Laura Benanti 'Pleasantly Surprised' by Tony Nod for Long-Closed Women on the Verge

The morning the Tony nominations are announced, phones start ringing off the hook for the happy few who get nods. As usual, Broadway.com is among the callers offering congratulations and getting responses. Here are the first reactions from 2011 Tony nominees. Congrats to all!

Laura Benanti
Nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

“I’m so excited! My mom and dad called me [with the news], and then I woke my poor husband [Steven Pasquale, currently starring in Tony Kushner’s four-hour-long Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide]. I felt bad about waking him up—imagine doing that show twice in a day! I’m stunned and thrilled and very pleasantly surprised. Our show closed in January, and I really did not expect to be remembered. It’s so gratifying to feel like this character stuck in people’s minds for that long. And I’m so happy Patti [LuPone] and [composer David] Yazbek were acknowledged. It makes the sadness of the show closing so unceremoniously feel gentler to me because I loved the show and my role so much. It was like saying goodbye to a friend—I would love to be going to the theater every night and being [Candela]. Being recognized and celebrated [at the Tonys] feels like our show is having a second wind, so that makes me really happy. All I’ve ever wanted was to be on Broadway, since I was a little girl, so to be nominated for a Tony Award four times? It’s my dream come true.”