Review: 'Ben Platt: Live at the Ahmanson' is the holiday gift you need to give yourself
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Ben Platt wears both his nervous diffidence and his blazing talent on his sleeve.Sometimes his neurotic, navel-gazing side gets the better of his artistry, as was the case at his concert at the Greek Theatre in the summer of 2024.Despite the glory of his singing and the enviable success of his award-lavished career, he made his life of enormous privilege seem like a tale of unremitting anguish and woe.It’s not easy growing up LGBTQ+.
Stigma and alienation are unavoidable even in the most progressive quarters.But it wasn’t always easy to sympathize with his trials and tribulations in the most elite enclaves of Los Angeles.
Many young queer people suffer a good deal worse, without a Tony, Grammy and Emmy to console them.But a new maturity is in evidence in his latest hometown concert, “Ben Platt: Live at the Ahmanson.” In this exquisitely staged show, directed by Tony winner Michael Arden, Platt recaps the story of his life with an ironic touch while singing songs that mark his fretful, meteoric journey.Many of the anecdotes are the same, including some light-hearted mention of his round-robin dating with the few other out students at the prestigious Harvard-Westlake School.
But Platt seems to have realized just how lucky he has been.Acknowledging the “horrible year” everyone has just lived through, he promises — and delivers — an evening of musical escape.Judy Garland, the inspiration for his 2024 Broadway concert, “Ben Platt: Live at the Palace,” continues to serve as muse.
Her rendition of “That’s Entertainment!” warms up the audience before Platt makes his kid-in-a-candy-store entrance.The show begins with “Corner of the Sky” from “Pippin,” a piano bar staple that hard-core musical theater buffs could sing at any level of inebriation.
But Garland quickly returns when Platt pairs two songs that grapple in different ways with the situation of...