SHUTTTT THE FUCK UOOPPPPPPPPPPP BEN PLATT WAS NEEOOTTTTT IN THISSSS…..

the most recognized as comedic song being the best part of the movie musical because the conventions that serve as a mode of communicating ideas, for example "people just bursting into song" or "choreography" or "'noticeably stylized' cinematography" that accentuates nonliteral nonrealism-invoking choices, are regarded as Silly or Frivolous. and the effort to shove everything else that's more "serious" into what is expected to be read as dramatic cinema that's not stylized in any ways that seem too "Genre" which only makes [but someone's singing?] underwhelming and out of place because no other elements are supporting it

My bizarre real-person headcanon: Josh Groban and Ben Platt are mortal nemeses. Here's the timeline behind this theory, beginning with the known and branching off into the possible future. 2017: Josh Groban makes his Broadway debut in Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet to much critical acclaim. At the Tony Awards, Ben Platt, starring in Dear Evan Hansen, wins Best Actor and Dear Evan Hansen beats Natasha/Pierre for Best Musical. 2023: Josh Groban makes a triumphant return to Broadway, headlining a revival of Sweeney Todd. Surely this will be his year? Nope. Ben Platt's limited run production of Parade transfers to Broadway, making his own triumphant return to Broadway after a hiatus of the same length. Neither wins the Tony Award this year (J. Harrison Ghee does), but Parade wins Best Revival of a Musical over Sweeney Todd. Later in 2023: Josh Groban goes full method and immerses himself in the murderous, vengeful instincts of Sweeney Todd. Revenge against Ben Platt will be his! But he can't be too obvious about it. He's playing the long game. 2028: Surprise! There's a revival of Phantom of the Opera announced! Both Ben Platt and Josh Groban are considered as potential Phantoms. Unknown to anyone, Josh Groban has been perfecting his own Phantom-like skills of appearing and disappearing into thin air, throwing his voice, and murder. Oh yeah, and he plays the pipe organ. He gets the role! But wait, what's this? Hugh Jackman was eaten by a crocodile mere weeks before he was supposed to headline the new Broadway production of The Greatest Showman? Ben Platt heroically steps in to save the day and takes the title role! He wins the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, but not Best New Musical (the critics say, "We love Ben Platt but this show is clearly just a vehicle for Hugh Jackman [RIP].") The Phantom revival wins Best Musical, but something terrible happens at the Tony Awards! There's a technical glitch when the Phantom performance is due to start and they move it to the end of the awards ceremony. But right as everyone's marveling at the artistry of the production at the delayed performance, something Totally Unpredicted happens. The chandelier crashes... INTO BEN PLATT!!! 2030: Ben Platt survives the chandelier attack but he loses his entire memory and has to relearn everything, including how to sing! He can no longer recall the moment that the chandelier crashed into him-- nor the moment that Josh Groban looked at him from the stage and mouthed 'Long live the king!' In a startling and bold act, Ben Platt returns to Broadway in a one man autobiographical show about living with amnesia and relearning to perform. He wins the Best Actor Tony Award! Josh Groban is away doing Phantom in Europe. 2040: There's a high profile immersive revival of Les Miserables on Broadway! The producers consider both Ben Platt and Josh Groban for Jean Valjean. But Josh Groban gives off such an in intense murderous energy when they find him in the same room as Ben Platt that they get a brilliant idea and offer him the role of Javert and Platt as Valjean. The production is a hit. The tension between Platt and Groban is off the charts. When it's time for the Tony Awards, both are nominated for Best Actor in a Musical (ala Colm Wilkinson and Terrence Mann in the original Broadway production). On the day of the Tony Awards, an astonishing thing happens: Platt and Groban TIE for the Best Actor in a Musical Award! The crowd goes wild! Everyone is cheering! The theatre... the cheers... it triggers something long-buried in Ben Platt's mind. Suddenly, he remembers the night the chandelier fell on him at the 2028 Tony Awards.... Josh Groban was looking right at him as it happened.... Ben Platt snaps and begins to clobber Josh Groban onstage. In his fit of rage, he doesn't see Josh Groban pull out a gun. Is this finally the end of this age old rivalry? BUT WAIT, WHAT'S THIS? IT'S J. HARRISON GHEE (SNUBBED STAR OF THE REIMAGINED REVIVAL OF LA CAGE AUX FOLLES) WITH A STEEL CHAIR!!!! At least, this is what I imagine.

The Drama League has announced its 2024 Special Recognition Honorees, who will be recognized at The 90th Annual Drama League Awards for their outstanding contributions to the theatre industry.

Two-time Tony nominee Jonathan Groff, currently on Broadway in the acclaimed revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, will receive the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater Award. Director Schele Williams will be honored with the Founders Award for Excellence in Directing; she is represented this season with the Broadway-bound revival of The Wiz and the new musical The Notebook (Williams co-directs the latter with Michael Greif).

As previously reported, the 2024 Drama League Awards, celebrating work on Broadway and off, will be held May 17 in Manhattan at the Ziegfeld Ballroom hosted by Emmy winner Frank DiLella. To be eligible for nomination, productions must open by April 20. Nominations for this year's awards will be revealed April 22 at 10 AM ET at the New York Library for the Performing Arts.

The Drama League Awards are among the oldest theatrical honors in America, having been first presented in 1922 and subsequently formalized in 1935. It recognizes work playing Broadway and Off-Broadway. The awards are determined by Drama League members, a group that includes award-winning actors, designers, directors, playwrights, producers, industry veterans, critics, and dedicated audiences from across the nation.

The ceremony culminates in the presentation of the Distinguished Performance Award, which goes to one artist a year and can only be won once in an artist’s lifetime. Recent winners have included Annaleigh Ashford for Sweeney Todd, Glenda Jackson for Three Tall Women, Ben Platt for Dear Evan Hansen, and Lin-Manuel Miranda for Hamilton.

Jonathans award is for his outstanding work on stage as part of the musical theater community.

what are your tony predictions??

Love this question! I’m not gonna give ALL my predictions just because there are so many categories, but here are some of my 2023 Tony Awards predictions/who I personally want to win:

Best Musical:

Who I want: Kimberly Akimbo

My prediction: Kimberly Akimbo

It’s amazing and tbh I feel like just about everyone who’s seen it absolutely loves it. Talented cast, funny and touching story, catchy songs. That show has it all.

Best Play:

Who I want: Leopoldstadt

My prediction: Ain’t No Mo’

Both plays are super important and super dark. But Ain’t No Mo’ also has the comedic element that’s more pleasing to audiences at the end of the day.

Best Musical Revival:

Who I want: Parade

My prediction: Into The Woods

I love both of these musicals so much. I’m a huge Sondheim fan too. As fantastic as Parade is, I just can’t see Into The Woods losing after all the hype.

Leading Actress in a Musical:

Who I want: Victoria Clark (Kimberly Akimbo) or Lorna Courtney (&Juliet)

My prediction: Victoria Clark (Kimberly Akimbo) or Micaela Diamond (Parade)

This category is stacked. I honestly don’t care who wins. They all deserve it.

Leading Actor in a Musical:

Who I want: Colton Ryan (New York, New York)

My prediction: Ben Platt (Parade)

Ben Platt will definitely win. I’m 98% sure.

Featured Actor in a Musical:

Who I want: Justin Cooley (Kimberly Akimbo)

My prediction: Kevin Cahoon (Shucked)

Justin is only like 19 or 20 years old so I think him winning a Tony would be awesome.

Featured Actress in a Musical:

Who I want: Bonnie Milligan (Kimberly Akimbo) or NaTasha Yvette Williams (Some Like It Hot)

My prediction: Julia Lester (Into The Woods)

I love Bonnie, and NaTasha is a legend. I just feel like Julia’s gonna get it.

Here are my other predictions without my opinion:

Best Revival of a Play: A Doll’s House Best Direction (Play): Jaime Lloyd (A Doll’s House) Best Direction (Musical): Michael Arden (Parade) Best Choreography: Susan Stroman (New York, New York) Best Book: Kimberly Akimbo Best Score: Kimberly Akimbo or Shucked

Honorable mentions: I will forever be rooting for Michael Arden to win Best Direction. He was robbed in 2016. I hope Natasha Katz (Some Like It Hot, Sweeney Todd) wins best Lighting Design because she did the Lighting Design for Sing Street and it was outstanding!!

Overall I don’t really think Kimberly Akimbo will sweep (as much as I love that musical lol) I don’t think any show will sweep this year. I have a feeling it’s gonna be evenly dispersed. Thanks for the ask!

i have this terrible habit of comparing myself to artists who've had success when they're still young, like how fall out boy had four studio albums before any of them had turned 30, patrick stump released soul punk when he was 27, ben platt won a tony when he was 23, you get it, right? but lately i've been thinking about interviews where patrick talks about not being able to imagine doing anything else, because music is what he loves and what he's good at. the work i do right now isn't what i have a degree in, it's not what i want to make a career out of, i'm still using a license i got when i was 16 (which makes it almost ten years ago, and also begs the question why i was allowed to do this as a literal child?), and god it's so easy to get down on myself for not being able to break into the field i want to, to still be out here doing the same thing, but when i take a step back i realize i'm really good at my job, and from the beginning it has never been about changing the world, it's about making individual moments better for individual people, one at a time. and i am good at that. i am an important part of the team for that.

predictions for what i believe is the inevitable rocky horror broadway revival next year for the 50th anniversary of the film bc i need to do this:

either stunt cast frank (tired) or Known Broadway Name as frank. my money is on J Harrison Ghee-- and i want to see it! they would actually be quite good in the role! this will be the productions #diversity moment

though would not be shocked if the only darker skinned person on the cast was magenta in a classic broadway only casting dark skinned poc in roles that arent romantic or are literal maids and people who are tragic and unconnected to the rest of the cast blunder (think: eponine style)

could very easily see either unknown brad and janets or famous actor brad unknown janet. if they cast ben platt. i will be kicking down some doors. but also they wont cast him bc brad actually isnt a very Star Power role given the fact that his one song is very unknown and also sucks so bad (though i wouldnt count it out). this is despite the fact that i think that the role of brad and janet is so well suited to be unknowns.

eddie will be a stunt cast because it's easy, and so will the criminologist, though i wouldnt be shocked if crim wasnt.

riff raff will be played by a rock singer potentially also very famous. look the way that broadway has been trending i am not too hopeful that this wont be one of those star studded cast that doesnt really mesh type things (real ones know what im talking about).

OR they will invoke demons and recast reeve carney as riff raff. he will not be any better this time

its going to be played tongue in cheek we know this is campy isnt this plot so stupid as opposed to taking the show seriously for what it is and the reasons people love it

they're not going to rewrite anything and get cancelled by 15 year olds and terminally online queer discoursers

despite everything, the show will be good, but it will leave you feeling like something was off on the account of it just feeling a little soulless (read: stunt casting focus) but a good night

outside props will be banned from the theater except for the two that they will make you pay for as an extra fee

there will be at least one minor breakaway star from an unknown they cast in the show who is nominated for a tony but doesnt win (possibly the magenta actress)

it'll be on broadway for a slightly less than a year, but no longer than 13 months

the set is also going to be awesome. they're going to make a really cool lab set with lots of gadgets to fuck around with and

the costumes are unfortunately going to miss the mark and be simultaneously uninspired and perhaps TOO inspired by something they really should not be inspired by. the phantom costumes will be a disaster, but everyone else's will be serviceable. if they dont give frank a floor show change i WILL be deeply upset.

overall, i think this will be another example of a show with good performances and set pieces that trick audiences into thinking its a good show, though i desperately want to be proven wrong. but we'll see! hopefully they actually bring the show back next year im sure SOMEONE has thought of a way of bringing it its just a question of will it carry through. i will be sad if it doesnt happen.

thoughts on broadway and/or the tonys and/or musical theater in general

fuck i never did get around to this LOL here we go

broadway... compels me in some weird way. like for every single complaint musical theatre fans lob at opera- 'it's too much about spectacle!' 'it's too elitist!' 'it's funded by rich people!' (which that last point in and of itself is. Have you ever been to europe. but the way in which opera criticism is uniquely USAcentric is a convo for another time) are all... like... right there in musical theatre on broadway.

arguably those are even more of a problem over in musicals. musicals have Brand Identity. when you think of wicked, every wicked production is specifically built to look the same, with no real difference in direction or performance besides individual casting. (and also that infernal dragon, for some reason, that they never even really actually use except for like one moment where it wiggles around a bit. a lot of my memory of seeing wicked in 9th grade is just remembering how absolutely disappointed i was that they had a big dragon animatronic and they never used it in a satisfying way! like, what the fuck! anyway, again, tangent.) even if there isn't a cohesive brand there's the matter of rights settlements, and certain creative restrictions, and on top of that there's the fact that it is incredibly hard to go watch broadway musicals if you don't have transportation and monetary access to them. (and don't get me started on whatever the fuck "bootleg trading" is. like man they're even inventing capitalism in new places. hello.)

opera meanwhile is the wild fucking west. most of the standard rep works are in the public domain. there's only 1 standard rep opera i can think of off the top of my head that has any creative restrictions in the performance license contract, and given the one creative restriction with that one is "please have black people play the black characters and don't do blackface you freaks jesus christ" i'm totally down w/ it. if you want to go watch opera, there's thousands of recordings on youtube and on specialty sites like operaonvideo.com that just act as a huge performance archive. opera is genuinely one of the most accessible art forms there is with the advent of the internet.

(man remember when hamilton had basically a free raffle for 10 dollar tickets every week or whatever that was? meanwhile the opera company in my college city literally just sells 11 dollar tickets to students and every time you buy one from them it acts like it now has a blood debt to you. crazy.)

broadway is like genuinely so capitalistic it baffles me, godbless. and i do WANT to understand musical theatre better but a lot of the time it just sort of whizzes past my head and i have no idea what to make of it. (that, and theatre kids are.... Well. Yeah)

THE TONYS are equally baffling, but instead of broadway which feels like some strange dystopian world, the tonys have a distinctly alice in fuckin wonderland shit to me. there are opera award shows but none of them are nearly on the same level as the tonys. it's cool that the trophy spins around i think. i think its very obvious the tonys largely exist as a further marketing mechanic and not as like... actual awards, but to be fair thats the point of all awards shows at this point anyway. (well, that and making a lot of people very angry.)

looking at this year's nominations for example. here are some of my thoughts: i forgot about the some like it hot musical, i genuinely have no idea who the audience of that is meant to be. CORN MUSICAL??? who the fuck made a CORN MUSICAL and WHY? &juliet terrifies me with its existence. the plays should unionize together. i dont know why i was surprised ben platt is there i thought he just kind of faded into the walls after the dear even hansen movie or something. isnt new york new york a frank sinatra song. oh shit the sweeney todd revival already premiered? (i dont keep up with broadway news) why is there a corn musical. also when i looked up the tony awards i accidentally typed in 'the toby awards' which is apparently an award show for building design. Anyway thats my analysis as someone who is genuinely so clueless about current broadway news

Conspiracy theories I've heard about Beanie Fieldstein in the past 3 months:

1) Her parents/Marc Platt/Ben Platt (?) produced Funny Girl in its entirety for her.

1b) When I link the IBDB page with all the producers listed and they're not on it, "oh, producers can hide their money, that's why."

1c) It all has an undertone of 'rich shadowy Jews secretly control the media.' Apart from the one fucking BWW comment that just went mask off with "oy vey Beanie's parents must have invested a lot of geld in this show."

2) Beanie faked covid to avoid performing in the show or at the tonys.

3) Beanie wrote into her contract that if she couldn't perform at the tonys, no one could (?).

4) Beanie is getting sued for missing too many performances. (They wouldn't tell me how many performances were stipulated in her contract.)

5) The fucking tampon blind. (Blind that a bway actress pulled out their tampon while getting their hair done and handed it to the hairdresser. And then just bled all over their costume I guess. Beanie's name came up most despite the entire thing being obviously fake.)

This fandom is horrific, I've never seen so much vitriol aimed at an actor before. And they're not just mad that she's not Barbra and they're not watching the Funny Girl movie. (Which, babe, just stay home and watch it if that's what you want?) Skipping over critique into conspiracy about someone they already hate is how QAnon perpetuated itself, so I guess we're like another 3 months out from hearing that Beanie is drinking the blood of Christian babies underneath Disneyland.

Ben Platt Drops New Single, 'Cherry On Top'

Tony, GRAMMY® and Emmy Award winner Ben Platt has released his newest single “Cherry On Top.”  Produced by 9x GRAMMY® Award winner Dave Cobb, “Cherry On Top” follows last month’s release of “Andrew.”  Both songs will be featured on Platt’s highly anticipated new album Honeymind, the platinum-selling artist’s most introspective and unfiltered project to date.  Honeymind will be released May 31…

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SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES’ SWEET AND SATIRICAL COMEDY GEM, THEATER CAMP, AVAILABLE NOW ON DISNEY+

Theater Camp Now available to watch on Disney+ Get the direct link and all the details here #theatercampmovie #theatercamp #DisneyPlus @DisneyPlusUK

Theatre kids, and theatre kids at heart, rejoice! Searchlight Pictures’ heart-warming and hilarious ode to the stage, Theater Camp, has arrived today on Disney+. ABOUT THEATER CAMP Tony Award® winner Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen) and Molly Gordon (Booksmart) star in the original comedy Theater Camp as Amos and Rebecca-Diane – lifelong best friends and drama instructors at a rundown camp in…

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Underwood Memorial Baptist Church.

Milwaukee WI.

HOW THEATER HAS CHANGED. Part One.

Robert M. Massimi.

When I look at theater today, I see a different era from what I remember of the 80's and 90's. Gone to a certain degree is the deep writing of yesteryear. Sure we had some great ones like "The Lehman Trilogy", "The Ferryman", "The Doctor" (currently at the Park Avenue Armory) and few others "Some Like it Hot" and "Kimberly Akimbo". But these are to few and far between for Broadway to be the behemoth it once was. In the 80's I could randomly go to a show and be wowed, but not today. It seems that writers and producers are more worried about putting out woke rather than good.

Off Broadway where you could once find really good works that were not big enough for Broadway, off off Broadway where you could find the hidden gems are gone as well. Today it is mostly about a liberal agenda that has taken the fun out of theater (not to mention the slobs that attend theater).

Let me give you a few examples:" Comeuppance", "Bernarda's Daughter," "Misty", "Camelot "at Lincoln Center," Bad Cinderella", "&Juliet", "New York, New York", "Passover". In these aforementioned shows, they all deal with race( with the exceptions of NY, NY and Camelot). "Comeuppance was poorly written and it solely attacks, the back the blue, whites, January 6th ( a huge favorite amongst the woke- never BLM nor ANTIFA burning cities down, though). The writing goes nowhere throughout the show and yet this is what is considered good theater today. "Misty" at Hudson Yards was another awful, horribly written play about the East End of London getting gentrified. The writer has his main character as a criminal and yet it is get whitey time. He argues, weakly, that the area was better when it was crime ridden, that white people have no business being there.

In "Bernarda's Daughter", it is Brooklyn ,NY. Again, the area is getting gentrified. The place is Flatbush, Brooklyn; a hot bed of crime. Once again, the area is getting over run with crime and yet, these girls complain that whites are moving in and making it nice.

In many of the musicals like NY, NY and Camelot, directors are bringing in diverse cast members that cannot handle the lead roles. this is exactly why both NY, NY and Camelot failed miserably. In" Shucked" you have a great comedy about a family in Nebraska. A really good play, however, you have the grandfather and cousin who are black. Regardless of your political beliefs, it just does not fit the audiences eye, it doesn't work. Like "Head Over Heels", the audience rejects it as not believable.

As far as off off Broadway, places like The Theater for the New City produce crap after crap. Politically leaning with radical shows, Theater for the New City is a pit of lousy writing. LA MAMA once a cutting edge theater company has also gone the way of lousy writing. Even in the 80's, LA MAMA was left leaning but the writing (mostly AGITPROP) was mostly good. Today, not so much. Climate change, LGBTQ runs this loony bin today and the shows aren't any fun to go too any more.

Theater in New York City needs to get back to quality. When A Dolls House becomes modern, it is time to rethink how we want to produce shows. If Broadway doesn't stop with the over abundance LGBTQ, the anti traditional theater, it may lose the base of its theater goers, and the young people, the wokesters alone cannot replace the old guard of theater lovers.

Britney Spears, Hamilton, Prima Facia, Sweeney Todd, Ben Platt, Studio 54, Nathan Lane, &Juliet, Hamilton, Shucked, Tony Awards, Kimberly Akimbo, New York, New York, New York City, Once Upon A One More Time, Funny Girl, Parade, Rock and Roll Man, Life of Pi.

First look at Theater Camp

A new trailer has been released for Theater Camp, which is set to release July 14, 2023.

Tony Award winner Ben Platt and Molly Gordon star in the original comedy THEATER CAMP as Amos and Rebecca-Diane – lifelong best friends and drama instructors at a rundown camp in upstate New York. When clueless tech-bro Troy (Jimmy Tatro) arrives to run the property (into the ground), Amos, Rebecca-Diane and production manager Glenn (Noah Galvin) band together with the staff and students, staging a masterpiece to keep their beloved summer camp afloat.

It’s the 2017 Tony Awards all over again: My thoughts on the nominations

After watching the nominations on youtube in my acting class with my friend, I have some things to say about the nominations for the tony’s this year. All of the musicals I hoped would be nominated were. Bad Cinderella was nominated for nothing (lol). Even though it has a lot of hate, I hope it stays open until the next Andrew Lloyd Webber musical opens. I am still upset that Grace McLean didn’t get nominated for anything though, after the 2017 tony awards (i’m still triggered from that). One thing I’m extremely mad at (or two things rather) is that Gaten Matarazzo didn’t get nominated for best actor in a featured role in a musical, even though I’m pretty sure he was eligible.

Also…

Ben Platt and Josh Groban are going against each other again.

I’m actually gonna cry.

I really hope Josh wins.

The People We Hate At the Wedding | Carpet Interviews with Cast and Guests

The People We Hate At the Wedding | Carpet Interviews with Cast and Guests

Weddings are events that either unite us or further divide us. In Prime Video’s The People We Hate At the Wedding, an estranged family tries their best to heal old wounds but instead causes more friction. The film has an all-star cast with Allison Janney, Kristen Bell, Ben Platt, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Dustin Milligan, Isaach De Bankolé, Karan Soni, Tony Goldwyn, Jorma Taccone, Julian Ovenden,…

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