“Mother.”
That’s the one word caption shared by Ben Platt on Instagram just moments after Gwyneth Paltrow made a surprise appearance Thursday night during his Ahmanson Theatre residency. The Politician co-stars and good friends shared the stage for a warm and well-received rendition of “Dimming of the Day.”
The showing by Paltrow, who has sung on stages and screens (in Glee, Country Strong, etc.) many times before, comes during a busy and high-profile spell for the goop founder who is just about to return to the big-screen in a big way opposite Timothée Chalamet in Josh Safdie’s A24 film Marty Supreme. And she’s just the latest in a line of surprise performers to grace the stage with Platt as part of his holiday concert series, following Josh Groban, Demi Lovato, Khalid, Coco Jones and Amber Riley.
But Paltrow wasn’t the only special guest last night as Zoey Deutch also turned up for a special collaboration on a classic Stephen Sondheim song from the musical Assassins, “Unworthy of Your Love.”
Ben Platt: Live at the Ahmanson runs Dec. 12-21, and finds him sharing the stage with guests while performing his greatest hits and “timeless Broadway favorites.” The Los Angeles native kicked it off last Friday in front of a sold-out crowd that welcomed him back with a handful of standing ovations. The Hollywood Reporter was in the audience on opening night.
“It’s so nice to be here for many reasons,” the Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award-winning performer said that evening. “The first is that I haven’t had a concert of my own in a year and a half, and I’ve been really so desperate and hungry to get on stage. So, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to do that. It feels so nice.”
Another reason, he explained, is that his Ahmanson run marks a return to a stage he knows well.
“When I was a wee child — I grew up here in L.A. and was born in Los Angeles; I’m sorry that I deserted to New York, but I have a place here so it still counts — and when I was a kid and first getting into the business, two of my very first gigs were right here on this very stage,” Platt said. “When I was, I think, 10 years old, I was in a musical called Caroline, or Change, which is a beautiful show where I played kind of an effeminate, sad child. Then I did a play called Dead End a few years later, when I was 14, where I played an effeminate sad child. And now I’m an effeminate, medium sad adult, so I’m so thrilled to come back full circle. Thank you to Center Theater Group and the Ahmanson for letting me come back home.”
Platt during his concert at Center Theater Group’s Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles on Dec. 12, 2025.
Credit: Makela Yepez/Courtesy of CTG
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