Quotes from Laura Benanti

Musical theatre is my first love.

I really do love the Muppets. My sister used to call them the Muffets. She'd be like, "Can we watch the Muffets?" So anything that reminds me of how adorable my sister was, I'm a big fan of.

I always love to see singing on television; any form of a musical is exciting to me.

Television can be a little tricky in terms of finding roles that feel fully flushed out, which is why I love being in the theater so much, because the roles tend to be really on the page.

Of course I wanted an agent from the time I was like 5, but my mother was like, 'No, you're going to be normal, you're going to go to school, you're going to get good grades, you're going to play soccer, and if you do well, if you keep your grades up, you can do one community-theater show a year.'

A lot of times, when you're the leading lady, you get to sing heartwarming songs and that's it, and people don't get a sense of who you truly are.

For me, Kate McKinnon can do no wrong. She is an absolute genius. She's a hero of mine. Melissa McCarthy is hilarious.

I've worked so hard since I was 18 years old, and I'd hate for the memories to be boiled down to being a Melania Trump impersonator.

I finally stopped complaining about 'Why isn't everybody else making me what I want to be?' You can't rely solely on your agent or your managers to educate people as to who you are.

For me, even if I'm singing to a very large audience, like in 'The Sound of Music Live' or in the 'She Loves Me' broadcast, I try to imagine that I am just singing to each individual. It doesn't change my energy other than being perhaps a bit more nervous. I try to sing to each person and right into their individual heart.

If you can hear music, you can hear the musicality of the way someone speaks. It's easier to nail down the way that they talk. So much of it is listening, just like in acting. If you're listening, you pick up the nuance of why a person behaves the way that they behave.

I actually enjoy Britney Spears. Not as a singer but as a performer. I just enjoy watching her. I think, 'You are so brave.'

Do I want to write a musical? No. I like to do musicals.

When I was 5 years old, I was coming up the stairs, and I saw my mom standing there, singing 'A Quiet Thing' a cappella, and it was such a differentiating moment for me. I realized that we are separate from each other - she has dreams and goals.

I think that every therapist that I know, including my dad and my sister, have their own issues. But that empathy is what makes them good at their job.

My mother was an actress and my voice teacher, an incredible voice teacher. My biological father is an actor, and my stepfather, who raised me along with my mother, is a psychotherapist. I was always supported in creative ventures.

I do think musical-theater actors can get a bad rap, and I see why. There is a certain slickness - there's nothing better than an amazing musical, but an okay musical can be one of the worst times you've ever had.

I was a little girl who grew up idolizing musical-theatre stars.

That's all TV acting is. Like, let me find my mark and seem like I'm still acting. Sometimes they'll put sandbags there, but then it's even funnier because you're walking and you're, like, stepping into sandbags, so now you look like you're having a seizure.

I didn't love stickers and unicorns and stuff, but just if I were to ride on the back of a beast to work, I want it to be a frickin' unicorn.

I don't think theater is dying, and musicals are a great American art form. We've got apple pie, jazz and musical theater.

For me, Melania represents America. We're all reluctantly married to Donald Trump now. She is a vehicle to making fun of him. I can't do a Donald Trump impersonation, but I can impersonate her.

My mother was an actress and my voice teacher, an incredible voice teacher. My biological father is an actor, and my stepfather, who raised me along with my mother, is a psychotherapist. I was always supported in creative ventures.

I am not so secretly a comedian. I write a lot of my own material if you've seen videos I've done. I write jokes.