Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Ben Platt

Episode Date: September 29, 2019

At just 26 years old, Ben Platt has already won a Tony, a Grammy and an Emmy award, all for his groundbreaking performance in the Broadway phenomenon “Dear Evan Hansen.” In this week’s “Sunday Sitdown,” Willie Geist talks to the actor about his journey from homemade musicals in his backyard to the bright lights of Broadway, to his latest starring role alongside Gwyneth Paltrow in the highly-anticipated new Netflix series “The Politician.”  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. Got a really good one for you this week. Tony winner, Emmy winner, and Grammy winner. Ben Platt, you probably know him best as the star of Dear Evan Hansen, the Broadway phenomenon. But now he's starring in a new Netflix series called The Politician. He is the politician.

Gwyneth Paltrow plays his mother. Jessica Lang is on the show. I got a chance to see the first couple episodes. It lives up to the hype. anticipated series. I am joined, as always, by the producer of this fine podcast, Maggie Law. Hi, Maggie. And we're lucky to have with us the producer of the interview with Ben Platt, Brittany Mania. Hi, Britt. How are you doing? Hello, I'm good. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you. Yeah. So Brittany produces a lot of these.

We've talked about it before. We have sort of a tight crew of like four or five producers who do all these amazing, amazing sit-down interviews and produce them and make them look beautiful. So I always like to give people listening a little visual of what's happening in the room so they can kind of see it in their mind's eyes as they listen. We're in a bar in Midtown Manhattan and Ben Platt walks in wearing what I thought to be a Army green and red striped jumper. It was not a jumper, but man, he looked smooth. It was glorious. It was, that's the word. It looked like an elevated Boy Scout uniform.

Yes. But like make it fashion. Yes. Yeah. Sockless wearing a loafer. And I immediately, and I think I say it at the beginning, I felt just inferior. He won the outfit game. He won.

And it was no contest. Let me guess. You were in a blue shirt. Yeah. My age uniform. Maybe some fun sneakers. It's about them. Yeah.

But I, so I know him obviously from Dear Evan Hanson. That was how he made his name. But I didn't realize like his background of his dad is a famous theater and film producer. And he's been like, Ben's been putting Broadway shows on in his backyard since he's was like five years old. And if you check out his Instagram, he wears lots of costumes as a child. Sure. He has tons of photos and he's happy to share them.

And they are adorable. So after you listen to this, maybe go to him. I love that he asked for a smoke machine as a present when he was younger, as most children do. Yeah, I was reading that in Brittany's research. I was like, that can't be true. He's like, oh, yeah. He's like clip on microphones, fog machine. For his one-man show.

For his productions. Yeah, I loved it. And the series, the politician, is about a high school kid who has a. single focus of becoming president the United States one day. And becoming class president is the first step on that road. And in a weird way, we talk about this. Ben was kind of that way. He's like, I'm getting to Broadway. I'm five years old, but I'm going to be on Broadway. Yeah. And he talks about that in your interview too. Like he's so focused about the future and looking back on his past, but now that he's in this moment, he's just trying to live in it. Yeah. And we should have.

Yeah. Well, that's the thing. Well, that's the thing. That's what impressed me the most. Yeah. We did the interview on his 26th birthday, so we had a cake and everything else. I just found him to be for all the success he's had. And actually, most of the people are this way that we get a chance to interview, humble and cool and happy to talk about whatever we wanted to talk about. And I think he is what he appears to be on TV. Yes. I was so impressed by how well-spoken he is. Sometimes you talk to people or you see interviews.

They've been in the business for 40 years and they just have said it all. Like they're just tired of talking. Right. He is, you know, still fresh, still young, has lots to say about his work and his past. Yeah. And the other part of it is, so he's got the politician, but he also has this album out, a solo album that he put out in March. And he's playing a show on Sunday night at Radio City. And it's going to become a Netflix special.

But we got a chance to go walk and show him the marquee for the first time where it said Ben Platt sold out. That was pretty cool. That was pretty cool. I mean, I think he thought it was pretty cool. He did. He was taking photo. Well, that was cool because I don't think he realized it. And we walked up on Radio City and he gets out his phone.

He's taking selfies of his own poster. He genuinely, I think, was in awe of all that's happened in his life. That's so nice to see. So great conversation. The show, again, is called The Politician. You've got to check it out if you haven't. It's on Netflix. And his album is out right now.

Sing to me instead. And just a really fun guy to hang out with. So picture the, what did you call it? Boy Scout uniform of make it fashion. Boy Scout uniform. for him but make it fashion. Our Sunday sit-down conversation right now with Ben Platt. All right, Ben, thanks for doing this.

Appreciate it. Thanks for having me. I see I lost the outfit contest again. It's all my stylish station. I mean, it's an amazing. Amazing on ensemble. I pick out zero for myself. Well, happy birthday, first of all.

Thank you very much. So how are we feeling at 26? I mean, I look at what's going on in your life right now. We were just talking, you've got a politician, you've got global citizen, you've got Radio City. Your album, all the music. There's a lot happening for you. How are you feeling?

Pretty good. A little bit overwhelmed, I think, because it's all kind of coming to a head at the same time. But I'm trying to just take it one beat at a time and really be present, which is not my forte. I live very much in my mind as an anxious Jew. I'm always thinking either ahead or behind. So I'm trying to just kind of be in the moment as much as possible.

But it's great. Meant, so far so good. Knock on wood. Yeah, and you actually turned 26 on live television. I did last night on Fallon. I did. It's just nothing I've done before. I was going to say that's probably nothing anyone's done before. Yeah, that'll go down in their birthday books. Definitely a top five birthday. So let's talk about the politician. I told you I just watched the first episode. It is so good.

I'm not just saying that because you're sitting across from me. It's incredible. Agreed. I feel silly asking you what drew you to the project because watching it is self-evident. But when you first heard about it, when you first read the script, would you think? Certainly. So Ryan Murphy, who created it, came to see Dear, Evan Hansen, which is a musical I was doing here in New York. And he really wanted to sort of flip the kind of characters that I had been playing on their head in the sense that I had been playing very kind of meek, very anxious, sweet kind of heart on their sleeve kind of guys. And he very smartly, which is why I think he gets all these fantastic actors working with him,

knew that I was really looking to change it up and to challenge myself. And so when pitching me the show, he really led with the fact that this character was going to be more assertive and aggressive. and really take up space and have a confidence and a self-serving attitude that I had never really gotten to play before. And obviously he's a very layered guy who's kind of struggling with empathy and authenticity in the face of really blind ambition and a one-track-minded kind of goal of becoming president of the United States. And so that character showcase combined with the fact that it was Ryan, Brad, and Ian

was it was an absolutely no-brainer. So did Ryan write that part for you or you sort of described it and thought maybe this would be good for you. I believe he wrote it for me. I think he knew that he wanted to make something in the area of this kind of subject matter of ambition and politics and this kind of heightened aesthetic world. But I think it sort of came together for him when he saw Evan Hansen and then he saw me in the show and sort of matching that performance to that concept is where the show could be. And I imagine the cast didn't hurt either. Gwyneth Paltrow pays your mom. Jessica Lang pops up. Lots of brand new talent.

Budding stars. And it just keeps coming as the series goes along. Bet Midler, Judith Light, January Jones, Dylan McDermott, Zoe Deutsch, Lucy Boynton, Bob Balaban. And then there's like six amazing new performances of people that you are going to, people are going to fall in love with of young people that this is kind of their first big shot. And my co-star Laura Dreyf is from Evan Hanson as well. It's amazing. I love the story you tell of meeting Gwyneth Paltrow. And it was sort of a perfect way, it seems like, to meet her.

It's like how you dream meeting her. because the first day that I met her was the first day of the shoot, so it was already very terrified. And it's the very first shot we did. It's a scene in the pilot, which everyone will know because everyone's going to watch the show,

which is in this beautiful, giant garden of this mansion that my character lives in. And Gwyneth is out there gardening, like cutting roses and stuff. So she's in this like red Carolina Herrera gown, like red carpet gown and a sun hat. And so I walked out on set for the first time to meet her and she comes down this row

of topiary, you know, beautiful, and it's just like, hello, I'm going to Petraub, which is sort of absurd. But then every moment from there forward, she became sort of warm and intimate and human and really took me under her wing. I think you can feel it in the relationship of Peyton and his mother that she really had a real maternal energy. So you had never met her before, personally, before the show? I heard from the very first pitch that Ryan gave that she was going to play my mom, but I had never. I mean, you've had obviously your own successes, but that's got to be kind of daunting, not just because she's a great actress, because she's Quinn and Hulter.

Of course, and she's a movie star, and she's so magnetic. Right. You know, you want to be able to rise to her at the occasion. But I think that's kind of been the theme of this whole project is really rising to the occasion. And Ryan and Ian and Brad having a belief in me and in my abilities to do this even before I really had it fully in myself and sort of having no choice but to show up and deliver. There's so much running through this show, obviously.

There's politics, but there's privilege. There's the college admission scandal. I mean, it's all in there. How do you describe the show to somebody who's thinking about watching? What's it about really at its core? I think at its core it's about this very human struggle that everybody, regardless of walk of life, is dealing with, particularly young people, what was social media and everything. But I think everyone of authenticity and feigned authenticity and how important is it to be putting your whole real self forward? And when is it okay to curate your image and sort of adjust your personality to be perceived in a certain way or to achieve something?

and when is it necessary to be entirely organic and entirely yourself? And how can we marry, drive an ambition with the need to feel for others and sort of let people step on you at times? You know what I mean? And then obviously, in a more literal superficial sense, there's a lot of politics and there's a lot of hot-button issues and things like gun control and women's health and gender fluidity, sexual fluidity, all of that.

But I think it's a lot more of kind of a human baseline than people realize from the way it's been promoted, which I think is very smart and will kind of creep up. There's a great line early in the first episode. episode where it's like, what's the difference? I want you to be authentic. Well, I act authentic. What's the difference? Which sort of speaks a lot about our times. I'll try to, I'll try to act more authentic from now on. He says, yeah, I mean, it's really what is the difference? And if you can't tell the difference, Gwyneth later in the episode asks, when my character says, what if all I'll be

able to ever be able to do is pretend to feel these things. And Gwena says, does it matter if you can't tell the difference? And that's, you know, that's a real question. If no one else knows that you're putting on this veneer besides you and what you're sort of accomplishing by putting it on is good things then doesn't really matter that it's not authentic right i you're it's obviously a high school class president race but the way you play it the way everybody plays it is like it's a presidential campaign very much of your aides and advisors up to the side on their phones and applauding for you appropriately plotting you have approval ratings and polls and cross tabs and all that um were you a student of politics are you a student politics to know how to be

behave that way even? Not nearly as sort of clued in as I should be. I think of late it's become the politics of our country in particular have become have like kind of bled into areas that are difficult to ignore like human rights and just like being a empathetic person. But I don't know the ins and out so it was a really educational thing for me and I think if anything looking and researching and watching like speeches and debates and things and sort of learning what it really takes to create a version of yourself that's digestible and trustworthy immediately is

was really high opening. Because you have the pandering down very well. Yeah, exactly. It's all about this. Yeah, it is. And tell people what they want to hear. Exactly. And it strikes me that a lot of this show,

and you can tell me whether or not you agree, is about what you give up for power and who you hurt, and is it worth it? A million percent, yeah. And I think my sort of way into the show and into him was always that, similarly to Peyton I, from a very young age, knew exactly what I wanted to do. I started acting when I was six years old,

and it's always been kind of an innate desire that I didn't really ever consciously choose. It just sort of was always there. And I would like to think that I'm a bit more of an empathetic person than Peyton have an easier time with priorities. But I certainly have experience with sacrificing personal relationships or social things or, you know, emotional well-being to, you know, get ahead and achieve a dream and pursue the work. So I think that was where we met.

Is the show saying anything about this political moment in particular? Because to me, it says a lot about politics. more broadly, really, but is it anything about this political moment? I don't think that's the major aim. There are certainly sort of like buzzwords and things that make it feel very current and that young people can kind of watch in a very digestible satirical way, which is nice because sometimes those issues can feel like a bit of a lecture. But I think that it's much more kind of about, again, politics in general

and like what does it take for anyone in their lives to be a politician and how, in what ways are we all having to be politicians in the ways we interact with each other and represent ourselves and try to be perceived? You talked about kind of being in awe of Gwyneth Paltrow. I think a lot of the young characters probably feel that way about you. I know about that. And if you read interviews, they talk about you sort of being the leader of that crew,

which is to say, I'm going to get you all together and make you feel comfortable. I think you even took everybody to Disneyland at one point. I did. I did. I'm an executive producer on the show as well. And I think, obviously, creatively and storywise, Ryan and Brad and Ian know exactly what they're doing. So that's not an area that I figured I would need to give much help. What I really wanted to do was make sure that I was curating a,

community and having us all feel like a part of the one family because if you watch the show, there's a lot of disparate storylines and my character gets to interact with everyone, but it's very rare that we're all working at the same time. So I wanted to find as many opportunities as possible for us to spend time together off of the set, whether that was at Disneyland or in Malibu or just having meals together or seeing films together. Because I always find, obviously, the best part of the experience on a personal level is creating that kind of family. And then professionally, when people feel, you know, engaged, personally and they feel the stakes involve their heart and the people they love, then they do their

best work. So for people watching, what does it mean to be an executive producer on a show like this? Does it mean you have some say and what, obviously you defer to Ryan Murphy? He's the genius. I do have a seat at the table creatively if there's anything I ever were to take issue with. I was able to be involved in the kind of crafting of the ensemble along with the brilliant Alexa Fogle who cast the show just to throw my hat in the ring as far as contemporaries of mine like Zoe Deutsch and Lucy Boyne, who I really loved and thought were fantastic. And then kind of be a liaison between the cast and because I'm also in the piece. Just if there's anything like communication-wise that the cast needs from Bradney and

Ryan, and I can kind of act as a middleman and I'm a Libra, so I'm very good at mediating space. Is that part of your pitch? I'm a Libra. I can do this. Exactly, yes. I just, me with the scales. Yeah, but I think obviously in this particular arena, it was really a very safe and protected environment because they have been through this rodeo a few times.

So how do you describe for people, Ben, the Ryan Murphy experience? Because we know he's great because we've seen his work. But what is it? Working up close with him, what is it? What's different and unique about him? I think that he's just a really inspiring person to work for in the sense that he, kind of what I was mentioning before, expects a lot of you and expects that you always be at your best and kind of sees things in you and has beliefs in you that you really don't

see in yourself at the beginning and wants nothing more than to give you. as an actor, a meal, and something to really bite into and a showcase, and wants to make you look your best, which is why you have Sarah Paulson and Jessica Lane, all these people coming with him again and again and again, because they know he is only looking to make them look fantastic. And when he shows up on set, there's an era of everybody really wanting to impress and do their best work,

because his level of excellence is sort of unmatched. And he is very meticulous as far as he's delivering on all levels. So when he first pitched me the show, every detail as far as design and casting and the tone. And it all really came to fruition in great detail because I think his vision is incredibly specific and practical because he's been doing this for so long that he can really make things fully realized. So I like working with. And it looks beautiful. You know, every shot is a little more hard. If someone's pearls are askew and it's not symmetrical, he will stop a take and we will go again.

I like that, though. You like that in a director? Of course. I mean, in a world like this, it just sets you up. So can you see the arc of this show from where you're sitting toward, okay, college, the presidency, maybe someday? A little bit. I mean, I can't tell you too much, but if you make it to episode eight, it gives you a pretty clear vision of what the second season's going to be like. And ideally, if everything goes well and people love the show, then I think that the ultimate concept is about five seasons,

and they'll each be kind of a different political situation on Peyton's way to either achieving or not achieving the presidency. but I don't know which path. Even in the first episode, I have to say, there were so many, like, boom moments where I thought the episode was over, and then there's another twist, and you think it's over, and there's another... I mean, it just, it's relentless.

It doesn't, yeah, never goes where you think it will. Both in terms of literal plot and in terms of, like, tone, I think you think you're watching one kind of show, and then all of a sudden you're feeling a little more deeply for the characters than you expect to. Yeah.

Which is what I love in my television is not knowing, you know, I don't want to be only oppressively sad, and I don't want to only... Right. I really laugh. Right, exactly. And this has both.

You anticipated one of my questions, which was watching the show, I saw a little of you in Peyton, which is to say somebody who knew what he wanted from a very young age. Is it fair to say that when you're doing cats in the backyard, at six years old, that there was no other place you were headed? 100%. I mean, I always take for granted that I never had to make that kind of life decision of what is it that I want to do because as long as I've had autonomy, I've kind of known that this is what I wanted to do. I think, if anything, the scope of what's possible has just been widened over the years.

I think I was raised in a really particular musical theater bubble, and that's always my first love, of course, and greatest passion. But I think as I got older and saw all the different ways I can use the skills within musical theater to do greater things and broader things and to do music separate from being a character and play myself and to act without music and all these things, I think the dream is just kind of expanded. Is it true what your parents say, that when you were a young kid, you'd ask for your birthday for things like a smoke machine microphone, just staging. 100% true, yes.

Fog machine was one, clip on microphones in my backyard because I guess it's difficult to hear me over the boombox. But yeah, anything to enhance the production value of the shows that were usually one-man shows. On a really special occasion, they'd be like three or four mansions. So there was never a moment in your life in the last 26 years where you're like, you know what, maybe I'll do something X. Maybe I'll do Y. It was always right here toward Broadway. Passion-wise, yes, always.

I think there are moments like for everyone where I get a little bit wary and I think maybe this isn't for me and worrying so much about being in public eye or the way you look or the way you're perceived or the way your words can be misconstrued these days in particular. There's a lot of, you know, it's beguiling to say like,

well, actually, how about I just teach musical theater and have a great time with, you know what I mean? But it's the love of it always overtakes that. So what was your number one musical growing up? Did you have one? Ooh. I hate to make you choose. No, that's okay.

Right now, as an adult, it's Sunday in the Park with George, which is a Steven Sondheim musical, kind of all about what you sacrifice to be an artist and all that. It's amazingly beautiful. As a kid, probably wicked. I mean, my dad produced it, so it's kind of a lame answer, but it was just so the scope of it was so magical, and I just remember hearing workshop CDs and things like that in the car

and then watching it come fully to fruition and watching him create that was like my first view into what it is like to create an original musical. And that, for me, it was, like, magical. So then what was it like for you? I guess it was 2014 with Book of Mormon to make your Broadway debut just down the street from here. We're like, this has been the dream since your backyard with the fog machine and everything else. Really wild.

I mean, I think the nice thing was that I did Book of Mormon for a year in Chicago to open the company there first. So I was really comfortable in the role. And my co-star, Niccolo and I got moved to Broadway together. So I had a buddy. Right. It felt very safe. But I think, I don't know, I think it was the little things that really freaked me out in the good way. Like, there's always the little lines of everyone's name in the lobby and seeing that and, like, seeing my name in a real playbill and doing the stage door.

Like, all the things that are, like, sort of the meticulous, smaller things that make it actually kind of processable. Yeah. That's all I can really remember from that debut night. And my parents were there. I mean, it's kind of crazy, you think about, like, a kid growing up playing basketball somewhere and then they walk into Madison Square Garden and play for the Knicks. That's exactly that. You did it, right? you achieve the dream.

And what did it feel like to be on the stage the first night on Broadway? I mostly blacked out, but I think really fun. I mean, the nice thing about it being Mormon is that Book of Mormon is so joyful. And I wouldn't have been able to feel anything that first time of Broadway,

but utter joy and, like, reveling in it. So it fed into the show very well. And then sometime, while you're doing Book of Mormon, you begin to have conversations with the producers of Dear Evan Hansen. Yes. How did that come to you originally? So it actually came from the writers.

I had auditioned for Benj, PASC, and Justin Paul, who are the songwriters in Evan Hansen, for a show there's called Dogfight when I was 17, which is a beautiful score. And I was deemed too young, but they reached out to me on social media afterwards, and they were like, we have another project down the pike and stay tuned and we'll keep,

we've got to work together at some point. And I thought, you know, the same way I did when Ryan Murphy said that after Evan Hansen, I was like, that's lovely, and I'm not counting on it. And then a few years down the line while I was in Book of Mormon, they reached out again, and they said, we're going to do our first reading of this piece, and we'd love for you to come just do a cold read and see how the character matches up with you and see what it's like. And it wouldn't give me any information about the tone or the story or anything they wanted me really just to come in, open it up and see what happens. And the synergy was just there. I mean, it just really, we clicked right away. And I stayed involved for multiple readings, workshops and Washington production, off Broadway production, and then finally Broadway production over the course of like, three and a half years. So at what point did you realize we've got something more than a Broadway

musical here? This is kind of becoming something else for people. I think we always knew that it was special artistically, but I don't know that we knew it was going to have such a sort of wide commercial appeal and was going to connect with so many different walks of life. I think as soon as we got in front of an audience in D.C. and started seeing just like the sea of sobs that would happen every single night, that's when we felt like, okay, we might have caught lightning in a bottle here in a way that's really rare, particularly for an original musical, which is like the most difficult, long-winded undertaking to do something from scratch and make a musical. So I think we had an inkling, and then every step of the way, like when we came in off-Broadway

and it sold out really quickly, we're like, oh, something's happening here, the reviews, and then obviously on Broadway, and the soundtrack even has an incredible life overseas. So it just kept topping itself. It's always fun, obviously, to be able to do what you want to do a musical, but to do a piece where you're connecting, especially with middle school, high school kids, and they see themselves or they see their friend, and it's so meaningful on a personal level. That must feel like something different. Very much so, particularly, you know, after the shows at stage doors or on social media, just hearing the way that it really opened people at particularly young people and started conversations intergenerationalally with parents that would come and bring their kids. and then it would encourage them to talk about difficult things or to ask them what's really happening inside

and what's their emotional life. And doing a piece where people come in and then the sort of course of their life is slightly shifted is like the ultimate. Yeah. You and Jimmy were talking about this last night, but I had the same thought, which was like, that show takes so much out of you.

It did. I don't have to tell you. It takes a lot of you watching the show. But to do that eight shows a week, was it physically and emotionally draining every night? Very much so. I always knew that it was going to be a very temporary situation. I wanted to obviously do it as long as I could and live the full experience,

but it just required that I really turn everything else in my life completely off in the sense that I didn't socialize very much. I didn't obviously drink or eat. It was a particular diet. I was sleeping a lot, trying to be silent whenever possible, just really devoting all my time to making that happen. But it's the kind of piece where you feel lucky to make those sacrifices because you get to use every tool.

in your belt and the story's connecting in such a way and it's so emotionally relevant to everyone. But after the year on Broadway, I really was ready to leave. Was it was ready to go? Physically, of course. Was it hard to walk away from it, though, knowing that you were sort of the face of this phenomenon? You know, of course it's always hard to take about to any stage family and always, you know, that's always very teary and I certainly was very teary.

But I think emotionally, physically, I just had been in that character for so long and developed it and felt like I had like really milked every aspect of that experience and was ready to go while I was still giving performances that felt completely full. I knew that if I stayed any longer, it was going to have to start being an adjusted version just to get by. So I didn't really want to like army crawl out of the building. So it was, it was the right time. I don't think people fully appreciate it hard to do that. Any show. Any show. My entire cast, too, going through that story. And then a lot of them stayed on even longer. And the last two just recently this summer left, Michael Park and Jennifer Laura Thompson, who up until the end, we're giving incredible performances.

But yeah, I mean, that's why it's sort of the purest, the most amazing form of what we do, and also the one that's the most fleeting and the most difficult to sustain, because you're living the story in order, and as an actor, it's your medium. You're going out there and no one's editing you, and no one's, obviously you've been directed beforehand, but you're the one going out there and giving the performance, no one is curating it for you after the fact. So it's like the most joyful in that way, but also it's the only one that really takes up your whole life. How about the moment as a kid who grew up in his backyard putting on musicals when your name is announced for best actor at the Tonys? I mostly remember my mother's face, which is immortalized on TV or somewhere on YouTube, I'm sure.

Just like, I don't know, I felt like so unable to really feel in that moment because it's such an overwhelming moment that everyone had kind of been anticipating. And I had sort of been thinking about what's that going to be like? What is it going to feel like if that happens? But she really helps me to process things always. She's always the one who's saying, like, let's stop and look at how amazing. this is because I often get mired in the details and what's the one thing that went wrong or you know she's always like how incredible is this what's happening so just having her next to me I think is my greatest memory and and taking it from Tina Fey she's the one who handed it to me so that I mean

I'll take anything from Tina Fey. Now you mentioned your family as luck would have it your dad now has the film rights to Dear Evan Hanson. He does is that something you would participate in? Yeah I mean I think it's very unclear the reality of the timing and any kind of studio film is hard to get off the ground. And so there's nothing I really know yet other than it's being adapted and they're trying to get it together. I think it would be a really special way

to say goodbye to that character if it all works out. Obviously, we would just have to collectively forgive me for not being an 18-year-old anymore. For aging, yes. But I'll do my best, I'll shave. I'll get scrawny, I'll do what I can. But I think if that were to happen and come together, not being a part of it wouldn't feel, right?

Good. Well, we're all hoping for that. Stick around to hear more from Ben Platt on the Sunday Sitdown podcast, including what it was like to release his first album and more importantly, what it was like to perform for Beyonce. Welcome back to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Now more of my conversation with Ben Platt. I want to talk about your music. Put out your own album in March. A bunch of videos. You're playing Radio City Music Hall. It's going to come a Netflix special coming up on Sunday. What was it like for you as an artist to sort of step? out alone and put out an album with your name on it. Very special. I mean more, I think more personally special than I realized. I went into the adventure first and foremost just as a way to keep singing because I love

singing more than anything and hadn't really experimented much with songwriting from an earnest perspective. I had obviously been around a lot of new musicals being written and a lot of comedy songs being written and I'd written jokes songs with my family for bar mitzvahs and things. So I was always fascinated by like scan and rhyme and all that but I'd never written taking from my own experiences. And so I think the greatest joy was realizing that it's such a different muscle

than being an actor, and it allows me to let my personal self out in a way because you spend so much time learning to disguise that, and the skill associated with everything else I do is making sure that I can disappear in most ways. So to invest purely in showing myself and my feelings and my opinions

and my experiences is like very, been a really wonderful outlet. Does it make you feel vulnerable at all to be the only one out there? Because in a musical, you're out there with your friends and a film, you're shooting with Gwyneth and the cast. But to be alone and have it out there and have people hear it and listen to it and judge it, is that scary at all? Very much so. But again, I think I'm always chasing that proper kind of scary and that like stomach flip where I'm reminded that it's what a challenge it is and there's that excitement. And I think because Evan Hansen was such a exposing experience and I got very comfortable and very kind of lackadaisical about being like vulnerable

and exposing myself in front of people emotionally. I was like when am I ever going to feel something stretched me that much? And so now to feel this new like taking away that that final layer of character and other people's words and having it be completely, you know, naked and just myself was the only way I think I could have felt equally, you know, butterfly by it. Is there any moment where you're writing a song just spilling your life? I'm like, God, I can't believe I'm telling the whole world about this. A little bit. Yeah, there was a couple songs that I wrote while I was in the relationship that I was writing about. Right. And just the immediacy of that and the kind of, you know, just the privacy of that is not something I'm used to. I had never really discussed any kind of personal

things in, you know, any kind of public way. Just because as an actor, it's irrelevant. I mean, it's, it doesn't make any sort of, there's no connection between the work I'm doing and that. Right. But if I was going to be sort of authentic and share my own, you know, perspective, then, of course I'm going to pull from the things that made me feel the most emotional, which are the things that are the most kind of intimate. There are people who listen to the language and listen to the lyrics of the songs and they said, oh, this is Ben's coming out album. To which you say, what? To which I say, watch the politician, because I think it perpetuates the sort of a world that I'm hoping we're headed towards where everybody kind of falls somewhere on this queer spectrum, you know, whoever you are, you know, love, so on and so forth. And there's no kind of need for an announcement. I always felt. I mean, I had been open about all of that since I was like 12 years old with my family and anyone that I've ever met for longer than like 10 minutes. So it didn't ever feel like something I needed to announce.

And I was really against this feeling like, you know, or anyone really feeling like now in this day and age, we still meet to have moments where we're like, ladies and gentlemen, you know, because no one comes out and is like boys and girls, I'm heterosexual. Like there's no, there's no, I think we're moving beyond that moment. And I think everyone can just, it can be an assumed part of people's identity. and we can see it represented in all different ways. And any given character, whether it's me presenting myself as a real person or Peyton or any character in a piece of media, their queerness is not the defining characteristic. It's part of who they are, doesn't have to sort of take their entire story. Obviously, queer stories are incredibly important for representation.

And I think things like Pose that Ryan has created are changing incredible, you know, making huge leaps for anyone watching. But I think, you know, I'm really interested in pieces. where it's just part of the tapestry. Amen to that. I told you last week I interviewed Neil Patrick Harris. And he was like, oh, you guys didn't know? And he just put out his shorts.

They were like, yeah, I'm gay. I'm sorry. I thought everybody knew. Was that not clear? Yeah. I'll talk kind of how I felt. I was like, I've been talking about Beyonce and like The Wizard of Oz and like me dressing up as Judy Garland as a kid and like musical theater. And that's like my whole social media presence.

So anyone that is surprised is a worry for their mental state. You know what? You mentioned Beyonce and I totally forgot to ask you about. you're lobbying. How dare we? We should have just gone an immediately turn when we sat down. I mean, who successfully lobbies Beyonce to come to their show? It's incredible. I owe it all to my physical therapist. Her name is Natalie Kinghorn. She is incredible. She saved my life during Evan Hanson. She would work on me twice a week

and help me not turn it into like a hunchback slowly. And she works with Beyonce. And all throughout the year we're working together, I just kept being like, you know, it would be an amazing birthday present as if Beyonce came to the show and she's like, Beyonce comes to nothing. She's not going to happen. She's the most busy person in the entire world. And then miraculously on the month of my birthday in 2017, Natalie, like two days before, was like, okay, don't freak out. She and Jay are coming on Thursday, like, be calm. Of course, I remember it was a Thursday, I think. And I was like, okay, I got a haircut. I booked an extra voice lesson. I picked a great outfit. I prepared

myself for her. And it happened. Isn't that nerve-wracking, though, to know she's sitting out there? Terrifying. But, like, I would much rather know. I feel this way about anyone coming to see anything I'm doing exactly who's going to be there. Okay. Because I spend so much time looking out at the crowd that if I were to spot, you know, her locks and then realize it was her, right? I would stop, I think, and black out. So I think having the information beforehand was key.

And how soon from the time you walked on the state did you pick her up? Right away. Oh, you found her. Uh-huh. I knew where she was sitting. Okay. And Evan Hansen starts with, I walked onto the stage in like a black and then I lift up a computer screen and it lights my face and I can see everyone for the first time.

Right. So I just looked just beyond the screen to her. I was like, yep, she's here. Good, good, good. And then we did the show. Did she give you anything? It's a little nod or... No, but then afterwards she came backstage and was wonderful and effusive and glowing and just complimented me and the piece and, you know, smelled amazing. It was amazing. I mean, of all the things you've done in the last couple of years, that's got to be right.

I mean, that's number one, if not, top three. Life is before, Beyonce after Beyonce is what I always say. The last thing I want to ask you about is, an amazing talk about dreams coming true. Doing Sondheim with your best friend growing up, Merely We Roll Along. That's incredible. It's really wild.

I think that a lot of people who are reading the stories about it aren't familiar with the piece Marely We Roll Along. I mean, obviously, our theater community is, but all you really see is like 20-year project, Richard Linklater. And I think, obviously, that's exciting in and of itself, but what people don't understand is what a brilliant marriage of that concept and the piece it is.

Marely Rowland follows three best friends for those who grow apart and become very jaded over time after being really sweet, naive friends in college because of the business and alcoholism and betrayal and all this stuff and kind of pulls them apart and it's kind of a heartbreaking piece about the ways in which the world kind of ruins your naivety and ruins your kind of ideologies and things like that.

And then it's shown backwards. So the first scene is at them at their oldest, most jaded, and then the piece moves its way to the end where the last scene is their first meeting. to watch that happen in real time and watch us really age backwards, I think it's going to be emotionally incredibly powerful because on stage there's always that bit of an issue of you've got actors playing a little too young or a little too old.

And to do it with Beanie is like, we've been best friends since we were 14 years old and watching her skyrocket into movie stardom is incredible. And so to meet at this dot where we get to work together every few years is like absolutely perfect. And so how many years do you have to commit to do a project like that? I believe the actual span of the piece is 18, because that's how long the piece actually takes place over. And we've shot the first sequence, which is actually the last scene in the film.

We shot it this summer, which was great. And then we'll follow the increments of the piece. So if there's, I think there's nine sequences. So if one takes place in 57 and the next one takes place in 1960, then we'll wait three years and then shoot it and follow the exact map. With your best buddy. With my best buddy. That is incredible. So all the things we've talked about have happened now in 2016.

years, which is kind of insane. You're so young to have done all these things. You're, I believe, an O away from the EGOT, if my math is correct. Yeah, just one O. Yeah, just one O. Do you think long term as a guy who seems to have known what he wanted most of his life? Do you think about other things you want to do up over the horizon? You've got a lot of road ahead of you. Yes. I mean, I don't necessarily have, like, particular pinpoints of, like, this role or this. I think it's more just wanting to keep it as varied as possible. There are, like, areas in which I'd love to get better. Like, I think on film, I'd love to try a lot of different things.

And I'd love to, you know, have a family at some point and meet a nice person to have a family with. I'd love to direct at some point, particularly in the theater. There's a lot of, like, big dreams that are trying. I'm not in any rush because, as you said, it's all happened very quickly. And so at this point, I welcome the patients and the longevity as much as possible. I have no doubt. You'll achieve all those things.

And before we let you go, I think we have. something to give you on this special day because you've been nice enough to give up part of your 26th birthday for us oh look at this oh i was back in the kitchen earlier right before you got here you bake this yourself frosting the cake oh and that's right i'm five years old that's correct you hear that there it is five i would sing happy birthday to you but the man of your voice you don't want me singing i can hear it sort of telepathically you know what i mean to me sing like that this is very sweet thank what do you want for your birthday besides this cake Well, I can't tell you if I'm going to really make a wish.

Oh, that's true. Do you want to go for it? Yeah, I'll go. Happy birthday. Thank you. Thank you. That was great. Appreciate it.

My big thanks to Ben Platt for a great conversation. You can catch his new show, the politicians streaming now on Netflix. Brittany, the last scene there was the cake. You guys, I thought. It was amazing timing, by the way. The candles were pre-lit or something because you, bam, you had it. There was a lot of production meetings being held before the interview that went into that. Our good friend.

Taylor, your assistant. Also in the room. Hi, Taylor. White was the queen behind the cake. Yes. She was waiting for a cue for you to say like, oh, last question. So you said last question, but then he sort of had a long answer and there was a follow-up. So she had lit the candles early.

It's amazing. But they were melting. Oh, no. And so the wax dripping into the frosting. So Taylor's in the corner like being like, should I blow these out? And then light them. Oh, I didn't know that. But it worked out perfectly.

They were fine. It was delivered to you. It seems seamless. I mean, it was flaw. I was actually shocked. I thought we'd have to stop and light it. I turned around and there was a flaming cake next to me. It was fantastic.

A plus production work on Sunday today. Excellent work, Taylor. Excellent work. Also, I think there was some gluten-free considerations, some other things that he picked up, by the way, getting ready to play Evan Hansen when he lost 35 pounds for that part. And I think he's not no longer gluten-free, I was told. Okay. However, he was trying to save, you know, for the rest of the day. Sure.

Yeah, it was like lunchtime on his birthday. He had a lot of partying ahead. Too much cake early on. We enjoyed the cake afterwards. Oh, you did. Oh, good. As I said, the office benefited from the Ben platform. Nice.

Oh, I hate to see that go to waste. Excellent. Now, that right there is kind of behind the scenes information. People tune into the Sunday Sit Down podcast for it. Britt, thanks so much. Great job. Can't wait to see the piece on Sunday. Maggie, thank you, Taylor.

Excellent job with the cake. And thanks to all of you for clicking and listening along. Don't forget to click subscribe so you can hear all of our conversations from my guests every week. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today. every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.