Ben Platt, 27, Shines in Trailer as High Schooler in ‘Dear Evan Hansen’
Ben Platt is widely recognized in the Broadway and musical worlds, so the release of the trailer for the upcoming “Dear Evan Hansen” film adaptation shouldn’t be too jarring. But when a 27-year-old fairly famous actor is playing a high school student, it might be a little weird.
If you don’t know “Dear Evan Hansen,” it’s a multi Tony Award winning Broadway musical. It won six Tony Awards in 2017, including for Best Actor in a Musical, with Platt taking the prize. The musical has now been adapted into a feature film set to be released September 24, and the trailer was released Tuesday. You can watch it below.
Today is going to be a good day because the trailer is here! #DearEvanHansenMovie, only in theaters September 24. pic.twitter.com/sbeRVDViTL
— Dear Evan Hansen Movie (@dehmovie) May 18, 2021
Sure, Platt is still relatively young, and still looks it in many ways, but the most noticeable part of the trailer has to be how old he looks compared to the other students.
If this is your first exposure to Platt or “Dear Evan Hansen,” here’s the rundown from Universal Pictures:
“The breathtaking, generation-defining Broadway phenomenon becomes a soaring cinematic event as Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award winner Ben Platt reprises his role as an anxious, isolated high schooler aching for understanding and belonging amid the chaos and cruelty of the social-media age.”
We won’t spoil some of the key plot points here (the trailer does a good job of that already), but it’s notable that the musical is being brought to the screen by essentially the same team that did the stage production.
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote the music and lyrics for the show. You might recognize those names from wildly successful movie musicals “La La Land” and “The Greatest Showman.” The film is also being adapted by the same writer for the Broadway production, Steven Levenson.
The cast is filled with recognizable names and faces. Fayetteville-native and Oscar winner Julianne Moore, Amy Adams and Amandla Stenberg are standouts in the supporting cast.
But it’s Platt who will carry this one. You might remember him as the goofy magician roommate in the “Pitch Perfect” films. Hopefully the “Dear Evan Hansen” adaptation is strong enough to help erase how awkwardly old Platt looks as a high schooler. Then again, it worked out well for “Glee” for a number of years, so maybe it will be ok.
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