Tony award-winner Laura Benanti brings her solo show Nobody Cares to Underbelly Boulevard Soho, London, running until 26 July. The 65-minute performance blends cringeworthy confessions with musical numbers, exploring her journey from a young Broadway ingenue to a middle-aged mother and comedian.
A recovering people pleaser's tale
Benanti, who self-deprecatingly notes she is a "four-time Tony award loser," recounts her early career starting at age 18 on the Great White Way. She describes being propositioned by bigshot producers and breaking her neck during a revival of Into the Woods. As a "pathological people pleaser," she did not raise a fuss, and the injury was covered up. These eyebrow-raising anecdotes form the strongest part of the show, delivered with musical director Todd Almond and a two-piece backing band.
The show is cringingly funny about Benanti's conflict avoidance, as she lurches from disastrous relationships to another and squirms out of a marriage proposal in the least appropriate way imaginable. That latter episode inspires a droll song recounting her equally cringy effort years later to make amends.
Dialogue with younger self
The conceit of middle-aged Benanti in dialogue with her hapless younger self gives the show real savour. However, this focus is diluted in the second half as she recounts later life. An anecdote about sourcing paperwork for her two divorces rests on the curious assumption that those divorces are shameful. She also shares tales of her children's birth and a heartfelt section on the pressure to breastfeed.
What becomes clear is that this is not a show about being a recovering ingenue; it is a grab-bag of "lessons she's learned" and things she thinks are worth sharing. These include the sentiment "our kids are so funny…" (one of her daughter's put-downs gives the show its title), which inspires a fun song about the lies we tell our children, but which in due course devolves into schmaltz.
Closing reflections
The show's closing stages circle back, a little clunkily, to Benanti's childhood, before rounding off with a clarion call to confused ingenues everywhere. For them, Nobody Cares is a must-see, while being merely charming and enjoyable for the rest of us. According to the review, the show has savour and schmaltz, but its second half loses focus.
