Laura Benanti News

Voting opened on May 5, 2011 and runs through June 3, 2011 for the 9th Annual BroadwayWorld.com Awards! Here are the current standings as of 5/30

Yesterday, May 26, The Outer Critics Circle honored Broadway's and Off Broadway's best of the 2010-2011 season. BroadwayWorld was on hand at Sardi's for the ceremony and brings you photo coverage below!

On Monday, May 23, Harvey Fierstein hosted the 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan. Matthew Rodrigues was in the winners room for the evening to catch up with the talent, and to figure out what a 'Drama Desk,' well, is. Click below for the theories (and to hear from the winners, too)!

As has been speculated, Barbra Streisand may still play Mama Rose in a new GYPSY movie despite author Arthur Laurents' recent death. The sixty-nine-year-old legend was enlisted to play Mama Rose but then, Laurents decided not to go ahead with the idea, mostly because he didn't think another movie version was necessary, only to have seconds thoughts just before he passed.

Last night, May 23, the 2011 Drama Desk Awards Ceremony took place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan. The Book of Mormon, Anything Goes, War Horse and The Normal Heart were the night's big winners, with favorites Sutton Foster, Norbert Leo Butz, Bobby Cannavale, Frances McDormand, Laura Benanti, John Larroquette, Brian Bedford and Edie Falco taking home the evening's top performance honors. The Awards ceremony was hosted by Harvey Fierstein. BroadwayWorld was there in the winners press room, of course, and brings you celebratory coverage below!

Last night, May 23, the 2011 Drama Desk Awards Ceremony took place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan. The Book of Mormon, Anything Goes, War Horse and The Normal Heart were the night's big winners, with favorites Sutton Foster, Norbert Leo Butz, Bobby Cannavale, Frances McDormand, Laura Benanti, John Larroquette, Brian Bedford and Edie Falco taking home the evening's top performance honors. The Awards ceremony was hosted by Harvey Fierstein. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the evening's starry opening red carpet and brings you Part 1 of our complete photo coverage below!

Last night, May 23, the 2011 Drama Desk Awards Ceremony took place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan. The Book of Mormon, Anything Goes, War Horse and The Normal Heart were the night's big winners, with favorites Sutton Foster, Norbert Leo Butz, Bobby Cannavale, Frances McDormand, Laura Benanti, John Larroquette, Brian Bedford and Edie Falco taking home the evening's top performance honors. The Awards ceremony was hosted by Harvey Fierstein. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the evening's starry opening red carpet and brings you Part 2 of our complete photo coverage below!

The Awards ceremony, hosted by Harvey Fierstein took place last night at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan Center! BroadwayWorld was updating the winners list live throughout the evening. Stay tuned for full coverage!

The Awards ceremony was hosted by Harvey Fierstein last night at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan Center! BroadwayWorld was updating the winners list live throughout the evening.

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed 'Best of New York' by New York Magazine and 'an invaluable New York institution' by The New York Post, continued its all-star Spring 2011 season with the return of Tony Award-winning Broadway star, LAURA BENANTI. Her new show 'Let Me Entertain You' featured songs from her Broadway roles in Gypsy ('Let Me Entertain You'), Nine ('Unusual Way'), Into The Woods ('Children Will Listen') and Swing! ('Skylark' and 'Hit Me With A Hot Note'), in addition to classics such as 'Alright, Okay, You Win,' 'They All Laughed' and 'If I Were A Bell.' '

Nominations for The 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced on Friday, April 29, 2011, at 9:30 AM at the New York Friars Club, 57 East 55th Street, in Manhattan. Amongst the shows with multiple nominations were THE BOOK OF MORMON with 12, ANYTHING GOES with 10, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE with 7, BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, SEE ROCK CITY & OTHER DESTINATIONS and WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN with 6.

Today we have a triple-feature and a double-dose day, with all three of the Tony-winning leading ladies who have won the Best Actress Tony Award for their take on Rose in GYPSY - as great a role in the musical theatre as Lear in KING LEAR is in the classical canon; no question. Believe it or not, Ethel Merman - the once-thought-incomparable original Rose in GYPSY - did not take the prize for Best Actress, nor did Bernadette Peters in the Sam Mendes-directed revival from early this century, but the three divas that did certainly made an unmistakable mark on the titanic role. Cutting to the chase, the ladies of the day: Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly and Patti LuPone. Who could ask for anything more? Not even Rose herself - and that's saying something.

Winners of the 2010-11 Drama League Awards, presented at the 77th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon on Friday, May 20, 2011 (1 p.m.) at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square. Here is BroadwayWorld.com's special coverage of all the lovely ladies in attendance.

Winners of the 2010-11 Drama League Awards, presented at the 77th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon on Friday, May 20, 2011 (1 p.m.) at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square..

The Independent Theater Bloggers Association (the 'ITBA') announced the 2011 recipients of the Third Annual Patrick Lee Theater Blogger Awards. Patrick Lee was one of the ITBA's founding members. Patrick passed away suddenly last June, and was an erudite, passionate, and tireless advocate for theater in all its forms. Patrick was also the ITBA's first awards director, and was a regular contributor to Theatermania and TDF Stages.

The Drama League has announced the rosters of stars who will appear as presenters at The 77th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon on Friday, May 20, 2011 (noon) in the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square (1535 Broadway at 46th Street). The ceremony will be hosted by Kathleen Turner (High).

In his column this morning, Michael Riedel suggests that Hugh Jackman, who just completed a two week run of his solo variety show at the Curran Theater in San Francisco is considering the starring role in an upcoming stage adaptation of Tim Burton's Big Fish. The new musical is being composed by Andrew Lippa. Jackman recently participated in a reading of the show with Laura Benanti.

Manhattan Theatre Club presented their annual Spring Gala last night, May 16, a special evening highlighting some of Broadway's most exciting shows, on Monday, May 16 at Gotham Hall. MTC's artistic director Lynne Meadow directed the evening, which was hosted by Tate Donovan (Good People) and Lily Rabe (The American Plan). The gala featured performances from the hit shows Baby It's You!, Catch Me If You Can, MTC's upcoming production of Master Class, Memphis, Rain, and Wicked. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the event and brings you photo coverage below.

As a super-special Spring extension of BroadwayWorld's SOUND OFF column, every day until the Tony Awards on June 12 we will be presenting a spectacular new entry in the SPOTLIGHT ON THE 2011 TONY AWARDS series featuring a particularly entertaining, interesting, relevant and exciting Tony Awards-related clip from the last sixty-three years of the ceremonies (and subsequent seasons on Broadway) with a rundown and commentary on the sights, sounds and showmanship on display in each carefully chosen selection - all, of course, coming in anticipation of Broadway's biggest night, which will be broadcast on CBS this year, as always. Once again this year, BroadwayWorld is the official home of the 2011 Tony Awards and we will also be featuring exclusive interviews, articles, photos, video content, interactive features and more in the coming days and weeks leading up to the event so be sure to check back daily for your theatre fix!

Below, we bring you Laura Benanti, Best Featured Actress in a Musical nominee for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Benanti is a previous winner in the category for Gypsy, and has also appeared on Broadway in In The Next Room (Vibrator Play), The Wedding Singer, Into the Woods, The Sound of Music and others.