Ben Platt Wants to Return to Broadway

Ooh any idea of which score he will riff beyond recognition?

Hard YES

---

Maybe Dickon in that Secret Garden revival they've been trying to revive for the last handful of years now! He sounded pretty good on Winter's On The Wing if I remember correctly. Or maybe he wouldn't want to do a non-leading role after the success he's found with DEH.

From the interview it looks like he'd do a play as well. I can see him as Jamie in BEAUTIFUL THING.

I am also shocked by the amount of disdain there seems to be for him on this board. In terms of the situation with his father, yes, I’m sure that helped him get through the door a bit quicker, but so many people act like he didn’t completely prove himself as a performer with Dear Evan Hansen. That is how his career has taken off, most of it stems from his pure talent and magnetism.

I do not believe he “needs to find another 15 minutes of fame to grasp onto.” He has not lost any fame and seems to have become more relevant recently because of his album, concert special, and The Politician. Whether you enjoy that show or not, he certainly is an incredibly talented actor and singer, and would be welcomed back to Broadway by most in a heartbeat. I’m not saying your opinions don’t have any validity, but I just sincerely disagree and really feel that his honesty, sincerity, and passion comes through much more often than people are giving him credit for.

Hopefully he comes back sooner than later. His star has certainly shot up since he left.

People are judging his range when he only has a small portfolio to date. Give me a break. I don't know whether some people just need to bitch about this or the woman from Hamilton. Let it go.

Ben Platt FOR ME gave one of the best performances by an actor in a musical in over 50 years of theatergoing. I would rank him up there with Richard Kiley in Man of La Mancha, Christopher Plummer in Cyrano, Nathan Lane in The Producers, Hugh Jackman in the otherwise pretty bad Boy From Oz, and at least one other person I am forgetting this moment. When I saw it, he did not seem to be straining his voice and he gave a heartbreaking performance. Is he versatile? I have no idea at this point, but I personally assume that he will continue to grow.

As to what he can do, who says it HAS to be a musical. HJ followed Oz with A Steady Rain, Nathan Lane always mixed it up, God knows Christopher Plummer did, as did Richard Kiley, just to use the names I have already identified. Re musicals, there is one issue...he still looks like a boy to me. But who's to say that he can't play the Emcee, as one example.

It just seems like so much negative energy is spent on this board, dissing people...is it envy? is it just the ravings of people with too much time on their minds? I am not talking about passing comments; everyone makes passing comments about someone they do not like in a role or generally, e.g., I think so-and-so was way overrated in such-and-such. Some people need to get a life.

CT2NYC said: "A lot of actors have madevery successful careers out of basically playing themselves: Tom Cruise, Al Pacino, Sally Field, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson. Julia Roberts, Will Smith, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro, Harrison Ford, George Clooney, Ryan Reynolds, Chris Pratt, and the list goes on. Most peopledon't like them fortheir range, but because there's a familiarity thattheir style of acting achieves, and people connect to that."

Oh good. Can we finally talk about how Leonardo DiCaprio's "acting" is just Leo being Leo with another bad accent?

CT2NYC said: "brian1973 said: "I think people have just realised he’s very good..at Playing Ben Platt. He has no range.
also his singing with closed eyes things drives me mad too. He’s the male Lea Michelle."

A lot of actors have madevery successful careers out of basically playing themselves: Tom Cruise, Al Pacino, Sally Field, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson. Julia Roberts, Will Smith, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro, Harrison Ford, George Clooney, Ryan Reynolds, Chris Pratt, and the list goes on. Most peopledon't like them fortheir range, but because there's a familiarity thattheir style of acting achieves, and people connect to that."

Johnny Depp is a true chameleon tho.

---

CATSNYrevival said: "CT2NYC said: "A lot of actors have madevery successful careers out of basically playing themselves: Tom Cruise, Al Pacino, Sally Field, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson. Julia Roberts, Will Smith, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro, Harrison Ford, George Clooney, Ryan Reynolds, Chris Pratt, and the list goes on. Most peopledon't like them fortheir range, but because there's a familiarity thattheir style of acting achieves, and people connect to that."

Oh good. Can we finally talk about how Leonardo DiCaprio's "acting" is just Leo being Leo with another bad accent?"

You are either belligerent or stubborn. Sure there are actors who are chameleons. I would site Meryl Streep, Glenn Close and Alec Guiness as obvious, Angela Lansbury in supporting roles, earlier Robert DeNiro and earlier Al Pacino (I say earlier to distinguish from the point at which they mainly worked on a lot of mediocre movies for a pay check).

However, there are many more excellent actors / major stars who have given many great performances, but who were still clearly themselves most of the time. In addition to the above, I would add John Wayne, James Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert, Marilyn Monroe, Susan Hayward, Yul Brynner, Gregory Peck, Spencer Tracy, Gary Cooper, Greer Garson, Charlton Heston, Maggie Smith, Audrey Hepburn, etc., I would argue most of the all-time most revered actors. Same goes with some of the very famous movie character actors, e.g., Edward Arnold, Ed Begley, Charles Coburn, Arthur Kennedy, Gladys Cooper, etc., although I admit there may have been type-casting there.

Hell, I remember Katharine Hepburn once dissing Meryl Streep in a rare interview, citing that she relied too much on accents and mannerisms to distinguish roles. Hepburn was a great actress, but she was almost always Hepburn and when she wasn't, she sometimes bombed.

You will NEVER win this argument.

CATSNYrevival said: "CT2NYC said: "A lot of actors have madevery successful careers out of basically playing themselves: Tom Cruise, Al Pacino, Sally Field, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson. Julia Roberts, Will Smith, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro, Harrison Ford, George Clooney, Ryan Reynolds, Chris Pratt, and the list goes on. Most peopledon't like them fortheir range, but because there's a familiarity thattheir style of acting achieves, and people connect to that."

Oh good. Can we finally talk about how Leonardo DiCaprio's "acting" is just Leo being Leo with another bad accent?"

I wasn’t saying that I think any of them are bad actors. To the contrary, I like all of them, but, for the most part, they deliver exactly what I expect them to, which is fine with me. Maybe saying Leo is always playing himself isn’t quite accurate, but his characters are usually very serious, and that’s how I see his public persona, as well.

poisonivy2 said: "Depends on which director is working with Leo. Quentin Tarantino has used him in a lot of comic situations both in Django Unchained and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

But a lot of B'way actors have a pretty consistent persona onstage too. For instance Patti Lupone is always Patti Lupone."

True. Very few actors truly disappear into their roles.

Regardless, I thought Ben was miraculous in DEH, and I'd be very happy to see him on stage again, even with an only slightly different take on that persona.

Updated On: 7/8/20 at 04:03 PM