'Dear Evan Hansen' star Ben Platt talks about his residency at the Palace Theater on Broadway
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- As far as first movie-roles go, a magic-obsessed, music-loving misfit couldn't have been more perfect for Ben Platt.
"It's so nice that film really is just sticking around in a beautiful way," Platt said, recalling Perfect Pitch.
But it was playing the title role in "Dear Evan Hansen" on Broadway that really put him on the map.
Since then there has been a Tony, an Emmy, a Grammy, more movie and TV roles, albums, an engagement - and now a concert residency at the newly renovated Palace Theater in Times Square!
I asked Ben what this time in his life has been like for him.
"It's a year of a lot of life moments," he said. "I'm getting married, and this honeymoon.... and then I'm also getting to play this residency at the Palace, so it just feels like a lot at once. And so I'm trying to focus on how wonderful each individual thing is and not get overwhelmed by just how much is going on and not let any of it pass me by."
I asked him what it is about his new album, Honeymind, that makes him smile.
"Well, a lot of it's about Noah and my fiancé, so that obviously makes me very happy," he told me. "I have really felt like this has been a sort of an arrival to a place that feels super organic to me.... This album came at a time where I feel like the most settled in myself that I have before. I am 30!"
While Ben is working on living in the moment, this current moment includes something entirely new for him: an opportunity to bring his music to the Broadway stage.
"I've always sort of had in my mind this flowery dream of some sort of Broadway moment where I could sing my own music and perform as myself and do some combination of songwriting and storytelling with a theatrical space," he said. "And then the universe kind of intervention element is that the Palace has been being remodeled for a long time and it's finally ready to come back around. And as soon as those two things aligned, it sort of clicked that this might be the moment to really have a Judy Garland moment, as they say!"
"There's going to be a lot for my new album, Honeymind, that I'll sing for the first week," he continued. "I'll sing some stuff from my other records, a couple of musical theater moments, of course, and some honoring of the people that came before me in the Palace, like Judy and Liza and stuff like that. And then definitely some really exciting surprise guests!"
Ben Platt's residency at the Palace Theater runs from May 28th to June 15th, with surprise guests planned for each night.
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