Multi-hyphenate Ben Platt, best known for his breakout role as Evan Hansen in the Broadway show Dear Evan Hansen, performs at Wolf Trap on June 23 as part of his summer tour promoting his new album Honeymind, which will be released May 31.
Platt, who has Tony, Grammy, and Emmy awards, just needs an Oscar to achieve the coveted EGOT status (EGOT stands for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony). Brandy Clark, who won a Grammy for Best Americana Performance and a 2023 Tony nomination for Best Original Score for the musical Shucked, will join Platt on tour.
Platt talks with Northern Virginia Magazine about his new album, what to expect at his Wolf Trap show, and his upcoming wedding this autumn to actor and singer Noah Galvin.
Congratulations on the new album. Tell us more about it.
I’ve been working on the album since the spring of ’22. I wrote a lot of it in Nashville and recorded it down in Savannah with Dave Cobb, who was my executive producer. He introduced me to a lot of great players, and we sort of focused on playing it live and as single take focused as possible.
I was inspired by Paul Simon, James Taylor, Fleetwood Mac, Carole King, and Sufjan Stevens, lots of folk and Americana, classic and kind of traditional American sounding stuff mixed with a queer perspective. “Andrew” [Platt’s lead single off the album] is a great emblematic first taste of that crossroads, I think.
Are you looking forward to touring? Do you have any traditions or routines while you’re out on the road?
I love touring and performing live. Anytime I’m getting ready to do that for a period, I get really excited. I do have to enter a bit more of a monkish, responsible mode in terms of stopping drinking and eating dairy. I’m hydrating with one of those obnoxious one-gallon bottles every day and getting a lot of sleep and taking supplements. I’m also taking voice lessons and physical therapy, just to get back into the shape of being able to healthily sing through the show every night and really focus on giving the best performance I can.
Looking ahead to your appearance at Wolf Trap on June 23, what can guests expect to see at your show?
I try to be transparent and share about myself and my perspective and keep it as off the cuff and vulnerable as possible. I’ll play a lot of this new album and some stuff from my other two records, and a couple of music theater moments. I just try to have a nice smorgasbord of all the things that I do. It’ll always be very vocal-focused. The singing is the main event in terms of what I do. It’s a place to come and hear music more so than a curated dance party, which other shows have been in the past. I think this one is a little more tender.
Will your fiancé Noah be on tour with you, especially given you named him as a muse for your new album?
He comes to all the states and venues that he’s excited to come to, so Wolf Trap is definitely on that list because it’s beautiful, and neither of us has ever been there. He plans to come in and out [of the tour] at his leisure. He loves to tour and is a good audience member.
He is shy and doesn’t do great at taking compliments and receiving earnestness. He’s a very sardonic, sharp-humored guy. Deep down, he is very touched by it and loves to be there live when he knows all the words. He loves to see people hear the music and hear me talk about him onstage, so I’m glad he’s going to come.
Noah and you were spotted at the Met Gala testing out outfits for your wedding. Tell us more about your upcoming wedding.
We got engaged in November of 2022, and we’re getting married in the fall. We have a lot of the big stuff figured out, like the venue, music, and food. Now it’s just the details like trying to figure out what our looks are going to be, and the flowers and all that fun stuff. We’re mostly excited because it’s an excuse to go on a honeymoon. We’re going to Italy to eat a bunch of pasta. That’s the goal of the wedding, other than spending our lives together, of course.
Do you have any favorite places to visit in the Virginia, Maryland, or DC area?
I spent the summer there doing Dear Evan Hansen at Arena Stage. It’s where we did our first out of town tryout, so to me the city is very nostalgic for that time in my life when it was all about to change. We were about to put the show up and get on the roller coaster. I sort of view it as the last city where I felt totally at peace before everything went crazy. I loved that theater so much, so I’d love to go and visit for old time’s sake. I also love to hang out in Georgetown. They have cute shops and good restaurants.
Feature image of Ben Platt by Vince Aung
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