Laura Benanti: Finding the Humanity on Broadway & Beyond

The Art of Kindness with Robert Peterpaul

Tony Award-winner Laura Benanti joins The Art of Kindness with Robert Peterpaul to discuss the challenges of vulnerability in today's world, acts of kindness from Jennifer Lawrence on the set of No Hard Feelings, giving yourself grace as an artist and much more.

Celebrated stage and screen actress Laura Benanti burst onto the scene at 18-years-old with a captivating performance as Maria in "The Sound of Music," on Broadway. Her talent was undeniable, setting the stage for a remarkable career. About a year after do-re-mi-ing... she earned a Tony Award nomination for her role in Swing! on Broadway. From there flowed a cascade of phenomenal performances and glittering awards, racking up 5 Tony noms total. She notably won the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Tony Award in 2008 for a revelatory portrayal of Gypsy Rose Lee opposite Patti LuPone's Mama Rose in Stephen Sondheim's Gypsy. Other Broadway highlights include: her acclaimed starring role in of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown; originating the role of Julia in The Wedding Singer, starring opposite Antonio Banderas in Nine, and her acclaimed performance of Cinderella in Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. Most recently the star lit up Broadway in She Loves Me, My Fair Lady and Meteor Shower, which also starred her future TV collaborator Amy Schumer.

Laura recently worked with Schumer onscreen in Hulu's Life & Beth... which brings us to her illustrious career on screen. I simply don't have time to name everything, but I'm gonna run by a bunch - let me just take a breath. *Inhale.* Ok... Laura’s past television credits include staple shows like Law and Order: SVU, Royal Pains, The Big C, Nashville, and Elementary. She's had arcs on series like Supergirl, The Good Wife and Nurse Jackie. You may recognize her as Quinn on TV Land's hit show Younger and for her role in HBO Max's Gossip Girl reboot. Or perhaps she's Melania to you, thanks to Late Night with Stephen Colbert.

On the film front, Laura's appeared in movies like Worth and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s tick, tick... BOOM! on Netflix. She starred opposite Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish in the comedy Here Today. She also created and executive produced Homeschool Musical: Class of 2020 for HBO Max... or I guess MAX now? Which has such a beautiful origin story that we discuss. We also discuss Laura's latest movie No Hard Feelings, where she stars opposite the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Feldman and Matthew Broderick.

I mean from countless additional regional theatre credits to touring prestigious venues around the country with her concerts, Laura's resume is truly longer than a CVS receipt.

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Music:

"Awake" by Ricky Alvarez & "Sunshine" by Lemon Music Studio.

We are supported by the Broadway Podcast Network.

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