I think in general we are behaving badly. She is also remarkably busy, especially given that the coronavirus pandemic has stilled the careers of many performing artists. As easily as she can sustain the rafter-piercing soprano of Amalia in “She Loves Me,” she can blurt a joke so blue she swears her mother would disown her upon reading it (it has thus been excluded here). It just sucks because it’s distracting to audience members who actually want to see the show and it’s certainly distracting to us. Laura Benanti's Melania is trapped in an 'ocean of loneliness' on 'The Late Show'. Casting REAL Ancestry.com members & their families Nationwide. I think that there is a decorum that has gone out the window. The former director of special events at Vogue and producer of nine legendary Met Galas, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff met Melania Knauss in 2003 and had a front row seat to the transformation of Donald Trump’s then girlfriend from a rough ... When TBS’ Samantha Bee–produced scripted comedy “The Detour” returned for its third season Jan. 23, Benanti’s recurring role had been upped to series regular. “I feel like this is finally the thing that has made—at least people in our industry—go, ‘She is a comedian. I mean no. Check out Backstage’s theater audition listings! So she’s no stranger to the stage. I want to do good work—it doesn’t particularly matter to me in what medium. This sounds so cheesy, but living in the moment and not anticipating what’s coming next is so important, and that’s really hard to do if you’re not relaxed.”, Also anchoring her acting in all mediums is her nearly 1-year-old daughter, whose personification of sincerity has presented yet another refocusing: “She is utterly present at all times and it’s really inspiring,” she says. Found insideAnd while it is her husband who became famous for the phrase “the art of the deal,” this is the story of the art of her deal. Broadway actress Laura Benanti, who frequently appeared on 'The Late Show' impersonating Melania played the first lady. It’s a mix of some of Benanti’s favorites, like “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life,” and “The Party’s Over,” and pop songs her producer suggested from the Jonas Brothers and Selena Gomez. I hope they just enjoy themselves. said Laura Benanti, reprising her impersonation of the First Lady on Tuesday night's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Laura Benanti says each scene was 'really fraught' in 9/11 film 'Worth'. Actress Laura Benanti went on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" Tuesday night and did an impression of Melania Trump throwing out a list of borrowed catchphrases in a … 10), she combines career-high vitality and the kind of retrospective brass one can only procure from having seen it all. Found insideIt was a diet that couldn't last. And then it fell apart. The second volume of Moby's memoir is a classic about the banality of fame. It is shocking, riotously entertaining, extreme, and unforgiving. “I wasn’t getting to audition for comedy. There’s not an asshole in the group, which is nice. “We were able to have 100 years worth of music on one album, and it all feels cohesive — it’s telling part of the same story.”. The actress and singer is currently performing as Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady” in New York City. “It was an early introduction to the fact that you can get what you’ve always wanted and you’re still not ‘happy.’ I didn’t have any friends; [that] led to a string of boyfriends—and then husbands.”. She is also back at work as an actor, shooting episodes of a “Gossip Girl” reboot for HBO Max and “Younger” for TV Land, and says being on set now “feels like being in a bad sci-fi movie.”, “It’s bizarre — it looks like you’re walking into a hospital, and everybody’s covered in P.P.E.,” she said. I’m really inspired by H.E.R. . Late Show. And I just think it’s such an incredible example of what these young people are able to do. Now, if you go to a restaurant—even I will do it—you’ll be sitting with some of your closest friends you haven’t seen in a while and then at a certain point everyone pulls out their phones and like checks their e-mails or whatever. If the S in MOOSE comes loose and the E breaks free . . . what’s left? M-O-O! Live. Have you been able to lend any of your Broadway expertise to your castmates, since at least Keegan-Michael Key and Amy Schumer are new to the stage? "Make America grape again!" Tony-winning actress Laura Benanti and businessman … Last month, Sony Music Masterworks released “Laura Benanti,” an album of contemporary and classic cover songs that she recorded late last year. It’s a mix of some of Benanti’s favorites, like “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life,” and “The Party’s Over,” and pop songs her producer suggested from the Jonas Brothers and Selena Gomez. "Alice enjoyed a long run at the Village Gate Off Broadway. O.K. The camera is like a lie detector test; if you are not meaning what you’re saying, it’ll know.”, Different though they are, ultimately what binds acting in every form is an unrelenting call for in-the-moment wholeness, something Benanti has honed in part through meditation. “It’s easier for people to quantify you as one thing,” she says. Skip to footer site map. But evading performative pigeonholes is easier said than done. Ad Choices, The hardest-working woman in show business talks to. To discuss it further, Broadway's Laura Benanti reprised her role as Melania on the CBS talk show. Twice this fall, the five-time Tony nominee has portrayed Melania Trump on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. In it, the funnywoman brings to life a "Melanie Trump" waiting for her husband, President Donald Trump, to arrive for a Christmas message. It 100 percent looked like I was going to wear her skin like a suit. Additional TV credits include Supergirl, Nashville, guest-starring as songbird Sadie Stone; The Good Wife; and Showtime’s Nurse Jackie. It’s not like hey, wait, hold on, we were just talking. Nov. 24, 2020. It’s really hard in the corporate world of TV and film to make something really good that you’re proud of, and to be able to do it directly from your own house and onto your phone is kind of magical. I look back and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m garbage’—but I learned.”, Having now worked extensively and at times simultaneously in both forms, she is able to examine the differences between acting onstage and on camera pragmatically. That would be Tony Award-winner Laura Benanti, who did it so brilliantly on The Late Show. The Late Show With Stephen Colbert painted a similar picture, tapping the Broadway star Laura Benanti to portray Melania as maybe-or-maybe-not-sending-‘HELP ME’-messages-in-Morse-code. If [Melania] were more [publicly active], would you have more opportunity to go on Colbert? But I just like to learn about anything. Found insideIn GARY, maverick theater artist Taylor Mac’s singular world view intersects with Shakespeare’s first tragedy, Titus Andronicus. If you are tense, you’re not able to welcome any emotion or any spontaneity, really. For me, I don’t want to make fun of her, I want to make fun of him using her as the vehicle because obviously I can’t do a Trump impersonation. © 2021 Condé Nast. With 10 Broadway credits to her name and half as many Tony nominations—one of which resulted in a win—many have taken to labeling her the evocative “Broadway veteran.” But please, she asks: don’t. We don’t have to do it. What do you hope audiences will take from Meteor Shower? I think it was one of their first real viral videos. Well, one of the First Lady's most famous impersonators, actor and comedian Laura Benanti, says all of America can sympathize with her. I found her through Instagram — I saw one of her poems — and I was like, “Who is this?” And we became friendly through social media, which is a new thing you can do, and every week she would post the poems, and I just became so enamored with her. Hopefully soon. In France, 1940, an unlikely pair team up to evade the approaching Nazis. . “I get a Covid test every single day — because they’re using different companies and will not rely on each other’s testing, the poor inside of my nose is raw — but I’m really impressed with the responsibility that they’re taking to keep everyone safe.”. We want to make sure it’s going to be a home run. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. “Something that feels important, like it’s saying something we need to hear,” she pauses, reacting to the gravity of the statement. Do you agree with its thesis that audiences are behaving badly more these days than in prior decades? She’s O.K. The hardest-working woman in show business talks to Vanity Fair about only a … Found insideINSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The first explosive book about Javanka and their infamous rise to power Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are the self-styled Prince and Princess of America. The actress' version of Melania returned to Late Night with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday to deny that her husband had an affair with a porn star, … By Tolly Wright @TollyW. Laura Benanti Demands to Know Who the Other Fake Melania Is. Obviously I was like, “Ah, I gotta deal with this.”. Stephen began by saying, "I want you to feel like The Late Show is your home." I have an Eastern European resting bitch face, and I think people were like, ‘No, she’s not funny, she’s a serious actor.’ ”, Benanti also cites Twitter for helping her to shed that “serious” misconstruction and demonstrate her comedic chops. It’s like how do we honor the absurdism of this piece but also create characters that audiences are like, “I want to keep looking at this person.”. I just like to get out of my own thoughts. Seeing people pour their art out into a world that feels really dark — that to me is really beautiful. Get the latest chatter, from Kensington Palace and beyond, straight to your inbox. There is a performative element to being onstage that is not as natural as what you have to have on camera, and it is difficult sometimes to transition. (The role was Elsa Schraeder in “The Sound of Music,” funnily enough. Laura Benanti’s Melania Trump Drops by. “It’s always frustrating to me, because my ability to sing doesn’t negate my ability to act; I just have an extra talent,” she objects, speaking to the stigma many actors known for theater—musical theater in particular—face when shifting into on-camera work. Now, at 38, she sits pointedly at the top of her game, with the theater résumé and prestige of someone at least twice her age. The play is so absurd—and I mean that as a compliment. She makes regular appearances on television—once on Supergirl, Nurse Jackie, and Nashville, and now on TBS’s Samantha Bee and Jason Jones co-creation, The Detour. B-. Lots of wine. And Anya Taylor-Joy is just unbelievable. It was amazing for me because I had never reached that many people before in terms of people seeing me. It’s not political in any way. Museums can feel really distant and stuffy, and the fact that people can now Zoom in, in their pajamas from the comfort of their own homes, is kind of miraculous. Why Torture Is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them tells the story of a young woman in crisis: Is her new husband, whom she married when drunk, a terrorist? Or just crazy? Or both? “Obviously we can’t throw juice boxes in real life, but having someone else to focus on has made me a more empathetic person, a more patient person, and I do think genuinely a better actor, because I spend more time observing and less time trying to be seen the way I want to be seen.”, Her daughter being the ultimate consideration, post–“Meteor Shower,” what would lure a certain Broadway badass back to the stage? Even when the days are hard, it helps to find the humor in all the ups and downs. Here is a chance for laughter, joy, reassurance, confidence, and perhaps a moment of relaxation. The pitfalls and pleasures of an actor's life are discussed candidly by a talented actor, who recounts the highlights--and not so great moments--of his more than thirty years in show business I was sitting next to a man on the train and I guess I was in such a panic and I had my headphones in, I didn’t realize how loud I was being as I was practicing her dialect and zooming in on her mouth. There’s a 15-year-old girl whose name is Zikora Akanegbu and she created an Instagram account, and now a zine called GenZHER, that connects young women and mentors, and gives advice on how to get your first job and a ton of really amazing things. Recalling a frustrating bout in the theater—after “Into the Woods,” during which she broke her neck, and before “Gypsy,” for which she won that Tony—Benanti found herself adrift in disillusion. I just got here.” And they’re like, “Uh-huh.” And I was like, “Oh! Melania returns for the first time in a while in May, and there's quite a bit of material to cover, like the dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Emmanuel Macron: Found insideModern and bursting with flavour, the book reveals the secrets of Isaac's culinary training and gives you everything you need to get a bit messy and have fun in the kitchen. “It recharged my brain in a way where I was like, ‘Oh, I’m doing something new and that’s exciting and takes a different skill set,’ ” she says. But if you enjoy the absurd and are willing to go on a fun ride and laugh, this is your jam. Not in terms of the lines, but they’re just very present and living in the moment, and I learned that from them. Laura Benanti and Boyd Gaines attend the 62nd Annual Tony Awards on June 15, 2008. But I love a workplace comedy that does not require you to love the thing they’re talking about. Laura Benanti's Melania Trump returns to defend Donald Trump's recent actions to Stephen Colbert on The Late Show. Benanti is an enigma who, by showing up and doing the work, has become one of the most prolific inter-medium performers of the decade. The fact that it would be happening in the theater, it’s like of course it is. She is also the executive producer of “Homeschool Musical: Class of 2020,” a self-shot, documentary-style special that HBO Max is releasing Dec. 17. Cabaret; Off-Broadway; Off-Off-Broadway; Dance; Opera; Classical Music Karen Donato (Laura Benanti) tells Ken Feinberg (Michael Keaton) why she doesn't want any compensation for her husband's death in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on New York. "I feel like we're basically all Melania Trump. The music was a parody of “Belle” from 'Beauty and the Beast.' Supergirl ‘s Laura Benanti on Tuesday assumed what might just be her greatest role yet: Melania Trump. Attempting to reset her acting synapses, she set her sights on television. 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