#Ben Platt deserves a Tony

[the-river-rix]

Holy fucking shit.

[prodigal-explorer]

i hate when people try to say that dear evan hansen is a good musical and that it deserved the tony.

it’s literally one of the shittiest musicals ever written.

“but evan is supposed to be complex, he’s supposed to be morally gray!”

then the writers should have done a better job of portraying that. half of the audience who sees deh walk out of it feeling pity for evan and wanting to forgive him when that’s not the point! the point is that people with mental health problems are infantilized to the point where it hurts both them and the people who are doing the infantilizing, and that people with mental health problems are HUMAN which therefore means they are JUST AS CAPABLE OF EVIL. the point is also that intention doesn’t equal effect! but pasek and paul did a GODAWFUL job at portraying that.

also all the songs sound the same and they are all shit.

and ben platt is not that good of a singer, he sounds like a goat.

and don’t think i didn’t notice that the only poc in the obc was the smallest and least influential role, and was also heavily demonized in the show, even more so than evan (im talking about alana).

great comet and come from away are SO MUCH BETTER. they’re both about mental health and morally gray characters too, but it’s done in a much more mature, fleshed out, and cohesive way that isn’t just a bunch of white 30 something dudes wanting to relive their high school days.

great comet recontextualizes war and peace, exposing its heavily relevant and poignant themes in a way that audiences in the 21st century can grasp without losing the magic of the legendary prose. as much as i hate tolstoy, this particular interpretation is a beautiful rendition of a shockingly resonant story with such a fantastic arc and even better music.

i cant even describe how amazing come from away is. the fact that it expresses such joy and exuberance while also balancing the chilling horrors of what it was like to be alive during 9/11. it takes my breath away. the fact that every actor played at least two massively different roles with different accents and mannerisms takes SO much talent, and i adore that the obc is so representative of what a group of ordinary humans smushed together by chance looks like, and that it’s not just a bunch of 20 somethings.

great comet and come from away were robbed because deh brought in more money. that’s the cold hard truth of it. but money doesn’t mean everything. it’s so clear what the better musicals are.

[havanasroses]

my favorite christian borle onstage performances and why

1. orin & others, little shop of horrors

even though you know it's him playing these various characters, he brings such different humor to each of them that you can't help but decide that he's stolen the show from the moment he opens his mouth. i've never laughed so hard and watched + listened to so many bootlegs of a show just because i wanted to hear every version of one specific song (the meek shall inherit).

2. marvin, falsettos

this one speaks for itself. if he was nominated any other year (meaning, not against dear ben platt who absolutely earned it), he would have for sure won the tony. man deserves it for the emotion and care he brought to this character.

3. shakespeare, something rotten!

need i say more? he won the tony for a reason. the whole show was built around "or not toby" and i stand by it.

4. emmett, legally blonde

hahaha. i remember having very conflicted feelings when i found out about the behind the scenes (bc i love sutton with my entirety), but no one can deny his chemistry with lbb. such a good show and such great performances by a baby borle.

5. wonka, charlie and the chocolate factory

i remember the cast playing around so much in the creation of the show, mostly led and blocked by cborle himself. despite it being a flop, i enjoyed the show and his wonka, but mostly because of how much fun he had with the cast.

joe/josephine/kip, some like it hot

i'm going to surprise everyone and say that this is actually at the bottom of my list (had i incuded his other characters), hence why it's not numbered. you all know that i love slih to the ends of the earth, but not because of cborle. i'm going to be honest and say that it still makes me uncomfortable to watch sometimes when he's josephine, but i've explained before that my love for joe's familial relationship with daphne soars above it all for me. great performances from christian, but i have to say that this is by far the worst character he's ever had to play and that i don't think that tony nom was justified, imho.

[dwsavideos]

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!

[ghostlypawn]

2017 tonys was as baffling to me as the next guy but truly believing that ben platt didnt deserve that best actor tony is absurdly incorrect imo

[queen-in-white]

THANK YOU! I don’t understand why so many people keep hating on Deh for almost no reason. Did it deserve as many Tony’s as it got? No, a bunch of other musicals were robbed of a tony. Is it still amazingly complex and beautiful? Absolutely. But, don’t watch the movie. It is actually really bad and Ben Platt looks fifty. It removes so many important songs, it paints Evan as a hero who can barely do any wrong, and generally made it kind of uncomfortable to watch.

Y'all, it's 2023. Can we please stop pretending it's cool to hate on Dear Evan Hansen?

[raspberryzingaaa]

waving through a window accidentially came up on this playlist and i screamed NO but it was too late. freshman year nia had already heard it and said hey wait this slaps, remember?

[waffleandcalzone]

Petition to bring back all the great musicals that were overshadowed in 2016 + 2017 (great comet, waitress, come from away, bandstand, bright star, ect.) for an apology round of Tony's

[harley-the-pancake]

Stop fucking talking about it being about Ben Platt WE ALL HAVE NO CONTEXT AND ALSO I THINK THEY DESERVE A TONY AFTER HAVING A FUCKING CROWD OF NAZIS AT THEIR PREVIEWS

Lord I am not about to rant about musicals I’ve never seen

[stilestate]

Dear Evan Hansen

MY NEW ADDICTION! And I’m not even sorry! There will be covers! Just you wait! Again: not sorry! 

[theanxiousteenager1121]

ben platts voice is silver toned moonlight honey reblog if you agree 

[comrade-heather]

I Did Some Super Scientific Data Analysis to Determine Which of these Shows is *Statistically* the Most Niche

why these shows? bc they’re ones that I like that I thought might actually have a chance of being the most niche. want me to analyze a show or include a new metric? Let me know!

Methodology

Spotify Listens (average): How many people are listening?

I consider this to be the most important metric, since it shows interest beyond just hardcore fans interacting with fandom content or hyper-focused broadway metrics (ie BroadwayWorld and show runs). Some outliers were excluded (ie short tracks where Spotify has faulty tracking of listens).

Spotify Listens (most popular): Does this show have at least one song that is known beyond the show itself?

Some shows have a song that’s well-known in the theatre community, outside of the context of the show. I consider this to raise name recognition of the show, thus making it less “niche”

Ao3 Fics: Are fans interacting with the show?

This is the easiest way to measure total fandom output. For shows based on previous media, strictly the musical fandom was counted

Tumblr Posts (last 3 weeks): Is there an active fandom?

I did a basic search to try to estimate the total volume of posts about each show in the month of Feb so far. Tumblr is the main gathering place for most of these fandoms, plus this also captures how relevant the fandom is currently.

BroadwayWorld Articles: How much press has the show gotten?

This turned out to be a less useful metric than I’d hoped, and as such it’s weighted pretty lightly. Shows that ran on Broadway (as opposed to off-broadway) in the last 5-10 years got more press than those that didn’t. Go figure.

Number of Performances of the “Highest” Level Run: Did the show do well with a general audience? Did it stick around?

Again, this is an imperfect metric. Broadway is a wild industry, and general interest doesn’t perfectly correlate with length of run (see: Be More Chill’s Broadway run). And Carrie’s swing-and-miss Broadway run arguably makes it more famous. Weighted lightly.

Least Niche: Bonnie & Clyde (21 points)

I think we have Jeremy Jordan to thank for this one. Bonnie & Clyde far and away has the most Spotify listens, and it’s got mild fandom engagement on Ao3 and Tumblr. 

Bare: A Pop Opera (20 points)

Bare wins the award for most dedicated fandom on this list! Combine Tumblr and Ao3 activity with solid streaming numbers and Bare takes second-to-least niche. 

Bandstand (20 points)

What Bandstand lacks in Spotify listens and a Tumblr fandom it makes up for with plenty of gay fanfic and a decent 2017 Broadway run. It got pretty good press and even won a Tony (although we all know it deserved more). If you know anything from this show, it’s “Love Will Come and Find Me Again.”

Assassins (19 points)

note: I included both cast albums in the Spotify listens stat

A solid Sondheim bop that’s gotten some interest recently for its 2021 Off-Broadway revival. Major points for the existence of “Unworthy of Your Love,” which is by far the most popular song even without counting the Ben Platt cover.

Carrie (16 points)

Wins the award for "notable for sucking ass at the beginning.” There’s very little Carrie content relating to the musical specifically, and it’s dwarfed by online interest in the book and its movie adaptation. Notables from the cast album are “The World According to Chris” and “You Shine.”

Amélie (14 points)

Starring the lovely Phillipa Soo, Amélie has decent Spotify hits, and renewed interest due to the increasing popularity of the West End production. Major points for “Times are Hard for Dreamers” (which tbh is singlehandedly inflating the Spotify stats)

Most Niche: In Transit (6 points)

I can now back up my opinion with evidence that In Transit is very underrated. Written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez of Frozen fame, it’s the first acapella musical to run on Broadway (which it did for quite awhile, by this list’s standards) This could maybe be a reason why the cast recording has very few listens, and as a result there’s basically no fandom. 

TLDR: you should listen to In Transit, the Bare fandom is awesome, and lmk if you have suggestions to expand this data!

[lady-divine-writes]

Klaine Advent Challenge 2021 - “Heavenly Peace” (Rated G)

Summary: While Kurt and Blaine stay up to all hours Christmas morning wrapping presents, they discuss what they would like for themselves. (1119 words)

Notes: Written for the @klaineadvent 2021 prompt 'silence'.

Read on AO3.

"That makes 317 presents wrapped. Huzzah." Blaine yawns through his declaration as he raises his arms over his head and cracks his back. He nudges the presents in front of him aside with his leg and flexes his feet, stretching aching muscles. Unwinding his cramped body fills him with a sense of satisfaction not experienced in all of his thirty-six years. 

It’s almost better than sex.

But he has no intention of telling his husband that. 

"Is that a rough estimate? Or an exact tally?" Kurt asks, scrutinizing the impressive pile.

“Exact tally.”

“Whoa. That’s more than last year. Is that all of them?

"Yup. Good thing, too. We just ran out of tape."

"Did you have enough to finish?"

Blaine answers by turning the bottom of the box he'd been wrapping towards Kurt to reveal a flap of paper hanging down, exposing the pale blue Tiffany's box underneath.

"Oh." Kurt narrows his eyelids, debating a few things in his head, and Blaine holds his breath. 

If someone is going to be running down the block to the 24/7 bodega, open 365 days of the year, it's most likely going to be him. 

"That's fine," Kurt decides. "That one’s Carole's. She won't care."

"Yeah," Blaine agrees, sighing with relief that his perfectionist husband is willing to overlook imperfection this once. "She'll call it the starter square."

Kurt takes the present from Blaine and starts fiddling with the loose piece. "Just tuck that in like so... " 

"Perfect. No one will ever know." Blaine yawns again, harder and longer this time. He swears his soul leaves his body. "Time check?" He has no idea what time it could be. With the curtains pulled tight, they can't see the sky outside. They'd started wrapping the second Tracy and Hepburn toddled off to bed, which was around 9:30, and had been feverishly working ever since. 

Kurt wakes his phone to check the time and chuckles. "3:17."

"Ironic."

"Quite."

"That means our little nibbling should be awake... "

"... in twenty-five minutes if last year is any indicator," Kurt deduces, hiding a yawn behind his hand clutching a scrap of bright red paper. "The glamorous life of a parent."

"Yeah. Who needs the excitement of an Oscar nod or a Tony when you can be assembling a ten-speed at midnight on Christmas Eve?"

"You'll get your Tony, honey,” Kurt says, reaching out and giving Blaine’s shoulder a squeeze. He wants to scoot over and put an arm around him, but his butt went numb hours ago. “I know you will."

"Meh. I put it on my Christmas list.” Blaine tilts his head to give the back of his husband’s hand a kiss. “To be honest, Dear Evan Hansen deserved it. Doesn't mean I didn't send Ben Platt a bag of gummy dicks and a glitter bomb."

Kurt's eyebrows shoot up. "You didn't!"

"What did you ask for for Christmas?" Blaine asks, deftly changing the subject.

Kurt grimaces, annoyed at being sidestepped but lets the topic drop. If Blaine did exact his revenge with sparkly explosives and phallic sweets, Kurt will be the first to hear about it. "You're my husband. You know what I want. Sizes and colors, too."

"No. I mean… what did you ask Santa for?"

Kurt sighs dramatically. "Do you really want to start this? Because I'm exhausted, and we don't have the time to drag your old Santa suit up from storage."

Blaine snorts. "That wasn't what I meant."

"Pity."

"I mean, if you could have anything in the world, what would it be?"

"Material possession? Or nebulous concept?"

"Either."

"Besides lunch with my mom?"

"Yes," Blaine says sadly.

Kurt looks up at the ceiling to give it some thought, though, in reality, the answer is simple. "Peace."

Blaine's brow wrinkles. "Peace? Like in the Middle East?"

"In general. Peace in the world, peace of mind, peace in our city, all of the peace I can get - everything from not having to worry about masks and school shootings to going to the bathroom alone for five minutes without you having to run interference with our kids. And you know I love having a house full of family, but considering everything going on in the world lately, it's still a little nerve-wracking for me."

“I know it is.” Blaine rolls onto stiff knees, crawls up beside his husband, and snuggles into his side. “If it’s any consolation, you’re holding up marvelously. No one would ever know.”

“Thanks. That’s nice of you to say.”

“Well, it’s true.” Blaine leans his head against his husband’s shoulder, Kurt rests his cheek against Blaine's curls, and they fall into a comfortable silence. They can't see out the windows with the drapes pulled shut, but they can imagine the world outside, quiet and calm, covered in a blanket of steadily falling snow, the grey cement deceptively clean and bright. Even though they're both dying to sleep, there's a serenity to being awake in the early morning while their kids happily snooze. 

Soon, their home will be filled with singing and laughter: Tracy plunking carols at the upright while Hepburn runs around in circles, singing at the top of his lungs; Kurt and Blaine negotiating the kitchen, cooking a literal feast, flirting as they shuffle between the string beans and the potatoes. Family and friends will drop in throughout the day, bringing presents and desserts, playing with the kids, spoiling them with more love and attention than they could possibly handle. There will be snowball fights and snowman building, then their guests will gather by the fire for their favorite pastime in the universe - who can come up with the most embarrassing (PG-rated) story from Kurt and Blaine's past to traumatize their children with.

Or give their little beans ammo.  

Santana and Sebastian are tied for the record, much to Cooper's dismay.

But in this moment, that is a dream, and time holds its breath in anticipation of it.  

"Hey... Kurt?" Blaine whispers.

"Yes?"

"Do you hear what I hear?" 

Kurt shakes his head. "Are we going to sing now? Can we pick a different carol? That's not one of my favorites."

"It's a question."

"Oh." Kurt lifts his head. Not sure what he's supposed to be listening for, he looks around, eyes bouncing from the tree in the corner, to the stairs leading to the kids' rooms, to the fireplace, a cozy fire popping and snapping inside. "I hear... nothing."

"Exactly." Blaine wraps his arms around Kurt's waist and gives him a squeeze. "Does that count as peace? At least, for now?"

"It does." Kurt smiles. "Now, if we could get it on a regular old Saturday afternoon, that would be a miracle."

[newsiegoil]

Me attempting to avoid all the drama

[psycho-linguist]

finally watched dear evan hansen and it's absolutely amazing. the criticisms about ben platt's appearance are pretty much whatever, he looks a little too old sure but a) it's not that bad and b) i feel like mainly that 'complaint' boils down to him looking "ugly" which not only makes sense for the movie but also is very like... (cue that one essay that goes >everyone is hot but noone is horny<)... that's the point of the movie! He is not weird in a quirky way but actually a fucked up teenager! Why would the character be hot? He is not supposed to be cool or attractive!

Also especially that scene everyone loves to screencap where he is crying is literally him breaking down at the emotional high point of the movie singing a dramatic finale. Like okay, if you need everyone to be hot in your movies and never show any actual emotional outburst that's on you and i also like to watch a superhero movie every now and then. But this is not supposed to be that. Anyway, his vocal performance is off the fucking charts spectacular. That's the reason he deserves to be the lead in this movie. He originated the role, shaped it and won a Tony for it.

I also get that a lot of people simply don't like musicals and that's fine but you don't see me hating on horror films bc they're just not for me. Also i don't get people hating on stuff as a fun social media hobby but whatever.

Great movie, go watch it, it's wonderful (:

[classicliteraturehoe]

tony awards (2017) au where everything is the same expect no nothing is the same