‘Evan Hansen’ star brings powerful show to big screen
Julianne Moore knew the minute she saw Ben Platt’s electrifying performance on Broadway in “Dear Evan Hansen,” a Tony Award was coming.
“Let me say,” Moore said, sitting next to Platt for a Zoom interview, “I was there very early in the process because I like to see Broadway musicals too.
“Ben was downstage center and he started singing two minutes into it and he was exquisite, intelligent. Different than anything I’d seen on a Broadway stage. Ever.
“I turned to my daughter, I said, ‘Oh my God! I’ve never seen anything like this!’ I really did. Then I said, ‘He’s going to win the Tony!’ My daughter is 14. She said, ‘Shut up Mom.’
Moore plays Evan Hansen’s mother in Friday’s film version.
“It’s a beautiful show. But when you say ‘a career-defining performance,’ what Ben brought to it is so original and electric that suddenly everyone is, ‘Oh my God.’ That’s really special.”
A high school story, “Evan” expands from tragedy to a communal understanding. Following the suicide of Connor (Colton Murphy), a classmate, socially anxious high school senior Evan Hansen (Platt) is mistakenly considered the boy’s only friend by Connor’s mother and sister (Amy Adams, Kaitlyn Dever).
Platt, who turns 28 the day “Evan Hansen” opens nationally, has been here from the start. When did he realize this was life-changing for him?
“Just doing it in the first place, I already felt like a dream was coming true because since I was 6 years old my greatest dream was to get to originate a role that was entirely original.
“I realized this was going to be something a little bit larger than that average experience when we started in Washington, D.C.
“We all love the piece but there’s no way to anticipate the kind of emotional reaction this always seems to have. Audiences were not only moved but were tangibly altered by it, and consistently.
“No matter what the walk of life, there was just consistent tears and sharing of real difficult conversations afterwards. People were coming back, bringing their parents. It’s such a powerful icebreaker.
“Now I’m just incredibly grateful I’ve been afforded the opportunity to finish that journey and be the one to carry him over to the kind of final Evan resting place that he will live in always.
“Which is this film version. I know that’s a very rare opportunity for someone who performs onstage. So I feel really lucky.”