All tagged Ben Platt
In recent days, a great deal of discussion has occurred about Broadway performers and a reticence to sign autographs and greet audience members at the stage door. Actor Ben Platt of Dear Evan Hansen defended his reasoning to disgruntled fans who are upset because the actor has avoided stopping for fans outside the Music Box Theatre. He makes some excellent points that we need to take into consideration.
In its own right, Dear Evan Hansen is a thrilling and topical musical addressing the isolation so many of us feel. In this day and age, bullying leads to suicide, anxiety leads to building protective walls. Dear Evan Hansen demonstrates how the arts can respond to societal ills and makes a case for our individual and collective healing through the catharsis of relevant and timely musical theatre. It’s an inspiring story about how one of these disconnected people, frozen by their own inability to reach past their self-prescribed detachment, finally learns how to break down the walls that have crippled him with anxiety and depression. Sure, it comes with its complications and a handful of misconceptions and lies, but it is essentially a fairy tale for those of us who have felt, like Evan, that we are invisible and/or unworthy.
I will admit that I do not get as excited by newer musicals as I am by anything pre-Rent. I am, within reason, a traditionalist, attracted to the old-fashioned showtunes and plot structures .That's not to say that I haven't found composers and musicals in the last two-decades that are not traditional in style, but that do appeal to me. A David Yazbek or Jason Robert Brown project is always exciting, and Jeanine Tesori is quickly becoming one of my favorite composers. Fun Home and Bright Star are recent shows that both thrilled me in ways I hadn't expected. Hamilton, though I respect it and certainly love what it's achieving with the younger generations, left me cold, or at least not as stirred in ways that other musicals have. It is, however, with great excitement that I have found a new musical that compels me, thrills me, and absolutely makes me excited about new musicals again. That musical is Dear Evan Hansen.
