Wake Up With BroadwayWorld July 15, 2024

Rise and shine, BroadwayWorld! It is July 15, 2024 and it's time to catch up on all of the theatrical happenings you may have missed in the last 24 hours: 

But first...

Rialto Chatter: Jonathan Groff To Lead Reading of New Bobby Darin Musical
by A.A. Cristi
Broadway Journal is reporting that newly-minted Tony Award-winner Jonathan Groff will lead a staged reading of a new Broadway-aimed musical about the life of singer Bobby Darin. 

Anna K. Jacobs & Michael R. Jackson's TEETH to Return Off-Broadway at New World Stages; Cast Recording Out Now
by Chloe Rabinowitz
Following its sold-out, extended world premiere at Playwrights Horizons earlier this year, the 2024 Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and Lortel Award nominated musical Teeth is set to open at New World Stages. Learn how to purchase tickets.. (more...)

Review Roundup: EMPIRE Opens Off-Broadway
by Nicole Rosky
EMPIRE: The Musical just celebrated its opening night at New World Stages. The production, with Book, Music & Lyrics by Caroline Sherman & Robert Hull, is directed by Tony Award winner Cady Huffman. Check out what the critics are saying about the new musical!. (more...) 

Video: OH, MARY! on Broadway Opening Night Curtain Speech
by Chloe Rabinowitz
Watch the opening night curtain call speech of Oh, Mary! on Broadway.. (more...) 

Video: Meet The Monster Puppets of Disney's HERCULES in Hamburg
by Joshua Wright
Watch as puppet designer James Ortiz talks about bringing the monsters of Hercules to life on stage in the Hamburg production, directed by Casey Nicholaw in this all-new video. . (more...)

Laura Benanti

Tony Award-winner Laura Benanti can be seen in the Samantha Bee and Jason Jones TBS comedy, The Detour. Additional TV credits include Younger, Supergirl, Nashville, guest-starring as songbird Sadie Stone; The Good Wife; and Showtime’s Nurse Jackie.

Most recently, Laura starred as Eliza Doolittle in the Broadway Revival of My Fair Lady. Prior to that, she co-starred alongside Amy Schumer and Keegan Michael Key in Steve Martin’s hit Broadway play, Meteor Shower.

In 2016, Laura completed her Tony nominated role (and 5th nomination) as Amalia Balash in the hit Broadway Musical, She Loves Me. Laura also received Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and Drama Desk Award nominations for this role.

In addition to television work and her critically acclaimed performance as Elsa Schrader in NBC’s The Sound of Music LIVE, Ms. Benanti is a highly celebrated, stage actress who took Broadway by storm at the age of 18.

She received a Drama Desk award, Outer Critics Circle Award and a Tony Award Nomination for her starring role in the Broadway production of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown for Lincoln Center where she also starred in the Broadway production of Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play. Ms. Benanti earned the 2008 Tony Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, a Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award for her revelatory portrayal of Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy opposite Patti LuPone and directed by Arthur Laurents. Her 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 and her sultry Tony nominated turn in Swing! Ms. Benanti made her Broadway debut as Maria in The Sound of Music opposite Richard Chamberlain.

Other distinguished theater performances include the Public Theater’s production of Christopher Durang’s Why Torture is Wrong and the People Who Love Them, Perdita in The Winter’s Tale at the Williamstown Theatre Festival opposite Kate Burton, Anne in A Little Night Music at the L.A. Opera opposite Victor Garber, Eileen in Wonderful Town opposite Donna Murphy and most recently her portrayal of Rosabella in the Most Happy Fella, both for City Center Encores! Ms. Benanti completed a week-long engagement at the popular New York cabaret club, 54 Below, for which The New York Times hailed her as a “supremely confident” performer whose “bright, full soprano, with its semioperatic heft, can go almost anywhere.” In September 2013, she released her debut album, “In Constant Search of the

Right Kind of Attention: Live at 54 Below” on Broadway Records to ecstatic reviews.
Laura currently performs her concerts in venues around the country and even recently performed for the President and First Lady of the United States at both the Fords Gala and the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington DC.

In 2014, she joined the cast of ABC’s hit series “Nashville” guest-starring as songbird Sadie Stone. Laura also appeared in recurring roles on CBS’s “The Good Wife” and HBO’s “Nurse Jackie.”

Laura’s past television credits include a starring role in the NBC series “The Playboy Club” and “Go On” opposite Matthew Perry. She also starred in the F/X original series “Starved”. Ms. Benanti recurred on “Law and Order: SVU,” “Royal Pains,” and “Eli Stone.” and had appearances on “The Big C”, and “Elementary”.

See you bright and early tomorrow, BroadwayWorld!