Broadway debut earns Tony nod
Central Floridian’s role in ‘The Great Comet’ has earned her a best actress nomination
For her first Broadway outing, Central Floridian Denée Benton could take home a Tony award.
In her titular role in “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812” Benton is a contender for best actress in a musical. Nominations for the Tonys, the theater industry’s best-known prizes, were announced Tuesday. They will be handed out in a televised ceremony June 11.
“I am over the moon with gratitude and excitement,” Benton wrote in an email. “I feel as if God has been watching my daydreams and here they are unfolding before my eyes.”
Benton, who grew up in Oviedo and Winter Park, is a 2010 graduate of Trinity Preparatory School. One of the first things she did after learning of the nomination: Text her theater teacher at the Winter Park private school.
Janine Papin, who chairs Trin-
ity Prep’s fine-arts department, said Benton thanked her for helping the young actress on her “amazing journey,” causing the proud teacher to “sob like a baby.”
“I could not be more thrilled for, and proud of, Denée,” Papin said. “As she has skyrocketed to stardom, she has used her voice and the onslaught of media attention to focus on much more than herself. Her female strength, educated mind and inner light will be an example for young girls of all backgrounds, but especially for young girls of color.”
Her parents were left speechless by the nomination. “Her dad and I have no words that adequately match the elation we feel now on her incredible journey,” mom Jackie Benton wrote in an email.
Nicknamed “The Great Comet,” Benton’s show is based on a 70-page snippet of the novel “War and Peace.” Benton stars opposite Josh Groban as Natasha, a young Russian woman who makes a disastrous romantic choice.
Groban also received a Tony nod, as did Lucas Steele, who plays the bad boy who seduces Natasha. In all “The Great Comet,” written by Dave Malloy, received 12 nominations — the most of any show.
“Dave Malloy wrote a role that is life-changing and it has demanded everything I have to offer, so it is an honor of a lifetime to be recognized for this work,” Benton wrote. “And not to mention recognized alongside the legends whose work I’ve studied for years.”
Benton is indeed in esteemed company. The other nominees in her category are Bette Midler (“Hello, Dolly!”); multiple Tony winners Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole (both in “War Paint”); and Eva Noblezada, who is starring in “Miss Saigon” as Kim — a role that won her an award when the production played in London.
A theater graduate of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Benton previous played the leading female role in “The Book of Mormon,” both in London’s West End and on a U.S. tour that stopped in Orlando in 2014.
Benton joins an elite group of Central Floridians that includes Norm Lewis, a 1981 Edgewater High School graduate who grew up in Eatonville. He was nominated in 2012 for his starring role in the musical “Porgy & Bess.”
Karen Olivo, who was raised in the Polk County community of Bartow, won the 2009 Tony for best featured actress in a musical. She played Anita in a revival of “West Side Story.”
Tuesday on Twitter, Groban sent “so much love” to co-stars Benton and Steele and the “Comet” creative team. “What a wonder of a show,” he tweeted. “What a gift to be part of it. Just wow.”
Competing against Groban for leading actor in a musical: Christian Borle (“Falsettos”); Andy Karl (“Groundhog Day: The Musical”); David Hyde Pierce (“Hello, Dolly!”); and Ben Platt (“Dear Evan Hansen”).
For featured actor in a musical, Steele faces Gavin Creel (“Hello, Dolly!”); Mike Faist (“Dear Evan Hansen”); Andrew Rannells (“Falsettos”); and Brandon Uranowitz (“Falsettos”).
For best musical, “Comet” is up against “Come From Away,” about a small town hosting rerouted airplane passengers on 9/11; “Dear Evan Hansen,” a look at teens in the age of social media; and “Groundhog Day: The Musical,” based on the movie.
Top play contenders include “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” written by Lucas Hnath, who grew up in Orlando; “Oslo,” a behind-the-scenes look at Israeli-PLO peace negotiations; “Indecent,” about a scandalous moment in Broadway history; and “Sweat,” a Pulitzer prizewinning drama about working-class friends facing an uncertain future.