LAURA BENANTI: NOBODY CARES to Begin Performances at Audible's Minetta Lane Theatre in February

Audible Inc. will present Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares, a three-night-only comedy show starring Tony Award winner Laura Benanti, featuring all original music co-written with Todd Almond live at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre (18 Minetta Lane, between MacDougal & 6th Avenue – one block south of W. 3rd Street), Audible’s creative home for live performances in New York. Directed by Annie Tippe, Nobody Cares will also be recorded live from the Minetta Lane Theatre and released on Audible at a later date, extending its reach to millions of listeners around the world.

Tony Award-winning performer Laura Benanti is bringing her new comedy show to the Minetta Lane Theatre for three memorable nights only. Be part of the live audience as the Broadway legend debuts all-new music, created with Music Director Todd Almond, and shares her hilariously bumpy journey from ingenue to recovering ingenue. Annie Tippe directs. 

The creative team includes lighting design by Japhy Weideman and sound design by Connor Wang. Laura Benanti will be joined onstage by Todd Almond, Matt Beck, Nate Brown, Clayton Craddock, Philip Payton, and Catherine Popper, and singers Ciara Harris and Kaila Wooten. 

Jereme Kyle Lewis serves as production stage manager. Technical supervision is by Hudson Theatrical Associates’ Sean Gorski with general management by Baseline Theatrical’s Jonathan Whitton.

Tickets are on sale now at www.audible.com/minettalane.

BIOGRAPHIES
 

Tony Award-winner and five-time Tony Award nominee LAURA BENANTI is a highly celebrated stage and screen actress. Ms. Benanti has an impressive television roster including Hulu’s “Life & Beth,” created by and starring Amy Schumer, the hit series “Younger,” HBO Max’s “Gossip Girl” reboot, and the second season of HBO Max’s “The Gilded Age.” Other television credits include guest starring roles on Cinema Toast, created by Jeff Baena and produced by the Duplass Brothers, Ziwe featuring comedian Ziwe Fumudoh, both for Showtime, as well as “Inside Amy Schumer” on Paramount+ (among many others). Benanti has also made widely acclaimed appearances on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” as Melania Trump. Additionally, Benanti created and executive produced the HBO Max special Homeschool Musical: Class Of 2020 based on her viral social media movement: #sunshinesongs.

In film, Benanti starred in Netflix’s Worth opposite Michael Keaton, Stanley Tucci and Amy Ryan, Here Today opposite Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish, and was featured in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tick, Tick…Boom!.

 

In the theater, Ms. Benanti took Broadway by storm at the age of 18 as Maria in The Sound of Music and has subsequently starred in ten more Broadway shows (musicals, straight plays, comedies, and dramas) including Into The Woods, Nine (opposite Antonio Banderas), Gypsy (for which she won a Tony Award), She Loves Me, My Fair Lady, and Steve Martin’s Meteor Shower opposite Amy Schumer and Keegan-Michael Key.

 

Additionally, Benanti co-authored a comedic board book for mothers entitled M is for MAMA (and also Merlot): A Modern Mom’s ABCs, co-written with Metropolitan Opera Star Kate Mangiameli. She released a self-titled studio album for Sony Music Masterworks and tours the world performing solo concerts alongside highly celebrated musicians and orchestras.

 

Ms. Benanti recently wrapped filming on a trio of films: Goodrich opposite Michael Keaton and Mila Kunis, Everything’s Going To Be Great opposite Bryan Cranston; and The Shade based on the award-winning short of the same name.

 

Annie Tippe (she/her) is a director and creator of new work, music theater and film. She directed the world premieres and subsequent productions of Dave Malloy's Octet and Ghost Quartet. For Octet, she won the Lortel Award for Best Direction and was named an SDC Callaway Award Finalist. Recent: Molly Beach Murphy + Jeanna Phillip’s COWBOY BOB (Alley Theatre), Britta Johnson’s Life After (Goodman Theatre; Jeff Award Nominee), Julia May Jonas’ Your Own Personal Exegesis (Lincoln Center), Selina Fillinger's POTUS (Berkeley Rep), Tony Meneses’ The Hombres (Two River), and James + Jerome’s INK (co-directed w. Rachel Chavkin) and The Conversationalists (Bushwick Starr). Her film “ HELP ME MARY'' won Best Narrative Short at the Lower East Side Film Festival. Former Ars Nova Director-in-Residence, Drama League Directing Fellow, Williamstown Directing Corps. UPCOMING: Premiere of Dave Malloy's Three Houses at Signature Theatre. annietippe.com. 

 

Todd Almond is an acclaimed performer, songwriter, and playwright. His recent performance on Broadway in Girl from the North Country was called “stunning” by The Washington Post, and “roof-raising, uplifting, and invigorating” by Hollywood Reporter. His musical The Odyssey was hailed as “brash, funny and heart-stirring” by The New York Times. His theater piece Kansas City Choir Boy was called “awesome, slyly punk rock” by Rolling Stone. Todd Almond is known for his singular songwriting in addition to his work as an accomplished performer. He recently toured the U.S. in his original musical Kansas City Choir Boy starring alongside rock icon Courtney Love, and starred in three of his original musicals at the famed Delacorte Theater in Central Park (The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, and The Odyssey). His musical Girlfriend – based on the Matthew Sweet album of the same title – is a perennial favorite for theater companies around the country, and he is currently collaborating with producer David Foster on a new, original musical. He has previously collaborated with Sarah Ruhl (Melancholy Play: A Chamber Musical), Jenny Schwartz (Iowa), Laura Benanti (In Constant Search for the Right Kind of Attention), Sherie Rene Scott and Norbert Leo Butz (“Twohander”), Kelli O’Hara (“Live at Carnegie Hall”), and Andrew Rannells (“Live from Lincoln Center”). As a composer and orchestrator, Almond has written and arranged music for Noises Off! on Broadway, Iowa at Playwrights Horizons, F*cking A at Signature Theatre, and How to Transcend a Happy Marriage at Lincoln Center Theater, Kelli O’Hara Live at Carnegie Hall, and the recent film adaptation of Michael John LaChiusa’s Hello Again. Other New York acting credits include Stage Kiss by Sarah Ruhl at Playwrights Horizons, People Are Wrong at the Vineyard, Piece of Meat opposite Sherie Rene Scott, and Law and Order: SVU.  Currently, Todd can also be seen starring in Gossip Girl on HBO Max. As a musical director, Almond tours with Laura Benanti and Judy Kuhn, and recently made his PBS debut with Andrew Rannells, Live From Lincoln Center.

 

ABOUT AUDIBLE THEATER

Audible Theater makes outstanding performances and powerful storytelling available to millions of people all over the world. As part of this initiative, Audible has produced Swing State written by Rebecca Gilman and directed by Robert Falls; Sorry For Your Loss written by and starring Michael Cruz Kayne; Drinking in Americastarring Andre Royo; Girls & Boys with Carey Mulligan, Harry Clarke starring Billy Crudup, and many others at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York City. In May 2018, Audible announced that the Minetta Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village will serve as its creative home for live performances in New York. Audible hosts and produces a wide variety of live performances at the Minetta Lane including dramatic plays, comedic shows, engaging panel discussions, and more, with Audible members receiving exclusive access to discounted tickets and related audio content.  

Audible was co-producer for the Broadway transfer of the Tony Award-nominated Latin History for Morons written by and starring John Leguizamo and for the Tony Award-nominated Sea Wall / A Life starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge. The initiative also saw the release of John Lithgow’s Stories By Heart, Judith Light’s All The Ways To Say I Love You, Sharon Washington’s Feeding The Dragon, and more. Since June 2017, Audible has commissioned 50 theater playwrights to receive support from its $5 million Emerging Playwrights Fund dedicated to developing innovative English-language works from around the globe. The $5 million fund enables the creation of original plays driven by language and voice, keeping with Audible’s core commitment to elevating listening experiences through powerful performances and extraordinary vocal storytelling.

 

ABOUT AUDIBLE, INC.

Audible, Inc., an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), is the leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling, offering global audiences a powerful way to enhance and enrich their lives through extraordinary content. Audible’s catalog includes more than 850,000 audio titles, including Audible Originals as well as audiobooks and podcasts from leading studios, print, audio and magazine publishers and world-renowned entertainers.