Ben Platt and his Broadway friends throw virtual dance party to ease anxiety during coronavirus pandemic
The trio danced to hits from Beyonce, Britney Spears and more.
As many people across the United States hunker down in their homes because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, Ben Platt is trying to ease everyone's anxiety.
The Tony award-winning actor and singer put on a virtual dance party Tuesday with his friends and fellow Broadway performers Kathryn Gallagher and Noah Galvin, and more than 6,000 people tuned in.
The trio danced through some of their favorite hits and encouraged their fans to donate to the NYC Food Bank and the Actors Fund.
Platt appeared on “Good Morning America” via FaceTime Wednesday to reveal what inspired the party.
"We, like everybody, are feeling a little bit anxious, a little stir crazy," he said.
"For me personally, and for Kathryn and for Noah, dancing things out and shaking out the anxiety is something we really love to do as friends," he continued. "So we figured that would be a great to involve people and give them a visual component and a musical component because music is such a healing thing -- and most importantly, get everybody moving!"
Some of the tunes featured in their virtual dance party playlist included Beyonce’s “Love on Top,” Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own,” Britney Spears’ “Lucky,” Ariana Grande’s "Breathin” and more.
"I think the best distraction is to get your body working because there's a lot of couch sitting happening, which is great too, but we just wanted to include everybody in the dance party we were already happening," Platt explained.
The performers even had a dress rehearsal during the day to practice some choreography for their live debut.
"We just wanted to open it up to anyone out there who could connect with it, and I think since everyone's home right now that audience is pretty large," he said. "I was just so happy that so many young people wanted to get on board."
Platt plans to continue delighting fans with his talents as people are told or strongly encouraged to self-quarantine.
"I am definitely hoping to sing some covers on social media," he said. "I'm going to find a way to structure it so I can take some requests and maybe do a couple a week, so definitely stay tuned for some singing because music is the best way to make it through all this."