On this day in 1999, Tony-winner Laura Benanti began her starring turn as Maria Rainer in The Sound of Music on Broadway.
On this day in 1999, Richard Chamberlain and future Tony-winner Laura Benanti began their run leading the Broadway revival of The Sound of Music as the new Captain von Trapp and Maria Rainer, succeeding Michael Siberry and Rebecca Luker in the roles. The two continued in the roles through the production's closing on June 20. 1999, after 533 performances.
Benanti would go on to take Broadway by storm since this high-profile debut at age 18. She recently completed a 2016 Tony nominated turn as Amalia Balash in the hit Broadway Musical, She Loves Me, and also received Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and Drama Desk Award nominations for the role.
On television, played the role of Alura Zor-El in the CW action drama "Supergirl". Benanti would also go on to give a critically acclaimed performance as Elsa Schrader in NBC's The Sound of Music LIVE.
She received a Drama Desk award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Tony Award nominations for her role in the Broadway production of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. She earned a 2008 Tony Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, a Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award for her portrayal of Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy opposite Patti LuPone, directed by Arthur Laurents.
Other Broadway roles include The Wedding Singer, Nine starring Antonio Banderas, her Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award-nominated performance of Cinderella in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, a Tony nominated turn in Swing!, and an acclaimed run in the revival of My Fair Lady.
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