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[0:01] Gordon Cox: Welcome to Stagecraft, Variety's theater podcast, your backstage pass to intimate conversations with stars, creators, and industry leaders on Broadway and beyond. I'm Gordon Cox. On this episode of Stagecraft, I'm talking to the Tony-nominated stars of Parade, Micaela Diamond and Ben Platt. Diamond is the young performer who made her Broadway debut as the youngest of three Chers in The Cher Show, and she's earned her first Tony nomination—for lead actress in a musical—for only her second show on Broadway. For Platt, of course, this is his second time around with the Tonys, having won for Dear Evan Hansen in 2017. He went on to star in TV shows like Netflix's The Politician and films including The People We Hate at the Wedding, as well as the movie version of Dear Evan Hansen.

He and Diamond have found themselves in the awards spotlight for their nuanced work in director Michael Arden's illuminating new production of Parade. A favorite of musical theater aficionados since it premiered in 1998, and now on Broadway in a production nominated for a total of six Tonys, including Best Revival, Parade is a kaleidoscopic look at the trial, imprisonment, and eventual lynching of the Jewish-American man Leo Frank in Georgia in the early 20th century. It's a serious story, anchored by the richly emotional performances of Platt as Leo and Diamond as Leo's loyal and resourceful wife Lucille. Now the two actors are in the virtual studio with me to talk timely themes, Jewish-American visibility, and the advice Platt had for Diamond on keeping sane during the Tony Awards whirlwind. Hi, Micaela and Ben. Thanks for joining me.

[1:43] Micaela Diamond: Thanks for having us.

[1:44] Ben Platt: Yeah. Congratulations on your Tony nominations. How's your, how are you feeling this week?

[1:49] Micaela Diamond: It doesn't get old.

[1:50] Ben Platt: Yeah. It doesn't. Yeah. We, I mean, you know, we, first of all, we feel wonderful together because we still get to come and do the show together every night, which is amazing. And for me personally, you know, I've been privileged to have this rodeo once before and, you know, I just feel really, really lucky to be included again and to get to go through the experience with my fiancée this time is really wonderful. And also to get to be part of a show that is so urgent in terms of like our own upbringing as Jews and also just lovers of musical theater, bringing back a piece that we feel like is super worthy to be recognized for something of that caliber as a couple of people who love musical theater so much. I just think we both feel really honored in terms of the storied kind of Tony name to have that be why we're included. It's really special.

[2:42] Micaela Diamond: Yeah. I feel so similarly. And also just really grateful that Ben has done this before and is such a grounding presence at the theater. And it's really nice to kind of share it with somebody. And you know, in all of my fears, I'm not necessarily alone, or he has gone through them or whatever. And at the end of the day, we love the work so much. And that's what we get to do every night.

[3:04] Gordon Cox: Yeah, it occurred to me that Ben, I feel like you were about the same age that Micaela is now that you were going through all this with Dear Evan Hansen. Did you have any advice for her for the rodeo, as you called it?

[3:16] Ben Platt: Not like hard advice. I mean, I think I just the thing that I've mentioned this to Micaela, but the thing that I really, one of the only things I regret about that time is that because it was so, you know, overwhelming, and when something like that happens, no matter what age you are, particularly when you're, you know, 23, it's like, it can be very blinding, and you get very caught up in lots of elements of it, you know, good and bad. And I just generally as a person struggle with being present and not worrying about what's already happened or what's about to happen, but just being in the moment that I'm in. And I wish that through that craziness, I'd have been a little bit more like that. And I feel so privileged that I have my partner with me to keep me very present this time around.

And so, and Micaela has a wonderful partner, too. But we're also each other's kind of other partners. And so I just try to make sure that she's taking in what's happening, because it's a lot and it's a lot of wonderful things all the time, at once. And so anything I can do to just keep her where she is, is all I can do.

[4:36] Gordon Cox: It's great advice. What was that first performance like the night of the Tony nominations?

[4:44] Micaela Diamond: I had a kind of emotional experience. I like cried during all the ways to time and bows and I think I just, I say this to Ben all the time, but I'm like, I just will never take you for granted. I just think sometimes I forget that I'm just how wildly talented he is and that we get to play on stage together all the time. So I think it was just a reminder that people are being moved by this piece that we kind of put our hearts into every night. And for me, I'm so fulfilled by bows every night. Like I, I think so much of our story is dark and tragic. And hopefully we leave you with a little bit of hope. And I think that for me, that's part of coming back into my own life and moving on with my night is like being able to really receive the audience's thanks for our performance.

And so for me, that was just a highlight of the week was coming back and remembering that perhaps, yes, Tony nominators voted for us, but also we're affecting just humans on the street every day as well.

[6:02] Gordon Cox: Well said. I wonder if we could go back a little bit and talk about what your familiarity with this piece was even before you were involved in what became this production. You know, it's a show that's been around for 25 years, and it has become a favorite among a lot of musical theater lovers. And I wonder if you could just tell me a little bit about, you know, were you also a lover of it? And like, when and how did you first discover it?

[6:26] Micaela Diamond: I love always loved Jason Robert Brown. I mean, I've loved musical theater in general since I was a kid, my family all loves musical theater. And certainly in the car growing up, we were always listening to musicals. And Jason Robert Brown was very much in rotation as like a classic composer, and just someone to really just whose work has a lot of depth and is really worth investigation the way that like someone like Sondheim's is. And I think, and particularly as a Jewish family, also, we loved a lot of his work. He writes really well for Jewish characters, and particularly with Parade. And I think This Is Not Over Yet is the first song that I as a young person knew about, I didn't know necessarily the scope of the story.

But I just heard that song, which is, of course, one of the only very, very hopeful, joyful songs in the show. And so I maybe had a bit of a skewed impression of what it was, but I knew that I loved that song. And then when I was in high school, the production from the Don Marmore House in London came to the Mark Taper in LA where I grew up, and I went and saw it. So I got to see the whole piece, a lot of the changes from which in terms of the content remain in our version. And I just remember being really haunted and fascinated and then researching it online and very quickly adding Leo Frank to the list of dream roles in my mind and I always hoped that it would get another moment with or without me because it's such a great, fantastic piece.

And then when Michael brought it up, it was like, you know, one of the great reinvigorators, reimaginers of musical theater, in my opinion, of our generation is Michael. So as soon as I knew he'd be the one conceptually behind it, it was like, please, please let me be part of it.

[8:02] Gordon Cox: Yeah, this is the director Michael Arden, who directed Once on this Island and other revivals. Micaela, when did you first come across Parade?

[8:13] Micaela Diamond: I also fell in love with the score during high school. I didn't, I wasn't ever really able to sing scores like Wicked or Funny Girl or big belty moments. And so I just loved Carolee Carmelo's voice so much. And I remember listening to You Don't Know This Man. And, you know, thinking about maybe singing it for one of our musical theater classes and because I could sing it. And I, I just thought it was such a beautiful score. And I also was a big fan of kind of DVRing Tony's videos. And I can just vividly recall watching the Rosie O'Donnell All the Wasted Time that Brent and Carolee did and, and being like, gosh, this is so, um, so beautiful, like something about the score and these characters coming together, all of a sudden created a story I wanted to see the whole of.

And so I just, you know, I can like, I can watch that whole video in my mind at this moment. It's so ingrained in me, to the point where I had to really kind of take out Carolee and my performance at the beginning because I, she was in my ear so much. But yeah, that's how I first discovered it. And then when they asked me to do the reading, I was like, God damn, I felt a little impostery and also just young. I had no idea that these real people were, you know, Leo and Lucille were early 20s people married so young back then. And it kind of gives this whole story even more tragedy and depth to it because they were, you know, in love and trying to figure out who they were when all this trauma happened to them, um, kind of as, as we are in our lives too. So it was a, it was actually, um, a beautiful that I ended up being kind of naive at the beginning of this process in a way.

[10:17] Gordon Cox: Yeah. And so this was a reading that was affiliated with the Roundabout, uh, back, back then this was in 2018. And what did you learn about the piece doing it, doing it, uh, even for that limited time, what did you learn about your roles in the piece?

[10:27] Ben Platt: I, I feel like, first of all, it just reminded me what an unbelievable score it is. It's like, you, you know, as a musical theater nerd, you have to know what a jam it is. And you hear, you don't know this man, as Micaela said, at all kinds of showcases and auditions, and you hear this is not over yet, occasionally all the way it's the time if someone needs a duet, but to hear the whole thing and the way it's composed through and the way that every character and type of character has a theme and a journey and the lyrics are subtextual. And it's like, it's like the best of the best in terms of what you look for as an actor in a score. So it was just a great reminder of that. And then for me personally, the character, I think it, it, well, it just gave me obviously a more intimate look into what it would be like to, to, to sustain repeatedly playing the role and what that journey might look like.

And also it just showed me the challenge in a great way of how much is left up to the actor in terms of filling in the blanks for Leo, because he much, it may be sort of like a little bit non-traditionally in terms of like, quote unquote, a hero of a story. He, he is a little impressionistic. And also there are moments where you don't get to hear his point of view on, on a given event, like at Mary's funeral or when, when his name is going everywhere in the press, or, you know, when, when, when his wife is out there fighting for his freedom, you know, he's, he's literally locked up for a lot of the show. And so I think it really highlighted for me, you know, where are the places where I'm going to have to really pack a punch and find the, as much texture and kind of, you know, three dimensionality and color as possible.

[11:59] Micaela Diamond: I think that the moments that can really count that exist, and that's part of the reason I think it's so beautifully written is that for both characters, Leo and Lucille, there's nothing extraneous. Like there are no moments for either of them apart or together that are not entirely necessary for their arcs and for them as characters. So you're making, you're biting into every last bit that there is in a really great way. It keeps it interesting.

[12:25] Ben Platt: Yeah. Really well said.

[12:28] Micaela Diamond: I think that, um, I think role wise, I was just reminded of the beauty of the love story being the backdrop of it all. Um, like obviously the plot is so heavy in a way, and yet I wasn't feeling heavy after rehearsal. Like there's so much fight. There's so much love in, especially in the back half of the show. Um, and to be able to play those scenes in that order felt so fulfilling, relieving. Um, and so I, I just found myself like falling in love with the craft of acting again. Like I was like, these scenes are so well-written. Like I was like, all of a sudden I was like, you know, analyzing them the same way I did, like, you know, South Pacific, like it was such a joy to kind of sit with the material.

Um, because, you know, I think Lucille in particular, like really struggles to see her husband, her husband's differences from her and, um, and like where she fits in this whole trial. Um, and then once she realizes it's like gangbusters to the end. Um, so I don't know. I think it was just a, Michael was really kind of patient with us in a 29 hour reading. You kind of only have time to learn the music and like figure out when you stand and such, but there was such care around the material in a way that kind of felt ahead of its time. And, um, uh, and I, yeah, I think like what I remember most is like doing that final presentation and like my mom in the front row, like sobbing and, and Ben's best friend being like, this should go somewhere.

Like, I don't know. There was just something about the energy of the room that was like, how has this piece not been revived in 20 years? Like there's, it's so impactful and has such different styles of music. It's like literally all you could want from a musical, in my opinion.

[14:41] Gordon Cox: I'll have more with Micaela and Ben right after the break. And now here's more with the Tony-nominated actors, Micaela Diamond and Ben Platt.

[14:52] Gordon Cox: A number of very eventful years past then, uh, between that, that initial workshop, uh, the, then the Encore's production, which was sort of the Genesis for the Broadway production. How do you feel like how you grew as people and actors, uh, has played into the, uh, how you grew as people and actors, uh, has played into the way you're playing this role now?

[15:19] Ben Platt: I feel like for me, I, um, I like, I don't think I would have been able to do it before I had a little more life moments. Um, I like fell in love and then had to fall out of love and, you know, I've just like lived kind of, um, like the early twenties of life. Um, I think too that part of, um, reinventing a piece is to figure out like why you're doing it. And the pandemic brought up so many questions about, um, kind of the unheard voices. And I think in Parade in particular, in 1913, perhaps in 1998, that version, I don't know if, you know, the black voices in Parade were celebrated as much as they are in our production. I think Michael took so much care in figuring out, um, their arc and their story within this piece, how it can be shown without even words and just blocking in some ways.

Um, and I think that was important to kind of figure out before mounting it again. Um, so I think Michael's kind of reinvention and also just my lived life experience over the past few years and like figuring out how to love myself first and, you know, the boring shit.

[16:48] Micaela Diamond: Um, I, I think, yeah, obviously I second everything that Michaela said conceptually about the show. I think personally, you know, a couple of things, I think in terms of my, as a Jew doing this piece, I think I've over the last few years have learned a lot about, and then even more so learned in doing it just about like embracing your, the undeniability of your identity as a Jew and, and the different forms that that can take and how they can all be very valid and, and not shying away from a piece because of its Judaism, but rather embracing it and being, you know, appreciative of the depth that that offers and not having to feel any guilt about my lack of observance or complicated feelings about, you know, elements of the religion, you know, whatever, and just really letting my own identity be enough as a Jew.

I think that I'm in a much clearer place about the grayness of that now than I was then. And secondly, I think, you know, just as a person, the last experience I had in theater was obviously Dear Evan Hansen, and it was a very wonderful and rewarding experience, but doing something that is so emotionally difficult certainly took a toll and took a long time to come back from, I think, to, to sort of going to that mental space every night, and then kind of revisiting that for the film and sort of going back down that rabbit hole. And the combination of those two things really, really made me feel averse to going into any material that had that kind of challenging either sadness or, or, or tragedy or oppression, I think, you know, things of that nature.

And I think because of the pandemic, there is such a new appreciation for art in general, of course, but art like that, especially and how there's no replacement for a piece of live theater to, to affect change and to change people's hearts and minds, especially when it comes to pieces that deal with those kinds of things. And so I think rather than feeling afraid of going back into that space for this and dealing with such a difficult story and being someone who has to be, you know, killed every night, I think it, it, I was excited and felt lucky to get to dive back into that kind of a world because I felt like I I'd had the opportunity to miss it and learn to appreciate it. And of course, this time I get to have a really wonderful partner in crime to, to like share that whole burden with. And that's really nice as well.

[19:04] Micaela Diamond: Did you both find yourselves eager to do it, not just in the Encores run, but in a more long-term, you know, kind of a longer term run, like the one you have now, was it something that you both found yourself interested in living with to living with longer than you had the opportunity to with Encores?

[19:22] Ben Platt: Yeah. I mean, I, I wasn't, I was, I would say like on the edge when it came to City Center for the reasons I was just saying in terms of the subject matter. But then as soon as I got back in the room with Michael and with the, with the company and most of all with Michaela and started doing it, I was like, we could probably do this together for a while.

[19:41] Micaela Diamond: Yeah. We find that we find the hope and love in it. And we kind of end in that place in a way too, which is kind of nice and relieving. And I think that Michael really created a, a really safe space for us to, to like feel the things that we need to feel and be honest with each other about them. I mean there were times when we would start rehearsals and just talk for an hour and a half just like about the show or not about the show or feelings that are coming up outside of the show because of the show. I mean, there was so many beautiful moments of sharing. And I think the more kind of vulnerability that was brought into the space, the more we were able to tell the story and it was actually easier.

[20:34] Gordon Cox: You've both sort of alluded to this a little bit already, but I wonder if you could just tell me a little bit about what you feel is particularly timely about Parade and its themes. It is hitting now in a way that, you know, it hit in a different way in 1998 or in 2007 with the Donmar production. What feels particularly vital about hearing this story right now?

[20:56] Ben Platt: You know, we're, we're Jews and in case we didn't mention, you know, I think anti-Semitism is never not relevant, particularly when you're a Jewish person, but I think that there is a definite kind of shadows lifting kind of a feeling happening of late in terms of like, it's really not only on an uprise in a literal sense where the, you know, acts of anti-Semitism and the rhetoric is coming back around as it always does. But the public nature of that is, is pretty unprecedented. And so I think, you know, there's been a handful of events and just kind of a moment in general that have made it feel like something really to be looked at and discussed in a way where people are really ready to hear and receive it.

And I think, as you said, we're really feeling in our audiences in a way that we gather, wasn't necessarily the case in 98, such a willingness and openness to hear that story and to hear about that very American conversation. You know, I think what sets this apart is that it's really about American anti-Semitism and how insidious that is. And obviously there are lots of wonderful, beautiful stories like Leopoldstadt and, you know, the Diary of Anne Frank and so many important pieces about European Jewry and anti-Semitism and sort of the Holocaust. And I think it's rare to get a story that really centers particularly the way that that has gone down in America and in the South. And so I think it's really meeting that moment particularly well.

And the magical thing about Michael Arden, as we sort of said, is that even if that weren't the case, you know, the whole reason for a revival and for a great revival is to reinvigorate and reconceive and reimagine. And so he has done that in a way that's artistically so valuable on its own. But on top of that is really getting that particular urgent message across in a really specific way to right now.

[22:50] Micaela Diamond: I second all of that. And I think too, that Parade really has so kind of has layered storytelling in which we can frame how anti-Semitism and racism are integrally linked. And I think how white people are incentivized to and rewarded in pitting minorities against each other and using racism as kind of a tool to distract the white majority. And I think that, you know, especially with Lucille, she really has assimilated into the South at the start of this play and feels safe there as a white passing Jew. And then really has to reckon with the fact that, you know, she is not, she is, she is, you know, very much Jewish and her husband will die because of it. And so I think, you know, sometimes I use the Holocaust as an example here, which can get tiring, but I think sometimes people think the Holocaust was, you know, an act of

[24:30] Micaela Diamond: Setting up the show in this place of like, this is about the losers of the Civil War and what they did with their rage. We kind of go from before the show even starts and then we end in a place where you're seeing, you know, teenagers present day in the South, clicking beer bottles together. So we kind of go through all of it and it's like, how does this trauma affect people? Like, you know, there's so many moments in theater that have really monumentally changed the way I thought about these things. We have to be carefully taught as one of them. Like Parade has been one of those pieces for me in which I just think about my own Judaism differently. And yeah, I'm grateful for that, I guess.

[25:21] Micaela Diamond: There was the show, of course, made headlines in its first preview. There was a demonstration by neo-Nazis that I only heard about. Did either of you see evidence of that?

[25:33] Ben Platt: We were at half hour. So we were kind of told right before people started entering the theater. But our choreographers, our whole audience was out there kind of experiencing the demonstration, the hate speech. But it was scary and also incredibly galvanizing to remember why we're doing the piece.

[26:01] Micaela Diamond: Yeah. And go ahead, Ben, please.

[26:03] Ben Platt: No, she said it right. And I would just say that it's like, it was obviously very, you know, a reminder, as she said, about why we're doing this particular piece, but also just the predictability and familiarity of the language of the hateful language in regards to pedophilia and grooming that was being used. We're seeing it once again, you know, with the trans community. It's like such a kind of fallback go-to scapegoating tactic that I think we just all need to really have our antennas up and know, you know, that it's BS, both in regards to this anti-Semitic conversation and in regards to the trans community, whoever's being scapegoated by white supremacists. And it was just, yeah, again, the urgency was loud and clear.

[26:45] Micaela Diamond: Yeah. At the same time, the show feels also very supported by the audience. You know, it was so popular that when it first took its first one on sale, Telecharge broke for a second, like it was a whole thing. So you alluded to this a little bit, Ben, but do you feel that in the audience as well, the people that come into the show?

[27:04] Ben Platt: Absolutely. I mean, I feel so firstly, just fortunate that like I'm having the opportunity to return to the theater at all. And then on top of that, people who are coming to see it, no matter what walk of life they're coming from or the reason that they're walking into the building, it's such a worthy piece to see. So there's just nobody across the board, except for maybe small children who I would say couldn't benefit from seeing this. And I think we expected and we feel the love from the Jewish community and the Jewish theatergoers. And of course, there are certain jokes and Yiddish words and things that get special laughter when there are more Jews in the audience. But for me, the kind of more special and I guess surprising, but just like a nicely surprising thing is how, you know, non-Jews are being affected by the piece and how visceral and affecting it still is for them, even though they're not necessarily specifically the ones being represented.

I think it's a conversation that everybody can find a way to relate to and that is relevant to all of us as Americans. And I just love seeing those Gentiles support and understand and receive just as heartily as the Jews.

[28:22] Micaela Diamond: And I will say, just because Ben is beyond humble, but Ben is also just bringing an entirely new group to the theater this time around, which is kind of monumental in its own way, especially for a story like this. I think it's kind of game-changing. And that's really rewarding to kind of have people who liked his album or have seen his movies or whatever, all of a sudden be galvanized to go to see the theater to probably a piece that they don't know what it's about. And then they come and they're like, okay. But that's kind of the beauty of art is like, we can kind of have our hands in many different pots. And then all of a sudden you're watching a piece that may change your opinion on something.

[29:07] Ben Platt: Over the course of the story, Leo Frank is imprisoned and I spent the intermission on stage. How did that come about and how excited or not excited were you to do that every night?

[29:22] Ben Platt: It was, of course, our director, Michael Arden's concept, as is every choice in the show. And when he initially pitched his idea for the show to me, he had a number of the things that are now in the production already, of course, very clearly envisioned and mapped out the kind of courtroom setting and design and the element of all of us witnessing the story together. And then the projections and the real-life facts and photos. And among those initial conceptual ideas, he said, I also think that you're going to stay on stage for the intermission. I think we need to see you, the reality of you being incarcerated and sort of the inability to disengage with that. And he said, there's something about the comfort and sort of leisure of a proper intermission where the show completely comes to a halt and everybody gets to really fully take themselves out and regroup and come back in.

While there are still plenty of people that mostly just do that, which is a perfectly valid reaction and way to behave. I do think it creates a dialogue with the audience of how willing you are to completely disengage. And it just keeps this kind of looming reality through line so that the story thread is never really fully dropped. And then in terms of the character and my own experience, I think it's a lot about paying homage to Leo the man, because there is a lot of, as we've been discussing, big ideas and symbolism and martyrdom and just lots of big things discussed and lots of things that these characters stand for. But at the end of the day, this was a man and he spent the last two years of his life alone, save for some visits from his wife.

So I think it's the one moment in an otherwise really kinetic and propulsive production where you have an opportunity to just sit very literally with that idea and with that inescapability of that. And I don't necessarily adore doing it every day. I mean, I would love to go and have a little break and pee, but I think it's certainly worth it artistically. I am very much obliged to carry out Michael's vision because I think he's really, really brilliant. So I find my way through it in different ways and I think it's a great component.

[31:42] Micaela Diamond: You're both in Parade for now. Do you know what is coming up next for either of you? Michaela, do you have anything on your plate that we should know about?

[31:50] Micaela Diamond: Um, yes, but not going to tell you.

[31:59] Ben Platt: Stay tuned. Excellent. Excellent. And what about for you, Ben? Anything we need to look out for?

[32:06] Ben Platt: I have my film that I wrote and produced with my partner Noah and our two best friends, Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman. It's called Theater Camp and it comes out July 14th in theaters for Searchlight. Really, really funny. Very different tone than Parade. Really, a really funny sort of Christopher Guestian mockumentary. And I'm working on another solo record and the Merrily We Roll Along film is always, always in process. And that's it for now.

[32:34] Micaela Diamond: And speaking of Theater Camp, you both went to the same theater program. Is that right? Did I hear that right?

[32:41] Ben Platt: It's this place called Kids Theater in New York. And I was very young when I did it and kind of just missed Ben as he did Les Mis there right before his life kind of blew up doing Dear Evan Hansen. And I know I did many, many shows there throughout my whole kind of formative years and childhood. But we both kind of have mutual friends from that experience and adore them.

[33:05] Micaela Diamond: Right. But you, the first time you met was in that reading, was that first reading of Parade. Is that right?

[33:13] Ben Platt: Yeah. Yeah.

[33:20] Micaela Diamond: What are you both most looking forward to on Tony night?

[33:23] Ben Platt: Whoa. You.

[33:30] Micaela Diamond: I mean, my mom's my date. I can't wait to like hold hands with her the whole night. I think that that's such a, I'm so grateful that it's happening in her lifetime. And it's kind of always been us against the world. I have a single mom and I'm an only child. So I'm grateful to be able to share that experience with someone who's kind of hustled for me her entire life. So that will be really fun. And I think also just to celebrate with Ben and to know that we're kind of in it together, you know, as we, as Ben said, we both have partners and adore each other and kind of hang out even on Mondays sometimes. So it's good. We're excited.

[34:05] Ben Platt: Yeah. I'm very excited to have this, this time to have the opportunity, of course, to share with Michaela, but also to share with my fiancé, Noah, and to go together. You know, I grew up watching the Tonys obviously religiously and dreamed of being on them. And some of the first like really important queer representation I ever saw was on the Tonys and particularly in very specifically when nominees would be shown and they would be a lot of nominees with their partners and they would show affection to each other. And you know, that's a small thing. It's a small moment, but it stuck with me so very much. And so to get to be that representation with Noah, who I love in that moment is kind of worth the whole thing, whatever goes down. So I'm most excited for that and to hopefully TBD perform something and that's it.

[34:57] Gordon Cox: Well, congratulations again to you both. And we will see you at the ceremony in June. Thank you both. Thanks for being here with me.

[35:04] Micaela Diamond: Thank you.

[35:05] Ben Platt: Bye. Thank you.

[35:10] Gordon Cox: That was Micaela Diamond and Ben Platt, both nominated for Tony Awards for their starring roles in Parade, now on Broadway at the Jacobs Theatre. If you enjoyed this conversation and others we've had here on Stagecraft, I'd be so grateful if you took the time to rate and review us wherever you listen to podcasts. It really helps. Or tell a friend about Stagecraft. Find past episodes and subscribe at all the places you get your pods, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and on the Broadway Podcast Network, a great place to find more theater for your ears. Until next episode, find me on Twitter at gcoxvariety. Thanks for listening and see you at the theater.