The first thing Ben Platt did when he finished starring in the Broadway smash Dear Evan Hansen in late 2017 was go to karaoke and blast out impossible-to-sing songs after years of being very careful with his voice and ordering crap food from Postmates. And then, well rested, on Tuesday night (April 2), he hit up The Late Late Show to double-dip with a solo performance from his recently released debut album, Sing To Me Instead and a trip through a “Soundtrack to a Bromance” with host James Corden.
The dizzying bit chronicling the pair’s friendship from childhood until old age zipped through a dozen songs on nine sets in one take, opening with the two meeting at a bun bench to the strains of a duet on The White Stripes’ “We’re Going to Be Friends,” which segued into Corden cheating off Platt in a classroom to the Beach Boys’ “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and Fun’s “We Are Young.”
As the two moved through the years to high school they, of course, sang Vitamin C’s iconic “Friends Forever” at graduation, and, while crushing brews and gazing at the stars, Queen’s “You’re My Best Friend.” Life just kept rolling on, through work (“9 to 5”), nights out (“Shots,” “All By Myself,” “So What”), getting older and drifting apart (Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week,” Adele’s “Hello”) and a big Beatles finish “With a Little Help From My Friends.”
Platt returned later in the show to perform the emotional single “Older,” which features the affecting refrain, “When you are younger, you wish you’re older/ Then when you’re older, you wish for time to turn around.”
Watch “Bromance” and “Older” below.
