PARADE: BEN PLATT TURNS PROVOCATIVE MUSICAL INTO SUREFIRE HIT
9 / 10
Ben Platt remains the raison d’être of the production; if the Broadway transfer was predicated on the hunch that the former Evan Hansen would prove a ticket-selling draw, the sales thus far seem to bear this out. Platt — in adult shoes, as it were — proves himself an adept musical theater (and dramatic) actor. Relative newcomer Micaela Diamond was the welcome surprise at City Center; the 23-year-old handily carried the difficult and somewhat treacherous role of Lucile Frank, the passive wife who — when hope is lost in the second act — grabs the narrative and, thanks to composer Brown, the stage. If Diamond was an instant success last November, the intervening months have given her time to add assurance to talent and bring out heretofore hidden facets of the role of Lucile. She is very good indeed. Brown, along with his co-orchestrator, the late Don Sebesky, well understand the massive power of two people singing out at the top of their lungs over crashing cymbals. Platt and Diamond do precisely this, in “This Is Not Over Yet,” and the power crackles throughout the house.
