Broadway veteran, Tony Award winner Laura Benanti brings one-woman comedy show ‘Nobody Cares’ to New Jersey
The Tony Award-winning Broadway veteran talks motherhood, marriage and the story behind the show's brutally honest title ahead of her George Street Playhouse run.
More Stories
Broadway veteran and Tony Award winner Laura Benanti is bringing an original stand-up show to New Jersey this month and she wants audiences to know it isn't a Broadway concert.
Benanti will perform her one-woman comedy show, “Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares,” at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick from Aug. 26 through Aug. 30.
“This is not a musical, this is not a Broadway concert, I will not be singing Broadway songs,” Benanti told News 12. “This is 16-plus, this is R-rated standup.”
The show blends stand-up comedy, storytelling and original songs as Benanti takes on motherhood, marriage, aging and other personal subjects.
“I think because I worked on Broadway for basically my whole life, and I said other people's words, I don't think I really anticipated that I would be talking about these very personal subjects and sort of taboo subjects,” Benanti said.
She said those are subjects she wouldn't have imagined discussing publicly when she was younger.
“And now I can't imagine not sharing them,” Benanti said.
The show's title came courtesy of one of her daughters.
“The reason my show is called ‘Nobody Cares’ is because I was waxing poetic to my daughter and she put her hand in my face, my 4-year-old, and went, ‘Nobody cares,’” Benanti said.
Her family provides plenty of other material.
“One day my daughter turned to me and said, ‘This is the worst day of my life,’” Benanti says in the show. “We were at Disney World.”
Marriage also gets the Benanti treatment.
“I have been married now for 20 years. Thank you. Just not to the same person,” she recounted.
“Nobody Cares” comes to New Brunswick after a run at the Edinburgh Fringe and two sold-out Off-Broadway engagements, according to George Street Playhouse. The show was created by and stars Benanti, with songs co-written by Todd Almond and direction by Annie Tippe.
Benanti said she's less interested in imparting a message than in giving audiences a reason to laugh.
“I think we all just need to have a good time,” she said. “I feel like the world is what it is right now, and I just want people to come, I want them to see themselves in some of the stories.”
And she's hoping that includes people who might not have bought the tickets themselves.
“I want the husbands and boyfriends who were dragged there to enjoy themselves. I want my beloved gay men to be there hooting and hollering,” Benanti said. “So I just want everybody to have a good time.”
Performances of “Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares” are scheduled for Aug. 26 through Aug. 30 at the Elizabeth Ross Johnson Theater at George Street Playhouse.
Tickets start at $52.
