Ben Platt Kicks Off His 10-Show L.A. Residency With Surprise Guests, Incredible Vocals, & a Perfect Setlist

Tony, Grammy, and Emmy winner Ben Platt has taken over Los Angeles’ Ahmanson Theatre for the holiday season and his residency is a must-see show.

The 32-year-old singer/actor previously performed for two weeks at the Palace Theatre on Broadway and he has brought the show to his hometown, complete with a roster of surprise guests just like in New York.

Ben is best known for his work in the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen and he doesn’t shy from his musical theatre roots for his new residency. After opening up about the years-long process of bringing that musical to life, Ben told the audience how he has decided to retire the songs he performed in the show due to the emotional toll they took on him. Instead, he sang an incredible rendition of the song “Requiem,” which is usually performed by the characters Zoe, Cynthia, and Larry.

Other Broadway songs he performed included “Corner of the Sky” from Pippin, “Maybe This Time” from Cabaret, and “The Winner Takes It All” from Mamma Mia.

Ben also gave fans a taste of his original music, singing songs from all three of his original albums – Sing to Me Instead, Reverie, and Honeycomb.

Fans of the Netflix series The Politician were certainly delighted when Ben performed his two hit covers from that show – “River” by Joni Mitchell and “Vienna” by Billy Joel. He also covered Addison Rae‘s viral pop hit “Diet Pepsi” after his own performance at the Las Culturistas Awards went viral earlier this year.

And don’t forget the surprise guests!

Keep reading to find out more…

Ben has promised that surprise guests will be featured at all 10 shows of the residency.

On night one, Ben brought out Josh Groban to sing a cover of “What I Did For Love” from the musical A Chorus Line.

Night two got two special guests – Khalid performing a duet of Ben‘s song “Grow As We Go” and Glee‘s Amber Riley joining him for “This Christmas.”

You have eight more chances to catch Ben‘s show, now through December 21. Get tickets!

SET LIST
1. “Corner of the Sky” from Pippin
2. “Rain” from Ben’s Sing to Me Instead album
3. “The Boy Next Door” from Meet Me In St. Louis
4. “Andrew” from Ben’s Honeycomb album
5. “I Wanna Love You, But I Don’t” from Ben’s Reverie album
6. “Requiem” from Dear Evan Hansen
7. “You and I” by Lady Gaga
8. “Ease My Mind” from Ben’s Sing to Me Instead album
9. “Share Your Address” from Ben’s Sing to Me Instead album
10. “Grow As We Go” from Ben’s Sing to Me Instead album
11. “River” by Joni Mitchell
12. “Vienna” by Billy Joel
13. SURPRISE SONG
14. “The Winner Takes It All” from Mamma Mia
15. “Diet Pepsi” by Addison Rae
16. “Maybe This Time” from Cabaret
17. “Before I Knew You” from Ben’s Honeycomb album
18. “My Man” from Funny Girl
19. ENCORE: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz

Watch video clips of the surprise performances below.