Photo: Joan Marcus
Laura Benantiis back on Broadway in Lincoln Center Theater’s acclaimed revival ofMy Fair Lady,and PEOPLE has the exclusive first look at her in costume.
The 39-year-old actress — known to many for her hilarious impersonation of First LadyMelania TrumponThe Late Show With Stephen Colbert— has stepped into the iconic role of Eliza Doolittle, the poor, working-class cockney flower girl who seeks the help of phonetics professor Henry Higgins (Downton Abbey‘s Harry Hadden-Paton) and is soon transformed into a cultured member of high society.
My Fair Ladyis a “dream come true” for Benanti, who tells PEOPLE she was raised listening to the original 1956 production’s cast recording and idolizing its star, Julie Andrews. “I’m a soprano, so growing up, any opportunity I got to hear voices sounding like that, that was so joyful for me,” Benanti gushes. “That album played all the time in my house.”
In turn, Eliza became a “dream role” for Benanti, alongside Cinderella inInto the Woods, Gypsy Rose Lee inGypsy, and Amalia Balash inShe Loves Me.
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Through the years, Benanti got to play all those parts on Broadway, even winning a Tony forGypsyin 2008. ButMy Fair Ladyescaped her.
She was offered an audition for the part when director Bartlett Sher was readying this latest revival but as a mom to then newborn daughter Ella Rose, her heart wasn’t in it. “Those pages sat in my house for months,” Benanti says. “I never was able to look at them because I was raising Ella and becoming a new mom and figure out how to be a mom. And finally I called Bart to say, ‘If I can’t get it together to audition, I can’t play this part.’ And that was a really hard decision for me.”
Six Feet Understar Lauren Ambrose would eventually take on the role, and would go on to receive strong reviews when the show opened earlier this year on Broadway — even getting a Tony nomination for best actress in a musical.
When Ambrose, 40, had to leave to shoot a new television series, Benanti got the call to come back in.
“I had genuinely made peace with it but when Bart called me and offered me the part I was like, ‘I cannot believe this is happening,’ ” she recalls. “I let it go and to me it’s such a lesson in letting go and what’s meant to be yours will be yours. It came back and it couldn’t be more perfect.”
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Benanti just began performances on Oct. 23 and is scheduled to stay with the role in a limited engagement through to Feb. 17, 2019.
So far, she says she’s taken a different approach to the character — choosing to focus on how Eliza’s survived her tough times through humor. That lens has allowed Benanti to even accept the role through the lens of the #MeToo era.
“That’s what I love about her,” Benanti adds. “He’s the biggest mansplainer that you would ever possibly meet. And like many women, she’s made to feel this sense of gratitude. Like, ‘I couldn’t do this without you.’ But throughout the course of the play, she goes from feeling this underclass, lesser than flower girl to a woman who has grown beyond him. And it’s a lesson we can all learn from.”
All in all, Benanti is holding on tight to every bit of the experience.
“I just feel so lucky,” she says. “I cannot believe that I get to do this for a living. There’s no moment of it that I take for granted. I get tired, I get frustrated sometimes with the b.s. of the business, but I’m so grateful that I get to do this for a living. How many people get to do this for a living? So few!”
And she’ll never forget that she’s walking through Andrews’ footsteps — even if the memory of meeting her idol brings up a few cringe moments.
“I met her one time and I really, really embarrassed myself,” Benanti remembers, with a laugh. “There was a lot of crying. But liketoomuch, where it was like, ‘Were you just punched in the face?’ I couldn’t find my words at all. She was so gracious but I could tell there was a sense of, ‘Security…’ ”
My Fair Ladyis now playing at New York City’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre.
source: people.com
