What's Up, Laura Benanti? Dishing About Women on the Verge and Why She's in Her Best Shape Ever

After detouring into a pair of plays with supersize titles (Why Torture Is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them and In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play), Laura Benanti has returned to her musical roots in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. As the adorably ditzy model Candela, the Tony-winning star totters around the stage in barely-there costumes, showing off her comedic and vocal chops in the show-stopping number “Model Behavior.” Less than a week before opening night, Benanti took time for a brief chat with Broadway.com.

Women on the Verge has had plenty of scrutiny leading up to opening night, but we haven’t heard about any real-life nervous breakdowns backstage.
Everybody has stayed really calm, and a lot of that has trickled down from [director] Bart [Sher]. Bart is extremely measured while being excited and fun and collaborative. I’ve loved working with him. And he’s assembled a lovely group of people who are not ego-driven. Everyone wants to serve the play. It’s that simple.

You’ve done lots of revivals but not many original musicals. What’s the process been like for you?
This has been one of the most creatively fulfilling experiences I’ve ever had. I was given so much guidance and also so much freedom in rehearsal. I felt like Bart led me toward something great and let me run with it. I’m having a wonderful time.

It doesn’t hurt that Candela is such a fabulous character.
I’m really lucky. I love Candela, and I feel very grateful to have that wonderful number [“Model Behavior”]. I love her freedom, because it’s so different from me. I’m a more conservative person.

It must be fun to play someone so sexy and naive.
So fun! What I love about Candela is that she has a really serious problem [dating a would-be terrorist], but the world is just so full of shiny objects that she’s constantly distracted [laughs]. It’s a role with limitless possibilities.

You look like you’re in even better shape now then you were two years ago in Gypsy.
You might have heard that I had a second spinal surgery. The surgery I received in 2003, unbeknownst to me, did not fuse properly. I was in excruciating pain while I was doing The Vibrator Play [in fall 2009]. Finally I went to a different doctor, who said, “You need surgery.” They came in through the back of my neck, and it put me out for about four months. But for the first time since I was 22 years old, I’m able to exercise fully and not be in pain. I’ve also been following a vegetarian/vegan diet, which helps. Would I love to eat a slice of pizza? Yes, I would. But I can’t do that until we close [laughs].

How wonderful that your neck issues are finally solved!
Oh my god, it’s been a nightmare, but I’m so grateful that that part of my life is behind me. I’m really looking forward to the rest of my 30s, because I think, “Wow—I can’t believe all that I accomplished while having intermittently debilitating neck pain. Imagine what I’m going to be able to accomplish now that I don’t have that!” I’m thinking of it in a positive way.

What’s your talented husband [actor Steven Pasquale] up to these days?
Steve has been in Atlanta shooting a movie with Lucy Liu and Bobby Cannavale. He has been so supportive and helpful—he came to visit me in the middle of tech rehearsals and stayed at the theater with me the entire time!

What do you love most about Women on the Verge?
I like that it’s taking chances. I like that it’s not spelling things out perfectly for the audience; it’s giving people credit for having enough intelligence to figure out what’s going on. I’m a big fan of [film director Pedro] Almodovar, so I’m just honored to be part of this.