VideoLaura Benanti Sings From Beauty and the Beast in Her Melania Swan SongThe Tony winner performed a parody of “Belle” in the middle of Times Square.
By
Dan Meyer
January 19, 2021
Melania Trump is looking forward to returning to “the Huge Apple,” as she likes to call it—or rather, as Laura Benanti’s impression of the FLOTUS calls it. But is NYC ready to welcome her back? Signs point to no in this parody of “Belle” from Beauty and the Beast above (skip to 3:50 for Benanti's entrance) that was seen on the January 18 broadcast of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
In what may be the final performance of Benanti as Melania Trump, the late-night program poked fun at the First Lady, suggesting an inability to comprehend the disdain her hometown has developed for her over the years. No bad deed goes unmentioned from her involvement with ICE detainment with children of families seeking asylum to the alleged complicity of her involvement in the January 6 Capitol Building attack.
The Tony winner has frequently portrayed Melania on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, adopting a faux Eastern European accent and a sense of bewilderment regarding her low popularity. Benanti isn't the only one who toyed with impressions of FLOTUS—in 2019, the star was joined by Christine Baranski around the time of the body-double conspiracy theory.
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From Gypsy to Eliza: Celebrating the Career of Laura Benanti
From Gypsy to Eliza: Celebrating the Career of Laura Benanti
46 PHOTOS
Laura Benanti and Richard Chamberlain in The Sound of Music
Laura Benanti in The Sound of Music
Laura Benanti in The Sound of Music
Laura Benanti in Into the Woods
Stephen Lynch and Laura Benanti in The Wedding Singer
Laura Benanti in The Wedding Singer
Laura Benanti in The Wedding Singer
Boyd Gaines, Laura Benanti, and Patti LuPone in Gypsy
Joan Marcus
Laura Benanti in Gypsy
Laura Benanti in Gypsy
Kristine Nielsen and Laura Benanti in Why Torture Is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them
Joan Marcus
Michael Cerveris and Laura Benanti in In the Next Room
Quincy Tyler Bernstine and Laura Benanti in In the Next Room
Laura Benanti in In the Next Room
Laura Benanti in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Nikka Graff Lanzarone, Laura Benanti and Justin Guarini in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Laura Benanti in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Laura Benanti on NBC's "The Playboy Club"
Laura Benanti on "Go On"
Laura Benanti on "Go On"
Laura Benanti with The Skivvies
Laura Benanti performs at the 2013 Tony Awards
Laura Benanti and Christian Borle rehearse "The Sound of Music Live!"
Wicked, injecting a new backstory onto the classic tale The Wizard of Oz, debuted on Broadway in 2003 and continues to be an audience favorite at the Gershwin Theatre.
Starring David Harewood, Toby Jones, Caitlin FitzGerald, Vinette Robinson and Luke Treadaway, the production be screened across the UK, US, Australia and selected international territories.
