Q&A
a young age. I was 17 when I audi-
tioned for The Sound of Music, and
feeling that sense of encouragement
my whole life, from early on in my
community, enabled me to do that.
YOU LIVE IN MANHATTAN NOW,
BUT YOUR PARENTS ARE STILL IN
KINNELON. WHEN YOU’RE HOME,
WHAT ARE THE OLD PLACES YOU
LIKE TO REVISIT? Lake Reality was
the lake I went to as a kid, and my
mom still belongs there. We take my
daughter there. East of Reality, the
deli next door, we go there. I like the
drive-through coffee at Longfellow’s.
Mostly, we just hang at my parents’
house because it’s so beautiful there.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON
NOW? I’m doing some concerts. I
just did a few with my mom [Linda],
which was incredible. We did shows
at 54 Below, and we were in San
Francisco and Indianapolis. I did a
couple of episodes of Younger, with
Sutton Foster. I know Sutton from
Broadway, so it was fun to work with
her. We’d never worked together
before. It was such a nice set, and it’s
always a joy to work on a show that’s
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BACK TO SCHOOL 2018 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE
BROADWAY VETERAN (Top) Benanti acting in The Wedding Singer; (bottom) Zachary Levi and
Benanti embrace during a scene in She Loves Me.
THEATRE
YOU BASICALLY JUMPED FROM THE
KINNELON HIGH SCHOOL STAGE
TO PAPER MILL PLAYHOUSE TO
BROADWAY. HOW HEADY WAS THAT
PERIOD WHEN YOU WERE 17, 18, 19,
AND ALL OF THIS WAS HAPPENING
AT ONCE? It was everything I’d ever
dreamed of, everything I’d worked
toward. Fortunately, I have wonderful
parents who instilled in me the values
I still hold today. I was appreciative
of the situation. I knew it was rare.
I was excited, obviously, because
I was achieving my goal at such a
young age. But I do think going from
living with my parents in a house in
Kinnelon to all of a sudden, at 18,
living in a studio apartment, was
lonely. There was nobody my age,
because everybody my age was in
college. That was difficult, just in that
I didn’t really have a peer group. It
took a while to find the wonderful
group of friends I have now.