Broadway Star Trolled for Flight Recognition Woes

Tony-winning stage star Laura Benanti came in for a deluge of mockery over an Instagram clip she posted about a disgruntling airplane experience.

Benanti, , arrived on a flight filled with a teenage 'theater group' who gave her a rude awakening.

'And not a single one of them recognized me, and I could not tolerate that obviously,' the 46-year-old actress said with a sardonic grin.

'So I said: "Are you guys part of a theater group?" And they said yes. And then I said: "I do theater," and then a young man in a beret and a jacket draped over his shoulders said: "Cool,"' she added wanly, concluding: 'RIP.'

Viewers reacted with derision on X, posting remarks like: 'I don't know who she is either,' 'Anyone know who the hell she is? Without googling it,' and: 'She looks like a lady I'd expect to be denied entry for drinking too much wine at the bar in the airport.' 

On Benanti's own Instagram page, the ridicule became so intense that she had to add a disclaimer to her caption: 'to the people in my comments saying you don’t know me either, I don’t expect you to! I’m taking the p*** out of myself. Not them.'

Her original caption had included a gentle jibe at her young fellow passengers: 'I guess they weren’t alive to watch The Tonys in 2008.' 

She was referring to the year she won for her role as Louise opposite Patti LuPone as Mama Rose in a revival of the beloved 1959 musical Gypsy.

Benanti (center) is pictured with Boyd Gaines (left) and Patti LuPone (right) performing at the 2008 Tony Awards, where all three of them won for their turns in a revival of Gypsy