You may know Laura Benanti as a Tony Award–winning Broadway actor for her role as Louise, the quiet-girl-turned stripper in the Jule Style/Stephen Sondheim/Arthur Laurents musical classic Gypsy. Benanti started her career at 18 as Leisl in a Broadway revival of The Sound of Music, ultimately moving into the role of lapsed nun Maria opposite Richard Chamberlain (who was well into his 60s at the time) as the captain and her love interest. Ugh.
But most folks will recognize the musical theater star for her resting-bitch-face and spot-on parodies of Melania Trump on the, alas, late Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The popular and ongoing political parody allowed her to mine her Eastern European roots and cold stare.
Over the past few years, the soprano with a wicked comedic streak has taken to sharing her personal stories and songs in Nobody Cares, with commentary that’s laugh-out-loud funny and slightly risqué. Draped in a loose-fitting tangerine pantsuit and a curve-hugging black bodysuit beneath, Benanti bounds onstage at Baltimore’s Center Stage Pearlstone Theater in matching tangerine sneakers.
Does every performer who stops here sing “Good Morning, Baltimore,” she wonders, admitting it’s her first visit to Charm City. In just 60 minutes, Benanti shares and overshares about her insecurities, her dating and sex life, her multiple marriages, and her hyper-nerdy childhood as a middle school fan of Sondheim and Murder, She Wrote. Then she brings out a ghastly picture of her 11-year-old self, looking like a 40-year-old matron for shock value and self-deprecating chuckles.
Her foil in this autobiographical song-and-laugh evening is Todd Almond, with whom she collaborated on the original songs, which range from the opener with the refrain “Give Me Your Attention,” a narcissistic plea to be noticed; “Here Come the Good Men,” her ode to gay men who don’t send their female friends d*(&k pics; and a ballad about what to do when an ingenue ages out. In Benanti’s case, she made a show about herself.
With a wisecracking Almond on piano joined by Joanna Smith on bass and Jo Huling on drums, the song-and-dance numbers vibrate with punchlines and the occasional agony of embarrassment and self-deprecation. But no worries: now rail-thin, Benanti is quick with a hip thrust or kick-ball-change to keep things moving with Broadway-style pizzazz.
She overshares about dating “man-boys,” then over-marrying them. Now happy as a late-bloomer mother, the precocious and smart-alecky stories about her two daughters elicit ahhs and giggles from the majority middle-aged female audience. The smattering of gay best friends tagging along smile knowingly. The most recognition and nodding affirmations arrived as Benanti got hot around the collar — and other body parts — about perimenopause. And who wouldn’t? We definitely need more songs about women with hot flashes and brain fog — maybe there should be a whole genre. Laura, dear, call your agent.
Performing part autobiography, part laughably self-absorbed confessional, this former ingenue singer/actor/songwriter/storyteller wends her way to redefining her voice and her life as this 60-minute romp winds down. A closing disco-to-power rock anthem — with some colored light effects — leans into the singer’s self-deprecating comedy as she croons, “You don’t have to be perfect.” As an evening out, Nobody Cares is light, a bit slight, but fun and noddingly truthful. And, while many one-person shows can ramble, this one is so tightly constructed by Benanti and directed by Annie Tippe that it left me wanting more stories, songs, and bits.
Running Time: 60 minutes with no intermission.
Nobody Cares plays through September 26, 2026, at Baltimore Center Stage, 700 North Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD. For tickets ($60–$70), call the box office at (410) 332-0033 (Tuesday through Friday, noon–5 pm), email boxoffice@centerstage.org, or purchase them online.
The program for Nobody Cares is online here.
Production features strobe lighting and is not recommended for audiences under 18.
