Laura Benanti on Comedy, Confession and Why ‘Nobody Cares’

Broadway royalty. TV favourite. Now, London gets to see a whole new side of Laura Benanti. The Tony Award-winning star, beloved for her turns in Gypsy, Into The Woods, and She Loves Me, as well as TV roles in The Gilded Age, Supergirl and Younger, arrives in Soho with a show unlike anything she has done before. Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares is part stand-up, part confessional, part musical — a brutally honest and wildly funny one-woman comedy that charts her journey from ingénue to “recovering people pleaser.” Fresh from a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Benanti sits down with Hinton Magazine to talk about bravery, mistakes, and finding humour in the messiness of real life.

You have long been known as Broadway royalty, yet Nobody Cares shows you at your most stripped back and self deprecating. Was there a moment when you realised the funniest thing you could do on stage was stop playing a character and simply play yourself?

There wasn’t one singular moment. For me, it’s been the natural evolution of becoming a grown woman. As a young person I was singularly focused on keeping people happy and wanting their approval. Over time, I realized that if everyone likes me it means I lying to someone. And I don’t want to do that anymore. 

Comedy is often described as truth wrapped in timing. In this show you share stories from marriages, motherhood and perimenopause, subjects that can sometimes feel unglamorous or off limits. How do you decide what is fair game to laugh about and what you want to keep private?

A word I’ve heard a lot is that my show is “brave”, and while it makes me feel so gratified that people feel that way, it also makes me sad that a woman talking about her body or other less than ideal behaviors would have to be thought of as such. 

New York audiences know you as the Tony winning leading lady while London is about to meet you as a comic storyteller. What do you want a Soho audience, especially those who may only know you from Supergirlor The Gilded Age, to take away from this version of Laura Benanti?

Although my stories are quite specific and I would say most people haven’t experienced quite a bit of what I talk about, I want audiences to see themselves in my show. I want them to walk away feeling more emboldened and less shame. 

You have worked alongside legends such as Patti LuPone and Jane Krakowski, yet Nobody Cares places you completely alone on stage. Does carrying every laugh, every silence and every ounce of honesty feel more terrifying or more liberating than leading a full scale musical?

Having Todd Almond, my songwriting partner and creative collaborator on stage with me makes me feel like I’m not alone. This show is my favorite thing to do, and doing it with Todd makes it even more special. 

If the 18 year old ingénue at the very start of your career could sit in the front row of this show, what would she say as she watched you telling your own story entirely on your own terms?

I hope she would figure out how to get to the life I have now with my beautiful children and husband without making the shit mistakes I did! I hope she would know she’s going to be ok. All the fears she has about what others might be thinking about her, at the end of the day…nobody cares. 

Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares is more than a comedy show — it’s a window into the life of one of Broadway’s brightest talents, stripped of the spotlight gloss and filled instead with self-deprecating humour, sharp honesty, and an intimacy rarely seen from stars of her stature. From marriages to motherhood, from career missteps to the unglamorous truths of womanhood, Benanti brings her audience along for a ride that is both hilarious and deeply human.

Audiences in London will have just two chances to experience it live at Underbelly Boulevard Soho on Tuesday 2 September 2025 (7pm & 9pm).

🎟️ Tickets available here: underbellyboulevard.com/tickets/laura-benanti-nobody-cares