Laura Ilene Benanti is an American actress and singer.
Benanti in 2012 Drama League Benefit Gala
Benanti with Derek Hough and Jared Grimes at the Radio City Music Hall Spring Spectacular in 2015
Benanti has portrayed Melania Trump numerous times on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
The Sound of Music is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. Set in Austria on the eve of the Anschluss in 1938, the musical tells the story of Maria, who takes a job as governess to a large family while she decides whether to become a nun. She falls in love with the children, and eventually their widowed father, Captain von Trapp. He is ordered to accept a commission in the German navy, but he opposes the Nazis. He and Maria decide on a plan to flee Austria with the children. Many songs from the musical have become standards, including "Do-Re-Mi", "My Favorite Things", "Edelweiss", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", and the title song "The Sound of Music".
Mary Martin and children in a publicity photo, 1959
The Sound of Music showing at the London Palladium in 2009
