Let me start out by saying that I reluctantly fell under the charms of Laura Benanti, never quite sure what her exact appeal was. At this point in my mistaken existence, I had seen her ONLY in the 2003 revival of Nine playing Claudia and found her to be quite capable, but I was not sure what all of the hoopla was about. As much as I prefer to be always right, I have to admit that I was extremely wrong where Ms. Benanti is concerned. Several years later, my good friend and sparring partner Robbie Rozelle took me to see Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and to use an overused phrase, “I saw the light.
Audra, Patti, Bernadette, Chita, Ethel or Angie: Why Do We Love Our Broadway Divas?
Musical Theatre is an exciting world where we love to revere our divas and put them up on a pedestal. In fact, try to find a Broadway musical fan who doesn’t vociferously defend and overtly adulate their leading lady of choice? It is a big part of the musical theatre landscape, always has been and always will be. The question, however, is “why” do we elevate these women into the stratosphere and never really feel compelled to do the same for the men who work so hard in this profession?
I assume that everyone reading this understands that this is pure speculation, and not any attempt to impose concrete rules on such a subjective matter. I feel the need to state this because I know that everyone has their very personal reasons for their likes and dislikes of certain performers, but I would like to speculate on what draws us to these “Grande Dames of the Theatre”.