by ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
Laura Benanti is a long way from Broadway. But her audience can find her just fine at her first Edinburgh Fringe, where audiences might be more familiar with her many TV appearances (perhaps even more so impersonating Melania Trump on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) than with her many Tony-nominated and one Tony-winning role on New York City’s premier stages.
And with younger Millennial musical comedians such as Cat Cohen already conquering the Fringe with their ironically inflated egos, it should come as no surprise to be truly wowed when Benanti bursts into song between bits walking us through her own youthful exploits. Or should I say her own struggles with being exploited, whether it was the big-time producer who offered her a Central Park apartment at 19 if only she would’ve agreed to be his mistress, or whether it was the men of stage and screen who took advantage of her people-pleasing nature to use her as a “portal to greatness.” This hour finds her asking: “What if I had closed my portal and kept some of that greatness for myself?”
Backed by a three-piece band, with longtime songwriting partner Todd Almond on the keys also providing sidekick banter, Benanti knows your reaction upon hearing she was married three times by the age of 36. “Oh wow, OK.” And she can joke about it all, including her lower back tattoo, her laborious labor in becoming a mother, and how strangers have no qualms telling mothers what they’re doing wrong.
And Benanti fears she’ll have to explain her life to her two young daughters (aged 8 and 3) before they discover her past lives through Internet videos. Thankfully, though, her daughters already have set her straight in so many ways. “My children are my people pleasing recovery program.”
Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares plays Underbelly Ermintrude through Aug. 24, 2025.
