Red Talk With a Real Star

As its website says, graduates of The Adderley School for the Performing Arts have won Tony Awards, starred in blockbuster movies, appeared as Young Cosette on Broadway, and Winthrop in The Music Man with Kristin Chenoweth at The Hollywood Bowl. They have performed for Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey and have toured with Andrea Bocelli, including an appearance at Madison Square Garden. Now, Ben Platt, the school’s biggest success story in its 25-year-plus history, is returning yet again, Zooming in to help the academy raise funds to cope with the coronavirus crisis.

Platt studied at Adderley from ages 6-16, during which he began his professional career in theater by appearing in The Music Man and Auntie Mame at the Hollywood Bowl, as well as on the Broadway tour of Caroline, or Change. He played Benji in the Pitch Perfect movie franchise, starred as Elder Cunningham in The Book of Mormon, and as the title character in Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway, winning the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for the latter. Platt co-starred in Lin Manuel Miranda‘s Hamildrops mashup “Found/Tonight” in 2018, and released his debut album as a recording artist, Sing to Me Instead, last year, when he also starred in the Netflix comedy-drama series The Politician, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

Platt will discuss his experiences at Adderley and beyond in a conversation with actor-comedian James Corden, the host of The Late Late Show on CBS, at 6 pm on Sunday, August 23, to close out Adderley’s summer-long Red Star series. Tickets cost $20 for the event, $50 including an autographed photo, or $100 for the event, picture and a VIP pre-show reception with Platt and Corden, the opportunity to ask a pre-submitted question, and admittance to an exclusive silent auction of Platt-autographed memorabilia. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Adderley Foundation to underwrite tuition for underserved kids. Visit www.theadderleyschool.org for details, ticket link, and information on the upcoming fall semester.