Ben Platt is happy to be home.
The Los Angeles native kicked off a 10-night residency at Center Theater Group’s Ahmanson Theatre Friday night in front of a sold-out crowd that welcomed him back with a handful of standing ovations.
“It’s so nice to be here for many reasons,” the Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award-winning performer said in opening the show. “The first is that I haven’t had a concert of my own in a year and a half, and I’ve been really so desperate and hungry to get on stage. So, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to do that. It feels so nice.”
The other reason, he explained, is that his Ahmanson run marks a return to a stage he knows well.
“When I was a wee child — I grew up here in L.A. and was born in Los Angeles; I’m sorry that I deserted to New York, but I have a place here so it still counts — and when I was a kid and first getting into the business, two of my very first gigs were right here on this very stage,” Platt said. “When I was, I think, 10 years old, I was in a musical called Caroline, or Change, which is a beautiful show where I played kind of an effeminate, sad child. Then I did a play called Dead End a few years later when I was 14 where I played an effeminate sad child. And now I’m an effeminate, medium sad adult, so I’m so thrilled to come back full circle. Thank you to Center Theater Group and the Ahmanson for letting me come back home.”
When CTG announced the two week long Ben Platt: Live at the Ahmanson, it was promised that Platt would share the stage with “a star-studded set of special guests” while performing some of his greatest hits and “timeless Broadway favorites.” He did just that by covering some of his standout tracks from albums like Sing to Me Instead, Reverie and Honeymind while performing Broadway hits like Cabaret’s “Maybe This Time,” originally performed by Liza Minnelli, who Platt praised as “probably the world’s best nepo baby, she gives us an amazing name.” (He called her mother, Judy Garland, his idol and credited her for inspiring the Ahmanson run and the East Coast residency that preceded it at New York’s The Palace Theatre.)
On the subject of those special guests, Platt came through on the promise by delivering Josh Groban to the stage in what marked the latter’s Ahmanson debut.
“I have always admired him, and we have kind of danced around each other our whole lives. We have been on Broadway at the same time. We have been nominated for Tonys together. We have always kind of been in orbit and he’s just always been the most wonderful person and we’ve never ever had the opportunity to sing together ever,” Platt said before bringing Groban out, praising him as the “GOAT” and someone with the “greatest cords and voice” of all time.
Groban walked onto the stage to a rousing applause and he promptly returned the compliments. “You have a pathos and a voice and a talent that is so singular. It’s been so fun to watch your meteoric rise and the way your heart touches so many millions,” Groban said, noting that they are both “L.A. kids” — Platt went to Harvard Westlake while Groban attended Windward School — who grew up inspired by local theater. As such, they teamed for “What I Did For Love” from A Chorus Line, which they dedicated to “all the amazing theater teachers and all of the people who allowed us to get the bug,” Groban said.
Groban wasn’t the only surprise.
“When we did the show at The Palace, it was tied to my record Honeymind, which was wonderful because I got to sing all the songs from Honeymind, but for this show, I was able to infuse all the different classics that I love and sing songs I’ve always wanted to sing from the great American songbook,” Platt explained. “And here’s another one of those…”
The next song: The viral hit “Diet Pepsi” from best new artist Grammy nominee Addison Rae.
Platt’s concert also saw him perform “Reverie” from Dear Evan Hansen; Lady Gaga’s “Yoü and I;” Garland’s “The Boy Next Door;” “Andrew;” “Rain;” “I Want to Love You But I Don’t;” “Ease My Mind;” “Grow As We Go;” “River” by Joni Mitchell; and “Vienna” by Billy Joel, the latter two which he performed on Ryan Murphy’s The Politician. He closed the show with a rendition of “Over the Rainbow” during an encore. Right before that he sang “Before I Knew You,” a song he wrote in honor of husband Noah Galvin.
“Being an artist is incredibly difficult, and there’s just huge swaths of time that you don’t get to do this beautiful stuff. It’s very up and down. I don’t know how I would ever survive without the partnership that I am privileged to experience with Noah,” Platt said. “He’s an extraordinary person and artist on his own. A lot of the songs I write are about him and for him, and I just want to finish with my favorite of those love songs because truly the way I’m able to push myself out onto the stage is because of him.”
Ben Platt: Live at the Ahmanson runs through Dec. 21.
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