Ben Platt’s opening monologue as a guest host for Jimmy Kimmel Live! was a loving (and silly) tribute to all things Broadway: theatre kids, audience members, the COVID-19 shutdown, his spit landing on fans, and more. Check it out above.
The Tony, Emmy, and Grammy winner waxed on how important musical theatre is to kids. After all, he did quote Alice Ripley’s “musical theatre is a fine art!” speech from the 2009 Tony Awards in his high school yearbook.
“I love doing film and TV, but I so painfully miss live theatre. There is no substitute for pouring your heart out to the point of exhaustion while an 80-year old woman unwraps a Werther’s Original for 12 minutes,” Platt joked.
The actor also talked about what theatre might look like in the future with musicals like Don’t Kiss Me, Kate; No Company; and Covita.
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