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
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Filmed in 2023, the one-night-only event featured Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald, Peter Friedman, and more from the Ahrens and Flaherty musical's original cast.
