One of the things that makes Broadway star Laura Benanti so much fun to watch is the discrepancy between her unassuming behavior and what happens when she starts singing.
Benanti is one of those gorgeous women — those eyes! those dimples! — who looks like a diva but relishes self-deprecating humor. In her new cabaret show, “In Constant Search of the Right Kind of Attention,” she’s a regular, aw-shucks girl next door who jokes about her canceled TV series (“The Playboy Club,” “Go On”) and recalls her youth as an unpopular show-tune geek — she once dressed up as Fosca, the ugly anti-heroine from “Passion,” on Halloween.
But there’s nothing regular about Benanti’s voice, a burnished, full-bodied soprano that’s enlivened shows as diverse as “The Wedding Singer” and “Gypsy,” where her slinky performance as Louise landed her a Tony.
That voice is like a purring sports-car engine. It’d be nice to see Benanti rev it up more here, but the pace is mostly leisurely, with too many ballads that showcase the singer’s tone but don’t challenge it.
Chief among those offenders are three pallid songs co-written by music director/accompanist Todd Almond. Benanti makes them sound great, of course, but they fade from memory the second they’re over.
A sultry mash-up of Ellie Goulding’s “Starry Eyed” and Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games” is just as languid but fares better because the songs themselves are infectiously catchy.
Best are the numbers that make full use of Benanti’s sharp acting skills and comic timing, like a fast-paced medley threading together “Single Ladies,” “Ol’ Man River,” “Thong Song,” “Fat Bottomed Girls,” “Baby Got Back,” “Proud Mary” and more.
But the best comes last, with songs Benanti performed on Broadway.
First is the heartsick breakup aria “Unusual Way” from “Nine” — along with a story about how Chita Rivera, her co-star in the 2003 revival, taught her how to make her final bow.
Wrapping things up, she performed the hilarious, Spanish-accented epic “Model Behavior,” from her memorable turn as a dimwit in the short-lived “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.” At last Benanti puts the pedal to the metal — and leaves us on a giddy high.