“Living out a story eight times a week is difficult and draining emotionally but very fulfilling. I will absolutely always be looking for more.” – Melissa Benoist on Her Broadway Debut
Supergirl star Melissa Benoist took a two-month break from saving the world this summer to fulfill one of her biggest goals as an actress — making her Broadway debut. Benoist just completed her run in the title role of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. She spoke to Deadline about what making her Broadway debut meant to her and how she thinks playing King will influence her performances in the next season of Supergirl.
Benoist has shown off her musical theater singing skills on Glee, but until this year had yet to make her Broadway debut. She explains that it was a lifelong dream for her to appear on a Broadway stage, saying, “I always feel very cheesy and earnest when I talk about it because it was always what I wanted to do as a kid. So I am essentially living out my childhood dream, and that’s fun. But it has given me a newfound respect for what I do for a living and kind of reignited this passion that I have. It’s so different from television. It’s so much more involved. Living out a story eight times a week is difficult and draining emotionally but very fulfilling. I will absolutely always be looking for more.”
And even though Supergirl and Carole King might seem like they have absolutely nothing in common as characters, Benoist reveals that she does see a connection between the two roles. She says, “I think that playing Carole and learning so much about her will certainly affect how I approach Supergirl at this point. Every role affects you. I do think that heading into Season 4 and walking into Supergirl’s shoes and donning the cape will feel different in a great way, especially because Carole’s story is about, in essence, owning yourself and being true to who you are, that you are enough. That’s something I’m always searching for in Supergirl: ways to further her development as a woman and find more empowering stories to tell through that.”
