Laura and Linda Benanti: Mothers Know Best at 54 Below

Tulis McCall
August 12, 2024
54 Below, Cabaret, Laura Benanti, Linda Benanti, Tulis McCall

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NEW YORK – Laura and Linda Benanti: Mothers Know Best at 54 Below

I supposed three are sweeter things than watching Laura and Linda Benanti show us (and each other) a good time. Offhand, nothing comes to mind. Perhaps that is because I am still basking in the glow of their two-hander ending its current run this evening, July 24. I can only hope for your sake that they will be back.

Billy Stritch, Music Director for Laura and Linda Benanti “Mothers Know Best” at 54 Below. Courtesy billystritch.com

These two are a tag team of the best order. They show off what is the core of their musicianship: a boatload of skill and a soupçon of sass. The musicians who back them are of the same flavor, beginning with Music Director Billy Stritch. Ann Klein on guitar is a lovely surprise. Steve Doyle on bass and Daniel Glass on drums complete this excellent package.

Linda Benanti at her voice studio. Screen capture by Edward Kliszus, courtesy lindabenantivoicestudio.com.

They turn their opening number, “Que Sera Sera” (Livingston and Evans), into a laundry list of things to worry about in the “What Will Be” department (deodorant poisoning and the election are two). Linda is featured next with two old standards, “The Shadow of Your Smile” (Mandel and Webster) and “I Had a Dream About You” (Maury Yeston), which might have been schmaltz in another person’s hands, but this Benanti put the right tone on both of these songs that were favorites of her parents.

Laura Benanti. Courtesy laurabenanti.com

Benanti the Younger returns to the stage, wiping her eyes. “My mother makes me cry,” she tells us just before she directs an audience member to fix his seat position so he doesn’t hurt his neck because that would be upsetting to her. Sprinkled throughout the night are Benanti stories that reflect the journeys that both of these women continue to experience. “Wives and Lovers” (Bachrach and David) is turned into a scathing sendup of the confinement of women, which was, in a word, exhausting.

The elder Benati relates the real COVID estate transactions (can we move in, Mom?) that brought precious time with grandchildren as they learned new words daily. This leads to the liquid poetry of “Words” (Maury Yeston).

“Vanilla Ice Cream” (Bock/Harnick) from “She Loves Me” is gifted to us next, along with the child in the audience who sent Benanti original drawings that she still has. Benanti was and is an eclectic mix of qualities that she is feeding out in the wilds of New Jersey. Life seems to be filled with EVENTS that propel her forward to the next event. One of those was her encounter with an angel – Chita Rivera – who, during the run of “Nine,” gave over half of her dressing room to Benanti, who was recovering from surgery. Each night, as Benenti was singing “Unusual Way” (Maury Yeston) to Antonio Banderas, she was actually singing to Rivera.

Laura and Linda Benanti on stage in Laura and Linda Benanti: Mothers Know Best at 54 Below. Courtesy 54below.org

Benanti the Elder follows with “The Man Who Got Away” – a rough and rich tribute to Judy Garland (with a Garland story, of course).

“Recovering Ingenue” (Benanti and Almond) is a tribute to both Benanti’s paths that led them to where they are. Their penultimate number is a duet of “One More Kiss,” a soaring investigation of love’s power.

The final “I’m Gonna Miss This” (Benanti and Klein) is a touching tribute to the spot where these two lives and loves intersect. Sometimes, life gives you such rich material that you must put as many stories as possible into a show. The Benanti Duo is rich with tales that hit us where we live. They are mothers and daughters of each other. What could be better than that?