By Denny Patterson
On February 25, 2022, Grammy, Tony, and Emmy Award-winning artist Ben Platt will bring his highly anticipated Reverie Tour to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. This is his biggest North American tour to date.
Uncorking moments of escapism, Reverie is Platt’s sophomore studio album, which bottles butterflies of joy, wonder, and hope inside immersive pop, underlined by warm electronic soundscapes, eloquent lyricism, and showstopping vocal dynamics. His debut album, Sing to Me Instead, was released in 2019.
No stranger to the spotlight, Platt has had a fascinating journey through music, theatre, film, and television. Most notably, he won a Tony for his breakout performance in Broadway’s smash hit, Dear Evan Hansen, a role he reprised in last year’s film adaptation. His evolving body of work also includes memorable roles as Elder Arnold Cunningham in the original Broadway production of The Book of Mormon, Benjie in the Pitch Perfect trilogy, and Payton in Netflix’s acclaimed series The Politician.
Platt recently began filming for Richard Linlater’s Merrily We Roll Along, which will be shot over the course of 20 years, and will soon begin production on the film, The People We Hate At The Wedding, alongside Kristen Bell and Allison Janney.
OutClique caught up with Platt to talk more about the album and tour.
Denny Patterson: Hi, Ben! Thank you for taking some time to chat with us about your upcoming Reverie Tour. Can you begin by telling us what the show is going to be like and the story you want it to tell?
Ben Platt: Totally. There will be a lot of vestiges from the first tour in terms of trying to combine the feeling of a tempo-filled, over-the-top show where there’s standing, dancing, and celebration of that energy, but then also having that sort of classical Adele/Barbra Streisand experience where the audience is sitting and listening to me share stories, sing a few ballads, and give more of an emotional performance. I think that’s what excites me the most about this particular tour. Balancing between those two energies and performance styles, and trying to make them symbiotic and flow in and out of each other. I don’t want to give over entirely to one. Repertoire wise, Reverie will certainly be the focus since that is my most recent album, but there will be some favorites from the last album as well. Then virtually, obviously, theatricality is a huge part of my upbringing, but production elements will lend themselves to the specifics of the narratives and emotions of each given song. I want to make sure they differentiate between moments and give a good variation of feelings, rather than one streamlined evening.
DP: Your first album, Sing to Me Instead, was very successful. When did you begin to get a vibe as to what Reverie would be?
BP: There was a song that I released in between called “RAIN,” and I really loved the experience of working with Alex Hope and Michael Pollack again. Also, I think the freedom of releasing stylistically into something a bit different and into a space that wasn’t so obviously tied to a theatre or classical sound helped. Not that I don’t love those things and that they don’t have influence in Reverie, but I think allowing myself to depart in that way felt authentically progressive in a way that I didn’t necessarily expect. By virtue of that experience, those are the sort of songs that started to come out.
DP: You have co-writing credits on many of the songs on your records. Can you tell us more about the writing process?
BP: It definitely varies depending on who I am working with. I would say, more often than
not, the songs that I respond to the most or that I am the most inclined to fall in love with
conceptually come from me. For example, “Grow As We Go,” which is a song that many people are familiar with from my first album, was both a phrase and a concept that had already been in my mind. Something that I wanted to write about; the idea of somebody trying to avoid losing someone by explaining that the two need space to grow. Also, just the encapsulation of that idea in the phrase. If I don’t come up with the phrase itself, generally, something is happening in my life that I want to write about. From that point, it becomes an equal collaboration. Depending on the collaborator, we will find a chord progression that feels like a match, or we will write as many lyrics we can think of and pick our favorites. I try to let it be permutative and free, as long as it’s stemming from something that feels very personal to me.
DP: Which song from Reverie are you most excited to perform?
BP: Oh, that’s a fun question! There are so many, but probably “I Wanna Love You But I Don’t.” I really love that song, and to me, it’s always felt very connotative of an artist like Bruce Springsteen. Aesthetically and musically, it feels like a big arena kind of moment. I always think of that particular image, so I am very excited about that.
DP: How would you say you have evolved as a musical artist since releasing Sing to Me Instead?
BP: I hope that I’ve given myself a little bit more freedom and slack in terms of focusing more on what I enjoy to do, opposed to what I think others would expect from me when I sing and perform. The elements of narrative, theatricality, emotionality, and everything I’ve always had as a part of my performance will forever be present, but I think with Reverie, I allowed myself to stray in a more superficial and stylistic sense. I explored other kinds of music that bring me joy. Music that expresses the moment that I’m going through. If anything, I hope that there’s a bit more variation in the set. As I get a bit older and do my second round of touring, I hope all the cornerstones of what I’ve always done will hopefully be present, but I think it’s just allowed me to free myself up a bit.
DP: Is there a song on the album that you would say was the most challenging?
BP: Hm, that’s a good question. I would probably say “Dark Times,” only because it’s an unabashedly emotional song in a sense that it’s very clearly exploring vulnerable experiences, thoughts, and emotions. I think anytime I’m writing a song in that vein, even on the first album, there is such a fine line between things that feel gratuitous, mushy, or emotional for emotion’s sake, rather than specific to me, lyrically succinct, or idiosyncratic. I think writing that sort of song has always been a challenge.
DP: How has the pandemic influenced your work in Reverie and overall trajectory as a musical artist?
BP: The fact that the pandemic sort of displaced me to my former bedroom, living with my parents, and being surrounded by my old posters, clothes, yearbooks, and things, I think that ended up being a very fruitful and inspirational place to write from. I even used my old keyboard from high school [laughs]. That truly influenced and inspired a lot of the record. Additionally, there was this feeling of escapism that I think was very specific to the feeling I think we all had during the pandemic. We needed somewhere to escape to because we were stuck in our relatively mundane places. Quarantining and seeing the same visuals and people every day. For me, listening to other music and watching other content was always a great way for me to escape that feeling of repetitiveness and endlessness. I always hope my music helps people take their minds off of their worries.
DP: Obviously, we know you as a wonderful actor as well. Do you find performing on a solo tour a bit more freeing since you don’t have to perform as a character?
BP: Absolutely. I would say you sort of hit the nail on the head in terms of what makes performing live my favorite thing to do. I think even in the context of playing a character and doing a piece of theatre, as much as you’re directed and as specific as your role is, you are the one going out there and delivering the performance. So, there’s a great amount of ownership in performance regardless. Then you take that to the next degree when it’s your own music, and you’re performing as yourself because there is really no netting other than the netting that you create for yourself. There are no boundaries, which I think is a scary thing, but a very positive thing in the sense that it gives you those good butterflies. It’s a challenge that never gets old. You kind of feel naked and vulnerable because there’s not a lot of protection between what you’re doing and the people watching. I think that’s what I love the most about it. After playing characters for 18-20 years, it does feel rather cathartic to finally get to perform purely as myself. It’s an outlet that I am very grateful to have.
DP: Before we wrap up, what more do you hope to accomplish as a musical artist, and do you have any upcoming studio albums in the works right now?
BP: I am always writing music, collaborating with different co-writers, and keeping my mind open. There isn’t necessarily a specific sound or a third album that has materialized yet since I am very focused on the Reverie tour right now, but goals wise, I have always loved collaboration in every way, so the idea of dueting, singing with other people, and working with artists that I admire and love, it’s certainly something that’s still on my bucket list. There are plenty of them, and I haven’t really ticked anyone off except my wonderful collaboration with Lin Manuel Miranda for the March For Our Lives. The idea of teaming up in that way is certainly a goal. Additionally, there are some venues on my list as well. Many of them are being hit by this particular tour, especially the Hollywood Bowl. That’s where I did my first gig as a professional actor when I was eight years old. I played Winthrop in The Music Man there, so to come back as an adult playing my own show, it’s a very special full-circle moment. Most of all, I just want to keep making music that appeals to people, and I hope they connect with it.
Stay up-to-date with Platt by following him on Instagram @bensplatt, or visit BenPlattMusic.com. For more information and to purchase tickets for the Reverie Tour, visit SeminoleHardRockHollywood.com.
