Laura Benanti and Linda Benanti to Perform in MOTHERS KNOW BEST at Westport Country Playhouse
Laura Benanti teams up with her mother for a unique performance at Westport Country Playhouse
By: Stephi Wild Feb. 11, 2026
Westport Country Playhouse will present Tony Award-winning actress and singer Laura Benanti joining forces with her real-life mother, acclaimed voice teacher and singer Linda Benanti, in “Mothers Know Best,” a touchingly humorous musical show about mother-daughter relationships, on Saturday, February 28, at 8 p.m. A three-piece band is led by Billy Stritch, music director. A previous engagement at New York's 54 Below won a 2025 BroadwayWorld Cabaret Award for Best Duo Cabaret Show.
Each a mother of two girls, Laura and Linda Benanti take the audience on an insightful journey through songs and recollections of their parenting styles, careers, and childhood, including how mom Linda was Laura's voice teacher growing up. Their repertoire of songs includes duets like “One More Kiss” from “Follies” and “Que Será, Será” (with a comic twist!); alongside Laura's Broadway showstoppers, “Vanilla Ice Cream” from “She Loves Me,” and “My Fair Lady in 15 Minutes or Less,” a compilation of musical highlights from “My Fair Lady”; and Linda's rendition of “The Man That Got Away,” drawing on her childhood admiration for Judy Garland.
Tony Award-winner and five-time Tony Award nominee Laura Benanti is a highly celebrated stage and screen actress. In the theater, Benanti took Broadway by storm at the age of 18 as Maria in ”The Sound of Music” and has subsequently starred in 10 more Broadway shows, including ”Into the Woods,” “Nine,” “Gypsy,” for which she won a Tony Award, “She Loves Me,” “My Fair Lady,” and Steve Martin's ”Meteor Shower.” She can currently be seen as a series regular in the role of ‘Cindy' on the acclaimed Paramount+ series ”Mayor of Kingstown.” Benanti co-starred in the film ”No Hard Feelings,” and had recurring roles in “Gilded Age, “Life & Beth,” “Younger,” and “Elsbeth.” She earned rave reviews for her portrayal of a grieving widow in ”Worth,” starring opposite Michael Keaton, and reunited with Keaton in the film ”Goodrich.” Benanti's iconic impression of Melania Trump on ”The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” is widely praised. Benanti debuted her highly celebrated solo comedy show ”Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares” at the Minetta Lane Theater. She created, wrote (songs co-written with Todd Almond), and starred in the show, which was recorded by Audible and is currently streaming on the platform. She has since brought The New York Times Critics' Pick to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where it played to sold-out audiences and rave reviews with encore performances at Underbelly Boulevard in London and the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. She will embark on a tour this summer culminating in a video capture.
Linda Benanti performed on Broadway in “Brigadoon,” the national tour of “The Odyssey” with Yul Brynner, off-Broadway as The Girl in “The Fantasticks,” and regionally as Guinevere in “Camelot,” Marian in “The Music Man,” Anne in “A Little Night Music,” Nanette in “No, No, Nanette,” Sarah in “Guys and Dolls,” and many others. After retiring from performing, she opened a vocal studio in Kinnelon, New Jersey. From this studio, she teaches everyone from local students to Broadway stars. She is thrilled to be out of retirement and performing across the country with her daughter!
Billy Stritch, music director, is a pianist-singer who has been a presence on the New York and national nightclub scene for nearly four decades. He began his career in Houston where he formed the vocal trio Montgomery, Plant and Stritch. The threesome performed all over New York and Europe from 1983 until they parted ways in 1990. That same year, Stritch started his solo performing career. He is perhaps best known for his 25-year position as musical director and pianist for Liza Minnelli and has also toured with Tony Bennett, Christine Ebersole, Linda Eder, Melissa Manchester, Linda Lavin, and many other top singers. His composition “Does He Love You” won the Grammy Award in 1993 and was recorded 30 years later by Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, garnering another Grammy nomination in 2023. Stritch was recently named Outstanding Musical Director for the fifth time by the readers of Broadway World and his 2022 birthday show at New York's famed Birdland Jazz Club was named Outstanding Vocal Jazz Engagement of the Year. He is the bandleader for “Jim Caruso's Cast Party” every Monday night at Birdland and the twosome also have a long-running Sunday night residency at Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle Hotel. Stritch has recorded numerous solo albums as well as two with Christine Ebersole and his most recent release “Billy's Place” (Club44 Records) is available on all the streaming platforms and at his website billystritch.com.
Videos