The Kennedy Center Honors Wanda Mae Wonneberger
Each year for decades the Kennedy Center has honored five artists for lifetime achievement. Among the five honorees this year were a Beatle (Paul!), the big O (Oprah!), and a Broadway dandy—the immortal Jerry Herman.
Among his myriad of accomplishments, as songwriter of Hello Dolly, Mame, and La Cage Aux Folles, our gay superhero encouraged Dolly to come back where she belongs, Mame to coax the blues out of the horn, and us gay birds to flock together. And flock we do.
Alert readers will soon find out that a sixth—and very important posthumous honor—was bestowed backstage with love and admiration for a regal queen named Bob “Wanda Mae” Wonneberger, a Washington “drag” celebrity and frequent Rehoboth visitor.
We volunteer talent escorts work ourselves into a frenzy for the entire weekend of the Honors, but there’s always a payoff—the rehearsals and the backstage banter are too delicious for words. This year, my tenth as a volunteer, was the best ever. For the Jerry Herman tribute, I’d been assigned to escort Laura Benanti—whom I’d seen in her brilliant reprisal of the role of Gypsy with Patti LuPone playing stage mother from hell, Mama Rose.
Now Laura Benanti was riding in my car. She arrived in town with the legends, Carol Channing, Chita Rivera, and Angela Lansbury, along with the next generation of Broadway stars—Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara—to honor Mr. Herman.
So with all this talent, this version of Jerry’s Girls spanned six decades! Laura had been assigned the heartbreaking torch song “Time Heals Everything“ from Herman’s brilliant—albeit not as commercially known—musical, Mack and Mabel. Laura was performing on Broadway, so she couldn’t rehearse until the night before, and as I stood backstage listening to her sing, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington was ushered into place to rehearse their finale, “The Best of Times is Now,” from La Cage. Laura’s lovely sister Marielle turned to me and said, “Our uncle sang with the Gay Men’s Chorus, and I just love those guys.”
It turns out that after their uncle died, Laura came to DC to sing with the chorus in his honor.
Rehearsal broke and I escorted Laura and Marielle out to the front portico, rather hurriedly, as they only had a couple of hours before President and Mrs. Obama were to welcome them to the White House. So here comes this gaggle of gay geese from the chorus, running over to greet Laura. And she not only stopped to chat, she knew most of them by name. Then and there I learned that Broadway’s Laura Benanti is gorgeous inside and out.
We got into the car and she asked if I knew her uncle (and I so wanted to say I did—but escorts never lie—well, at least Kennedy Center talent escorts don’t).
Laura explained that because Bob’s last name was Wonneberger, he created his drag persona name “Wanda Mae” Wonneberger. I told her that one of the most popular drag queens in Key West is named “Sheileetah Corndog.“ We had a good giggle over that. It turns out that Bob was Laura and Marielle’s favorite uncle. And thus, then and there, they became my favorite adopted family.
At the Herman tribute later that evening, the legends—Chita Rivera, Carol Channing, and Angela Lansbury—sang sentimentally and touchingly for Jerry. Sutton Foster sang a rousing “Before the Parade Passes By.” But it was Laura who stole the show for me when she made her way center stage to sing her torch song.
She concluded with Jerry’s lyrics:
Time heals everything
Time heals everything
But loving you.
It was Wanda Mae’s niece singing center stage, and the nellies in the chorus behind her knew in their hearts that she was singing those words for her uncle Bob. A member of the chorus caught up with Laura as we exited stage left and said how much he missed Bob. Laura replied softly, “He’s here.”
I learned so much from this true family values story. Time does heal everything. But the parade can pass you by. The best of times is now. And most importantly, Wanda Mae was what he was. He wanted neither praise nor pity. He dealt his own deck and banged his own drum. Some thought it noise, he thought it pretty.
So up in the plush boxes, with Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey and Jerry Herman, there was room for Bob “Wanda Mae” Wonneberger.
Bravo Bob! Brava Wanda Mae!
Speaking for your niece at center stage, the nellies on the riser, and an escort in the shadows, The Kennedy Center indeed honored you.
Brent Mundt resides in Washington, DC but lives in Rehoboth Beach.
Editor’s note: Murray and I first met Bob in 1980. He was a great friend, and we miss his charm and grace.