WSHU: Hi, I'm Randy Kaye, and I am here with Laura Benanti and her mother, Linda Benanti and if I listed all of Laura and Linda's credits, it would take the full eight minutes. So I'm just going to say amazing careers both of you. Laura is a Broadway Tony Award winning star with film and television credits, and Linda is a Broadway star as well, who I believe Linda gave it up for a moment to be a vocal coach while you raised your kids. Do I have that right?
Linda Benanti: Yep, a moment of 36 years. Correct.
WSHU: Well, I know the feeling I'm an Equity actress myself, and I did local radio when I raised my kids and just did Equity guest artist. You know, we do what we do as mothers. So the name of the show is Mothers Know Best, which could be subtitled, but daughters will never say that's true. I would like Laura, let me start with you, if that's okay, tell me, if you will, how this show came to be. Because I know you brought your mom out of retirement, sort of to do this show. And you have an illustrious career as a cabaret performer as well. This is a solo show. You did one before called Nobody Cares. Tell me how this came to be.
Laura Benanti: I had my older daughter nine years ago, and a couple of months after she was born, it really began to resonate with me how much my mother had given up in order to raise me and my sister. You know, I love what I do. I love it so much. And then I had my daughter, and I loved her so much. And the notion that I would have to sort of give up this other part of me, the creative part of me, in order to raise my child in a way that is meaningful to me, it became just a very visceral part of my understanding.
WSHU: Yeah.
Laura: And in that moment, I was like, my mom's the most talented person I'll ever know. And I know she doesn't, regret her life choices, or I don't know she can tell you differently. She's never, for one moment, made us feel like, Oh, she wished she had done anything different. But I know how much light she has in her, I know how much talent she has in her, and I just could no longer tolerate that it was being hidden. And so I basically made her, I bullied her into coming on stage, 36 years after retirement. And you know, she, it's like she never, she's never missed a beat. She just, her first performance was as if she'd been doing it for 36 years.
WSHU: Linda, how was that for you? In the Westport Country Playhouse information, it says, “Thrilled to be out of retirement and performing across the country with her daughter.” So how does it feel? Does it feel like you never left the stage?
Linda: No, when I'm on stage, it feels like that. It's the anticipation of going on stage that is now different, because, you know, I had a bit of a break. And then when we do get to do this, and believe me, singing with my daughter is just such a gift to me. You know, it's just phenomenal. But since I don't do it as often as when I was doing it all the time. It's the anxiety going into it, you know. So basically, Laura does have to bully me to get me there, and then once I'm there, then I feel like I never left.
WSHU: That's amazing. Are you guys doing this truly across the country, or is it just sort of here and there? Are you touring?
Laura: I mean, we're not doing like a proper tour, but we have performed at the, sadly, the Kennedy Center, and in San Francisco, in Virginia. So you know, it's not like we get on a bus and hit the road like the Partridge Family, although that would be very fun, but we do select dates, and we're really excited to be coming to Westport. I love that theater so much.
WSHU: As a mom, girl myself, and now a mom, grandma, I can relate to both of you, actually, and I know my daughter went through a phase I called whoever I am. I'm not my mother. So my next question comes actually, from Felicity, my eight year old granddaughter, because she helped me prepare this interview and she was watching you sing Ice Cream from She Loves Me. So her question to you is, do your daughter. Think you're famous, Laura,
Laura: No, What she might find interesting is I was actually pregnant with my daughter in that filming of She Loves Me, and I was, you know, very early, so nobody knew, but I was very sick. I had something called hyperemesis, which is when you are have morning sickness all day, every day, for the entire pregnancy.
WSHU: Amy Schumer heard that too. Yeah.
Laura: Exactly. It's so funny because she and I did a play called Meteor Shower together on Broadway. And Ella was about a year old, and I told her about it. And then when she had Gene a couple years later, her son, she was like, “I honestly thought you were lying”. She was like, “until I had it myself. I thought you were just like, lying or exaggerating”. And I was like, No, it's what I told you. But anyway, so I was pregnant with my daughter, then and no, I don't think my little one, who's three, fully realizes what I do for a living. Ella used to come with me everywhere. You know, I was doing My Fair Lady when she was two. So she would be backstage. But Louisa doesn't really come with me, so she doesn't really see what it is. So long winded answer, no,
WSHU: Yeah, exactly, or they know, and they don't care. I just have to tell you that my husband and I were watching Mayor of Kingstown, and you were playing Cindy. And I said to my husband, yeah, that's Melania from the Colbert Show. He went, “It is not.” I said, “Yes, it is.” It's just you are hilarious as Melania Trump. A little question, because we are running out of time. How much makeup does it take to turn into Melania Trump for Colbert.
Laura: Pounds. I mean, legitimately, pounds of makeup. It is really astonishing. I watched myself turn into her in over the course of 45 minutes. Those women are geniuses. They're incredible. The hair and makeup. It's unreal.
WSHU: The last question is really for both of you, and can you talk a little bit about any tips you might have for people who are striking a balance between a career in theater and being a parent?
Laura: Mom, you want to go first?
WSHU: Yeah, Linda, you go first. Mothers know best.
Laura: Exactly.
Linda: There's no formula. I think it's just listening to your heart, and really reading your child, knowing what the child needs. I think it's good for children to see parents, and especially moms, with something they love, and seeing them do it and achieve it, and a sense of accomplishment, I think it's great, but at the same time, you always want your children to feel like they come first. So it's that balance
WSHU: Absolutely and I always say balance isn't achieved. We just attempt it constantly. Laura, how about you?
Laura: Wow. I don't know the answer to it. You know, I haven't been on Broadway in seven years by design.
WSHU: It's a tough life for parents.
Laura: It is. It's weird, you know, like you mentioned that I'm on the show Mayor of Kingstown, it films in Pittsburgh. I see my children more commuting weekly to Pittsburgh than I do when I'm doing eight shows a week.
WSHU: Yeah.
Laura: So I think it all really comes down to support, and I feel so blessed with the support system that I have. My husband, my parents, his parents, our nanny. You know, we have so many caregivers, and if you don't have that kind of support, I don't know how you do it. You know, all that is to say, I think the balance comes from the people around you, holding you from your village, and I feel grateful that I've always had that.
