My Fair Lady's Laura Benanti on Getting Close with Amy Schumer, Spoofing Melania Trump & More on Show People

Laura Benanti is heading back to Broadway as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. The Tony winner, social media maven and Melania Trump impersonator begins performances at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on October 23. This year marks 21 years since Benanti's Broadway debut. Her resume is full of dream roles, including Maria in The Sound of Music, Cinderella in Into the Woods and Louise in Gypsy, for which she won a Tony Award. Benanti, who is the mother of toddler Ella Rose, who is as vocal and assertive as her mother, says that being a parent is her true role of a lifetime. The Broadway favorite stopped by Show People with Paul Wontorek to talk about the post-partum challenges, getting close to Amy Schumer during Meteor Shower and much more.

1. HER DAUGHTER ELLA HAS OPINIONS
“She visibly brightens when I look nice. She’s like, ‘Mama!’ But then the other day, we were leaving to go outside, and I looked like I normally look, which is like someone has dragged me through the mud, and she went, ‘Oh, Mama! Makeup.’ She told me to put on makeup! She looks exactly like her dad. They look like actual twins. But her personality is very much me.”

2. PLAYING MELANIA TRUMP FEELS LIKE A PUBLIC SERVICE
“I always had a dream of being on Saturday Night Live. There’s a whole comedy part of me that I try to flex. Certainly, because of the Melania [impression], I’m getting more opportunity to do that. The only time it really was not fun was on election night. That was a live show, and I was crying. Because nobody anticipated the outcome, we really didn’t have an appropriate sketch, so I was doing a sketch based on an outcome that did not happen. That was the only time it was really, really not fun. After he won, it actually felt like a public service. I really went into the impression not wanting to attack her in any way because she didn’t choose this. I don’t think she ever anticipated that she would be the First Lady of the United States of America. I do think she’s a good mom. I think she’s beautiful. I think she’s intelligent. I don’t think she’s stupid. I vamp her up because she’s a model. It wasn’t until the ‘I Don’t Care. Do U?’ coat that I was like, ‘You know what? You are complicit in this.’”

3. SHE HAS A TALENT CRUSH ON AMY SCHUMER
“[After initially deciding I couldn't audition for My Fair Lady], I was raising my baby and making out with Amy Schumer [in Meteor Shower]. [That show] was the most fun. It was hilarious. It was such a great experience for me. I got to become really good friends with Amy, who is an amazing person and a wonderful advocate for all people and also really hilarious. The whole show became pretty improvisational, which was so fun. I was sad when it was done. I really was. I would have done that show forever.”

Other must-read highlights:

ON DREAM ROLES
“Eliza Doolittle is the dream role. [My dream roles growing up were] Maria in The Sound of Music, Cinderella in Into the Woods, Louise in Gypsy, and this is the pinnacle. As an eight-year-old, I was like a 45-year-old gay man. I still want to play Fosca in Passion and Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music.”

ON WAITING TO BE IN MY FAIR LADY
“I originally was like, ‘Yes, I am going to audition.’ I couldn’t even get it together to do the audition because I wanted to be with my baby. She had basically just been born, and so I called [director] Bart Sher, and I said, ‘Listen, if I can’t get it together for an audition, I can’t get it together to do this part.’ That was really hard. But it’s such an interesting lesson in letting go and having faith because I made peace with it. I said, ‘I’m never going to play my dream part. It’s done, and that’s OK.’ And then when Bart called and asked, “Do you want to come do this for however long you want?’, I couldn’t believe it.”

ON THE CHALLENGES OF MOTHERHOOD
“Ella was really colicky in the beginning, so for the first four months, I just didn’t sleep at all. To be totally transparent, I got really severe postpartum depression and anxiety. I think that women’s issues in general, especially when it comes to our reproductive system, are something that we’re deeply uncomfortable with. There’s just so much pressure on moms to do things in a very specific way. When you’re a first-time mom, you don’t know what it’s going to be. You grow a person, push a human out of your body and then they give it to you, and they’re like, ‘Keep it alive!’”

ON HER HUSBAND PATRICK
“He’s an actual angel. He's a civilian. He loves [theater.] He appreciates it. He has respect for it, but he’s not involved in it. The other day, he was like, ‘The boards are so excited that you're going to be Eliza Doolittle!’ I was like, ‘How do you even know what that is?’ He now has shows that he wants to see. He says things wrong, which is adorable. He’ll be like, ‘I really want to see Comes From Away.’ I’ve had dream roles my whole life, but I’ve also always really wanted a family so the fact that I am able to have this is really meaningful to me.”

ON THE BIG 4-0
“I am going to be 40 years old! How did that happen? I literally don’t understand how that happened. Father Time...of course it’s a father! It’s so crazy. I know when I was younger and older people said that, I was like, ‘Shut up! Everything takes forever! I want to drive.’ There’s so much I want to do. I do feel like I’ve never had a career predicated upon being beautiful, which is great because as I slowly melt and look like Jabba the Hutt, it will be fine because I can still make people laugh and feels things.”

Watch the full episode of Show People with Paul Wontorek below!

Interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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