due, Platt returned for an encore with “Over the Rainbow” in a rendition evoking Rufus Wainwright’s haunting interpretation of this basic from “The Wizard of Oz.” Regardless of the affect, Platt’s parting quantity despatched us house on a cloud of ecstasy.
‘Ben Platt: Reside on the Ahmanson’
The place: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave.When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursdays; 8 p.m. Friday-Saturdays; 3 and eight p.m. Sundays. By way of Dec. 21.
Tickets: Begin at $44.85
Contact: (213) 628-2772 or CenterTheatreGroup.org
Working time: 1 hours, 40 minutes (with no intermission)
