BACKSTAGE - Laura Benanti on Her Upcoming Concerts & More

Welcome to Backstage with Richard Ridge, where I sit with some of the theater's best and brightest, just chatting it up

This time I'm at 54 Below, where my guest is getting ready to open her new nightclub act, which will run from May 20th through the 25th

Please welcome one of Broadway's favorite leading ladies and one of the sweetest. Tony Award winner, Ms. Laura Vodonti

Thank you. How are you? I'm good. How are you? You're so busy. Oh, yes

But it's good. It's good to be busy. Well, you look stunning. Thank you very much. Welcome home

Thank you. So how did this all come about? We're here at 54 Below. Well, you know, Richard Frankel, who runs 54 below, he's been like my very godfather, so to speak

He gave me my first job ever, which was the Sound of Music on Broadway when I was 18 years old

And he has just always looked out for me. You know, I left NYU in order to do Sound of Music, and he promised my mother

He called her on the phone, and he promised her that he would always keep me working so that I wouldn't regret having not gone to school

So this is him keeping good on his promise. I love it. So tell me about the new show

What can we expect? Well, it's called in desperate search of the right kind of attention

Love the title. Because I kind of feel like anybody doing a one-person show is like, please pay attention to me

I feel like that's what they should all just be called. Please pay attention to me. Todd Allmond is the music director, and he's doing the arrangements

And I like for people to feel like they're coming into my living room, and I'm just singing to them

It feels very relaxed. I talk to the audience. It doesn't feel stuffy at all

It's classic music theater stuff as well as songs that Todd wrote and songs that I wrote

and some pop stuff, some Joni Mitchell stuff. And then we're doing simple joys of Maidenhood as if it were written by Joni Mitchell

So we're doing interesting eclectic arrangements of pop songs and folk songs and musical theater songs

So you write songs too and play the guitar? I mean, I used to play the guitar, but then I had the whole crazy neck thing

so that's a little bit hard for me to hold down the frets now. but yeah, I used to write songs more

But actually, the song that I'm singing that I wrote, one I play on the ukulele

and the other one I wrote when I was 11, so called New Mexico

So we're going to be doing those two songs. Great. Let's talk about the intimate space

Do you like playing cabaret? I do. I like it so much. It's my favorite thing to do

It's my favorite thing that I do, yeah, because you get to be yourself outside of the realm of whatever character

you tend to play or what people might perceive of who you are as a person

it's an opportunity to be in a really intimate space with people who share the love of live theater

which has been my obsession since I was a little girl. So, and I feel like a lot of my audience are younger people

so I like to sort of bring them into what feels like an old world sort of way of performing

the sort of cabaret, one-person show style, can feel, I think, a little archaic to young people

So I like when they're here for them to see that it can be fresh and interesting

So what do you love about this room? This room is so beautiful. Well, it has so much history

And it's just, it feels like an old speakeasy or something, you know

It feels like there should just be smoke and like I look at its jail. It should be walking bad

It's very, very beautiful. I just, I love it. And I love the intimacy of it

I love that you have those folks back there in the booth and then these guys all crammed in here

just like, hey, what are you doing? I'm not going to wear a skirt for these folks

Pants. Yeah. A pants suit. A sensible pants suit. Well, I want to go back to TV

You're so busy on television. So you just wrapped the season of Go On, right

How much fun is it doing that show? It's a lot of fun. It is a lot of fun

Matthew Perry leads an incredible ensemble of wacky weirdos. Julie White, Tony Award winner, Julie White being one of them

And we just have such a good time. We really all genuinely love each other. There is, you know, right now we're all in a massive, like, mass text

wondering whether we're going to get picked up or not. So there's been a lot of, like, emotional eating and texting each other

So we should know that this week if we get picked up for a second season

But it's so fun. It's a delight to be with those people. And talk about the role you play

I feel like my character has evolved significantly. I feel like in the beginning, as with any series

there was a little tentative footing with her. Like, how serious should be, she be, how good

her job should she be? What is their romantic entanglement going to be? And I feel like over the course

of the 22 episodes, they really found her niche, which was like that she's as neurotic as the rest of

them. She doesn't have her stuff together anymore than they do. But she's trying. And her heart

is really in the right place. I feel like she is good at her job, despite the fact that she doesn't

really have any significant tools. But she's naturally empathetic and she's a good person. And I think

they found some really funny ways to to see her struggle and also her sort of competitiveness has come out

which I think is always funny to see a person who's like a Zend out

teacher being like Uber competitive and like gambling with a cigar so I'm you know if it gets picked up for a second season

I'm excited to see what they do with her because you know she for an I don't know if this is a spoiler alert

if nobody watches it or whatever but so she broke up with her fiance so now she's like

a single lady so we'll see what happened You were on one of my favorite guilty pleasure television shows, the Playboy Club

Oh, yes. Was it fun? Was it fun? Yes, it was so fun

It was so fun. And one of my closest friends in the world, Chad Hodge, wrote it

We met doing that show, and we became, he's my lavender husband. I'm his lavender wife

Did you love the time period? Yes. It took place in and kind of closed. You got to sing on the show

Yes, I loved everything about it. I miss it every day. It was so much fun

It's everything that I love to do wrapped into one. You know, singing, dancing, being like a little bit bad

I like the fact that nobody knew if she was good or bad. I don't think she knew either

And I love the time period. I love the clothes. I love those costumes. I love that cast

It was a really nice cast, a really good group of people. So, yeah, I miss it a lot

It didn't get a fair shake. Your Broadway debut, which, of course, was the Sound of Music

That changed everything for you, didn't it? It did. It really did. I mean, I was 18 years old

I was the understudy for Rebecca Luker, and she went on vacation for two weeks

and I took her for her in those two weeks, and then when she decided to leave

I auditioned again for it, and they let a 19-year-old kid play Maria on Broadway

in the San Amisa opposite Richard Chamberlain. It was crazy. It changed my life forever in a wonderful way

And it was my childhood dream, you know, to achieve my childhood dream that quickly

I was still sort of a child. It was pretty remarkable. I have a lot of gratitude for it

especially in retrospect. I feel like it was all happening so quickly that I don't know if I had the presence of mind to be as grateful as I could have been about it

And now I just I know that that is not how that happens for most people Because it must have been magical to play Maria in The Sound of Music Yes Or Rodgerson musical Yeah And my idol Julie Andrews you know I watched her play that role all the time multiple times a year on you know on video

So that was when we had videotapes, kids. Yeah. You worked with so many amazing people throughout your career

Yeah. What was it like working with Stephen Sondheim and James Epine on Into the Woods

It was amazing. It was incredible. I was nervous every single day because I have

I'm obsessed with Steven Sondheim. Like, by the time I was 11, I could sing the entire score of follies

Like every single part. I have an obsessive love. I remember Sky is one of the first songs I learned how to play on the piano and sing when I was like eight years old

So being in the same room with him and having him be like, call me Steve, was so unbelievably surreal

And he has always been so kind and loving and supportive of me

And James, too. You know, James is a really, really smart, smart man

smart director and he knew when to leave me alone and when to get in there and tweak

That was, you know, it was a wonderful experience. I had played that same role. I played Cinderella in Into the Woods when I was 15 years old at the Bar and Theater in Montpel, New Jersey

So I got to play the same role on Broadway six years later and been nominated for Tony

So that was very cool. Do you remember your audition for Sondheim

Yeah, I do. James asked me to play the scene where I'm coming back from the ball as if I was really, really

drunk. And then we ended up putting that in the production because it was so funny in the

rehearsal, or excuse me, in the audition. Because how weird is that, like to go in and say

I have to audition today for Stephen Sontai? It was really, really scary. But I was so brave

when I was young. You know, I was 21 when I auditioned for that. And I just, I don't know

I was so brave. I never went in thinking, oh, you know, I want them to like me. I just, I assumed

that they wanted to like me. And that if I, I was so. I don't know, I was so brave. I was so I was so I, I was so

could just bring in what they wanted, then they'd be like, yay, it's you

Only through time have I sort of developed this fear of auditioning

It's interesting how brave you are when you are a kid. Mother cannot guide you

Now you're on your own. Only me beside you. Still you're not alone

No one is alone. Truly, no one is alone. Sometimes people leave you

halfway through the world. Others may deceive you. You decide what's good

you decide alone but no one is alone I wish I know

That's when your neck thing started Tell me what happened Oh god, it's such a long and horrible story

I'll try to truncate it and make it as short as possible So you know I did do this pratfall where I would run across the back of the stage

And then jump up onto a moving platform of stairs And then throw myself back and land in like a push-up position

and the sort of deterioration of that over time doing that eight times a week for nine months or whatever

really took its toll and I always thought like oh it's my wrist it's my elbow all these other things that I later learned were disc-related

and then one night in particular I just fell in a wonky way and I heard my neck crack and it was horrible but you know I kept trying to do the show

it was it was a mess you know when you're also when you're a kid you just want to please everybody and you don't take care of yourself so I would

like go in and out of the show and then I could do it for a little while and then all of a sudden

it would get so in flame that I couldn't like move my head and then I thought I had a stomach

virus and I went to work and I passed out and the ambulance came but it wasn't the virus it was because

I wasn't like getting enough oxygen to my brain literally and so I had surgery in 2003 for that

and then I was told that I was totally fused and well and healthy but I was still in a lot of pain

but not talking about it because I didn't want to be like the girl with the neck problem. And then in Gypsy, it was really, really bad

And I went to a different doctor with the old MRI and old x-rays from that 2003 surgery

And he was like, you were never fused. You were never better

Really? Yeah. So then I had a second surgery in 2010, which worked

I have a giant gaping scar on the back of my neck. But now I can walk and move and I have, you know, I have definitely

limitation and restriction in my movement, and there's a lot of activities I can't do

but it's a lot better than it was. You know, if I really focus on it too hard, and I think about that from 21 to 30 was

excruciating pain all the time, I get a little pissed. I don't blame you

Yeah, I mean, those are supposed to be like, the best years of my life, and I was like, I just hope I can get out of bed today

So that's a bummer. But I try not to focus on that too much. Yeah, sure, because you went into nine after a surgery, like three

Three weeks after, right? Way too soon. I should never have been allowed to do that

That was not good advice. But you had a great time doing nine, right

I did, I did. Those women rallied around me so hard. Antonio Venderas and Melanie Griffith sent me like four baskets in the hospital because they

did not know what to do. They were so sweet but felt so powerless. They sent me like four baskets of like teddy bears and videos and all sorts of stuff

But Mary Stewart Masterson and Chita Rivera, who, you know, I've idolized since I was a kid

Cheetah Rivera would stand in the wings every single night when Antonio and I would sing unusual way and she would watch and she would put her hand over her heart

And then I would cry because it's so moving. There was nothing like that production. I saw the original which I loved, but I fell madly in love with this all over again

I love that show. I love Mori Estim's music, you know I love David Levo I think he did such a beautiful job directing it and it was just such a remarkable group of women

I mean people always say like what was it like to work with all those women it was a dream we were like massaging each other

every day in rehearsal, Jonathan Butterle was the choreographer, and he had us, like, touching

each other and being close to each other every single day. And it was so moving. Every day

was moving. Yeah. I loved it. It was a great role. Talk about the role. Yeah, Claudia, his

muse, who will always love him but knows that he can never love her in return the way that

would be meaningful to her. I found her so sad and so, I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her

playing her. You know, I like the illusion of how like movie stars and people like that

may seem on the surface, but what's bubbling underneath is often so interesting and had

there so much depth in there because they can only show so much So I really and I also love the Italian part of it obviously Yeah I loved I actually sing Unusual Way It the last song that I sing in this show I sung Unusual Way in almost every show that I done

even though this is a brand new one. It's a song that I relate to so much

And I don't know. I just love singing it, so I kept it in. Yeah, and working with Antonio, like in the rehearsal room

and then on stage what that was like. Incredible. He is the most driven, focused, generous, hardworking individual I've ever worked with

I mean, he came in the first day of rehearsal, and he was completely off-book

Completely. It was amazing. He's so smart and just incredibly generous. You know, I have to say, like, Patty and Antonio, people, like the biggest stars that I've worked with are the people who have been the most generous, Cheetah

Yeah. So wonderful. Well, let's get into Gypsy, because Gypsy, again, was a show that changed everything for you

But it started out as like a three-week run during the summer. Yeah. How did it all happen for you, Gypsy

I auditioned. You know, Jack Vertel was like, look, I can't get you the offer for this show

and you should come in and audition for it. And I was like, okay. I couldn't even audition

When the Bernadette version was happening, San Mendes wouldn't even see me for it

He didn't want to see me. So it was kind of vindicating to be cast

and then, you know, everything else that happened subsequently. But, yeah, I just auditioned, and Arthur Lawrence

who I still miss very much. I sang Little Lamb, and he came up to me, and he whispered in my ear

I don't want you to think about being young at all. I just want you to sit on the floor and imagine what it would be like

if nobody knew it was your birthday. And something really clicked in me, and I finished this song

and he was like, yeah, that was it. And I got cast, and then the rest is sort of history

So what was it like working with him? I mean, were there battles? Yeah

Talk about, he was such a great director. such a great man, what it was like

You know, the first two weeks, I hated him. I wanted to quit because he was so tough on me

And then I don't know if Patty spoke to him or if we just had one too many, like, shark moments

But he said to me, he was like, I realized that you're not someone that I have to break down

You're someone that I have to build up. And that's not what I thought. When I hired you, I assumed that you would have, like, an ego

And you don't. and from that minute on we were like best pals and he really changed my acting he really helped me to understand that I am enough I don't have to do anything I don't have to pretend to be young I don't have to show you that I'm excited or show you that I'm sad I can just be that if I just trust myself enough to be in my own body that the character will come through me you know in whatever mood that I arrived in the theater in that day the character will come through

me. He taught me that. Yeah. So that was the turning point for both of you, wasn't it

Yeah. And then we, to, you know, his last day, we were best pals

Because I think your performance, I've seen many Louises on stage. Brilliant. Absolutely

brilliant. There was a deep emotional, there was something different that you brought to us that no one else had ever had before. Thank you. I think that he, I think Arthur, um

really didn't let me shy away from the sadness of her, you know

Because I think a lot of people, it's easy to get the youthful, and it's easy to get the sexy

but the transition is really, really hard. You have to know why you're doing it

And he really taught me that the performing for her was power

She was finally getting the attention that she had always wanted from her mother

but she was getting it from these men who she had disdain for. so that in the back of her mind in the strip

was the sense of like, you disgust me. And I, and that's sad

to change from like sweet, wide-eyed, loving, look at me, look at me, see me, Louise

to like, you disgusting fools. You know. And he really did not want me to shy away from

sort of what was gained and lost in her transformation into Gypsy Roseley

It wasn't all just like, now I'm gorgeous. There was a darkness. that came over her

But also, and I think it has to be said that you are only as good as the people

that you're performing with. So Patty Lepone and Boyd Gaines brought out something in me

that I had never seen before, nor have I really ever seen it again

There was something about the magic of the three of us that enabled us all

I think, to fully realize these characters. Because you all won Tony Awards

And you were the first Louise to ever win a Tony Award too. Your speech was so beautiful

Oh, gosh. What do you remember that night? I remember knocking over the cameraman because I wanted to get up there

Remember how sweet Kristen Chenoweth was? She was so excited for me. I remember Arthur Lawrence standing and applauding for me

I remember looking over at my husband and he was crying. I didn't write a speech because I didn't want to jinx myself

So I wish I had been a little bit more composed. But I was just so excited

It was all from the heart. It was perfect. That was thrilling. It was perfect

I know you and Patty are really close. We are. Did you hit it off from the very first day? Yeah

From the very first, you know what's actually really funny. She and I did a Stephen Sondheim concert

like ladies who sing Sondheim together, a concert together. And she turned to Richard Frankel again, and she said to him

next job I want to do, I want to play her mother. And then Jipsey came along

And she was like, that isn't even what I meant. I just felt this connection to you and I wanted to play your mom

And then she played my mom again. We did a pilot together. They didn't get picked up called Open Books and she played my mother again

It was just a perfect chemistry with that production. Yeah, there was. No one could put their finger on it, but it was just perfect

There were little moments that happened like that in the theater, and they're just like perfect little gems, you know

Was there a perfect moment for you each night? Did it change your favorite moments in the show

My favorite moments changed every night, but I have to say the last scene

you know, the scene with Patty in the dressing room and then our very last scene together

Those were the most memorable to me. See, for me as an audience member, Little Lamb

the whole audience would just cry. Yeah, it's funny because, you know, Arthur sort of hated that song

He was like, we've got to figure out a way to make this not the song that everyone is annoyed with. And I think he really accomplished that through his and my version of her sadness

of just like really letting it be bare. I'm glad you felt that way. Thank you

Really great. Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Dynamite. You won every, you know, you won what

You won the drama das. Well, you should have, but you got the Dramadast

You got the OCC. Great role. Talk about that role and that number

I loved playing her. I loved playing her Kandela She was like this dumb model who managed to get herself entangled with a terrorist And even once she found out that he was a terrorist she was like still in love with him a little bit

She's the type of person who I feel like is easily distracted. So she'd be talking to you and then like see something shiny and then she's talking about the shiny thing and then go back to you

And model behavior, which is one of the best numbers I've ever had the pleasure of performing

David Yazbeck just did a remarkable job. It's so, so brilliant. It's me again, why aren't you picking up the phone

It's like my brain is going to melt if I don't talk to you. I've got a problem in the shower, and I've only got to admit it

Because the problem in the shower is this guy that I've been dating named Malik. He's mostly with swarthy like a desert chic

and he's been here in my apartment for about a week. I met him down like can't be sombra, and I know you think I'm overly romantic

but you wouldn't believe the connection. I actually had like immediately I was ready for him to meet my mom

Like I could feel my heart exploding like some kind of bum, which is ironic because actually I think he literally has some kind of

Anyway, Grandpa, happy birthday, say hello to Grandma and be sure and take you

That was him. And let me jumping to conclusions, God, I hope I am

He thinks I'm thin and he's got shoulders like shown what that damn. Listen, come me when you hear this, I'll be here for half an hour, call me back

I loved that production. I mean, I wish that we had gone out of town so we could work out the kinks

I think opening a new show on Broadway with a show, without having an opportunity to do it elsewhere is a little dangerous these days

So what was that whole experience like? It was a huge show. It was a huge show. But like, you know, I think that the show that Ben Brantley saw

he saw it on a Saturday night and we only ran it through that way on a Saturday afternoon

So because it had been changing and changing and changing and it got locked Saturday afternoon

He came that evening. So like he saw a performance that everyone was just like, I don't even know where I'm supposed to go

So that feels a little, like, unfair in a way. I think that people who saw it in the beginning

and then saw it right before we closed were like, whoa, you guys really, it just matched

It gelled. You need that time with a new production, and especially something like, Hey, the, D'O, Almodovar

That's a very specific tone. It's not comedy and it's not drama

It's walking the tight wire in between those two things. and you're either on it and it's genius or you fall off and you die

And so there were some times that we were on that wire and it was like the most incredibly balletic, acrobatic magic you've ever seen

and sometimes we died. Well, that's a show you definitely needed an audience for

Like you said, the show was changing all the time, but you needed to break it in with an audience and see how they were feeling

you know, that tennis match back and forth. Great cast. Incredible cast

Incredible cast. And a lovely group of people. It's one of my favorite experiences that I've ever had

It was fast, but I loved it. And it was the first time in 10 years that I had been able to do a production, not in pain

because I had just had my spinal surgery a few months prior

So I was able to be on stage and not hurting, and that was remarkable for me

Is there a role you'd like to tackle on stage? I would love to play Eliza Doolittle and My Fair Lady

but we've got to get on that kids because I'm not getting any younger. You look gorgeous. Well, TikTok went the clock

I would love to do Brigadune. I would love to do that with my husband

I think that that would be really fun. I've always wanted to play Fosca in Passion

That will never happen, but I would really like to. Yeah, that's kind of it

I try not to have too many expectations, because that just sort of spoils the view for everything

Every wonderful experience that I've had has been a bit of a surprise. Well, let's talk about married life

Yeah. How do you juggle careers on like two different codes? and everything. Tell me. It's really hard. I'm not going to lie. This year has been very difficult

for us. It's hard to be away from your best friend and the person that you love the most, you know

And he was in Philadelphia shooting his show. So it was tough. You know, it's a three-week-on

one week off schedule, so once a month I would get to come home for like five days or so, five or six days

And it's hard. Do you Skype? Yeah, well, FaceTime. But it's You know, it's not the same as being with the person that you love

So we're really trying to cherish this time together as much as possible, especially if my show goes back

And he'll be doing Far from Heaven, and then he'll be doing Bridges of Madison County. So he'll only have one day off a week

which means I'm going to be doing all the traveling again, which is hard. I got you

Well, that's always great to see you at the opening night of the big night. Oh, they are together

Yes. You know, no one's working today. So rare. Steve was like, I've gone to so many openings without you

I think people are starting to wonder what's going on. Exactly. What's the best bit of advice you were ever given that you still live by

Ooh. You know, Mary Beth Peel told me that the minute that you meet someone, they show you exactly who they are

They tell you with their own words, and we either choose to believe them or we don't. And I think that is absolutely true

I've had so many experiences with people where I've met them and they have said something or done something that I've been wary

but then I just get in there anyway, and then a few weeks, months, years, whatever

pass and I go, oh my gosh, this is exactly who you told me you were and I just didn't believe

you. And it can happen the other way around too, and it's such a positive way where you meet

someone and you're like, yes, you are who you are. And that's incredibly wonderful. That to me

is the piece of advice that has helped me the most with the business, I would say, because

it is a business, you know? And when I came in here when I was younger, I think I was really naive

assuming that sort of everybody wants you to succeed. And one of the things that I love about

the theater is that most people do. Most people do want you to succeed. You know, you have

the Richard Frankl's and the Jack Bertels of the world and we'll just always look out for you no

matter what. So yeah, that would probably be it. It seems great. You come full circle, that you're

here now. Yes, I know. What are you looking forward to the most with playing the club

Ooh, um, what am I looking forward to the most? I think, you know, all of these new songs

I have 10 new songs. Only two will be the same. So I'm looking forward to feeling out the audience reaction

to these new arrangements. I think that they're really interesting. I'm looking forward to the communication the most

I really like to talk to the audience, especially when there's kids here

I love to talk to them because it's so rare to see a kid in a cabaret setting. But almost every single one of my shows

there's like a little kid there, and I have the most wonderful experience with them. I'm looking forward to all of that

I'm looking forward to that communal feeling that you have in a live performance

where there's no difference between you and the audience. There's that certain sweet spot where you're just all in it together

Perfect. Thank you so much for sitting with me. Have the best time. Thank you

And I'll see you on May 20th. Yay