Shoutout To Kelli O'Hara-Classic Roles!

[Soaring29]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 2:47am

Everybody knows that Kelli is considered the true poster girl for  Broadway's golden age and earlier, but has anybody ever stopped to think just how many of the   classic females  roles she's done? I am a huge fan of her's and it just hit me yesterday how many classic roles she has played in her lifetime: 

1. Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel(High School) 
2. Maria in West Side Story(High School) 
3. Lili in Carnival(College) 
4. Magnolia in Showboat( Music Theatre Of Wichita) 
5. Babe in Pajama Game(Broadway) 
6. Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady(New York Philharmonic Concert) 
7. Laurey  Williams in Oklahoma!(Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma) 
8. Nellie Forbush in South Pacific(Broadway) 
9. Ella Peterson in Bells Are Ringing(City Center Encores!) 
10. Marian Paroo in The Music Man(2011 Tarbell Awards) 
11. Amalia Balash   in She Loves Me(Roundabout Theatre Company Benefit Concert) 
12. Julie Jordan in Carousel(New York Philharmonic Concert) 
13. Anna Leonowens in The King And I(Broadway) 
14. Lili Vanessi/Katharine  in Kiss Me Kate(Roundabout Theatre Company Benefit Concert) 
15. Fiona MacLaren in Brigadoon  

   

What an incredible amount of classic roles that she's played under her belt!  Does  any other ingenue have as many to her credit?  Although I know she wants to do something new again(And I highly want to see her do an original musical  again too), I would love to see her play Lizzie in 110 In The Shade,  Sarah Brown in Guys And Dolls, Genuivere in Camelot, and Maria in The Sound Of Music in my lifetime  as well as reprise Marian in The Music Man(which nobody seems to know that she's done- I was surprised when I found out that she had) in the near future as I think she would be perfect for it. Did anybody see her in that by any chance? What classic roles would you want her to play next? 

         

Updated On: 6/9/18 at 02:47 AM

[RicardoMagon]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 8:58am

She's great. I think it be cool if she did more temporary roles though and didn't stay in the golden age genre so much. The great thing about Kelli is her acting is just as amazing as her singing so i'd love to see her in something like Next to Normal as Diana. I think that would be a challenge vocally and acting-wise that could pay off even if she might be Miscast. I think she could pull it off.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 9:02am

She is a treasure in every sense of the word. 

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 9:34am

I would like to see Kelli play either of the two Marias, Sound of Music or West Side Story. Not only wonderful songs, but she could stretch her acting chops. But, probably not just her age but her stature and bearing make it difficult to see her in the roles of two young girls who are not very worldly.

Stature and bearing? Just in the video I linked of the King and I press kickoff in London, although the rehearsal room is full of almost the entire cast, and Bartlett and Ken are there, Kelly pretty clearly seems to be running the proceedings. One Londoner already commented

The West End needs this shot of life and real quality and the queen that is Kelli O'Hara

One role I would really like her to take on would be Julie, in Show Boat. Here she could venture into territory into which her career has not taken her:  the tragic. But the role is not big enough for her.

Given the liberties that everyone has taken with the second act of Show Boat over the decades, maybe Julie could be made the focus of that act (joking).

I'll settle for The Music Man, with the troublesome restriction that they must find someone of equal talent and stature to play Harold. There is a lot that can be mined out of this musical. Humor, pathos, romance and many excellent songs. 

Do not forget, though, that if you ask of Kelli her favorite role, she will say without hesitation Francesca in Bridges. It will also be hinted that we have not seen the last of it. Probably a concert version of about a week's duration? Maybe they can rewrite the more objectionable parts of the book.

 

Updated On: 6/9/18 at 09:34 AM

[Elegance101]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 11:28am

Laura Benanti has talked a lot about how current composers don’t write many scores for sopranos anymore so it’s no wonder O’Hara’s done a lot of classic roles. I do love how even though she’s a little old to be an ingenue, she’s still able to sink her teeth into beautiful soprano roles. Her next year is booked with Anna Leonowens and Lilli Vanessi in the West End and on Broadway. I do wonder what she’ll do next, as she seems to have hit basically every classic role ever!

[Polka Dot2]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 11:55am

I LOVE Kelli, but she is not latina and should not play Maria in West Side Story.

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 11:56am

They could put just her face on a marquee without telling anybody what show she'll be doing... and I'd buy a ticket.

[RicardoMagon]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 12:08pm

Yeah the classical soprano is definitely a dying breed on Broadway. Scores are more pop-related so can't really blame Kelli for finding every legit soprano role she can. They all just happen to be in the golden age. 

This is also true for the Bass. These days Women's voices need to be lower for scores and men's voices need to be higher for scores. It's a shame. There's so many great bass and bass-baritone voices out there.

[Elegance101]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 12:57pm

RicardoMagon said: "Yeah the classical soprano is definitely a dying breed on Broadway. Scores are more pop-related so can't really blame Kelli for finding every legit soprano role she can. They all just happen to be in the golden age.

This is also true for the Bass. These days Women's voices need to be lower for scores and men's voices need to be higher for scores. It's a shame. There's so many great bass and bass-baritone voices out there."

I would say overall, scores really want everyone to go as high as they can in their chest voice. The soprano is a dying breed because head voice isn't considered as impressive as full-belting nowadays.

[rjm516]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 2:03pm

^ I really hope we will reach a point in this new belt-your-chest-voice-to-extinction phase where composers start writing for sopranos (and basses) again! We need more Adam Guettel! 

[Soaring29]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 6:41pm

Yeah, it is definitely the lack of soprano roles in MT today that have made Kelli miss out on doing a lot of contemporary stuff.

She needs to have either Adam Guettel, Ricky Ian Gordon, or Jason Robert Brown write a new role for her. Playing Grace Kelly perhaps? The Reader The musical?

For all we know, she has tried to get an array of original projects off the ground, but given the financial failures of Bridges and Far From Heaven, not enough investors are interested in funding these projects.

Speaking of things that didn”t work out, does anybody know if Kelli was offered the Carousel revival? And we are sure that she was offered She Loves Me and My Fair Lady correct? Any other roles that you know she got offers for, but turned them down or didn”t work out?

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 6:57pm

I'd love for her to play Sally in Follies in about a decade. Alongside Laura Benanti as Phyllis of course.

[RicardoMagon]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 8:18pm

I don't know if Kelli was in talks to be in the carousel revival but her rendition of "If I loved you" was incredible. 

[musikman]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 8:43pm

There’s two things I’m waiting (im)patiently for her to do:

- Margaret Johnson in a Light in the Piazza revival, especially after hearing her sing Fable last year.
- I was hoping after the huge success of Brigadoon last year that City Center would do Camelot for their gala so she could be Guenevere before it’s too late.

Beyond that, I’d listen to her sing the manual instructions to my iPhone.

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 9:20pm

Polka Dot2 said: "I LOVE Kelli, but she is not latina and should not play Maria in West Side Story."

I love Joshua Henry, but he is not white and should not play the role of a lower class white carnival barker in a late 19th century New England Village, especially if the white man he is playing strikes his wife.

[TexanAddams18]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 10:01pm

OlBlueEyes said: "Polka Dot2 said: "I LOVE Kelli, but she is not latina and should not play Maria in West Side Story."

I love Joshua Henry, but he is not white and should not play the role of a lower class white carnival barker in a late 19th century New England Village, especially if the white man he is playing strikes his wife."

Except that nowhere in the Carousel script does it say anything about the race of Billy and in West Side Story it says in the first paragraph Maria is Puerto Rican. 

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 10:06pm

Kelli as Julie? I can't see it. For better or worse she's very very, well, white. I think Julie has to be believable as a mixed race woman. Not that she has to actually be of mixed race. But blond, blue-eyed Kelli? I can't see it.

[Melissa25]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 10:12pm

I would love to see Kelli do some more musical comedy. I was completely surprised by her comedic chops in Nice Work.

I also wish someone would write an original musical for her and Carmen Cusack to star in together. I really hope we get to see her as Margaret Johnson in a Piazza revival too.

It still pains me that she did not get the Tony for playing Francesca. I wish she’d do a Bridges concert. I am really looking forward to her in the second season of the Accidental Wolf too.

[Soaring29]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 11:17pm

Bridges needs to find an audience sometime- What if it went through an extensive preview/editing process and came back to Broadway? Would it work out?

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 11:19pm

Probably not. It's just not the type of material to be a box office hit. The movie was a hit at the time as was the novel, but it's been over twenty years the work hasn't really endured as a timeless classic of literature or film. The music may be beautiful, but it seems like a bunch of downer character ballads which we know doesn't result in long runs. A lot of shows with beautiful scores are in the same boat.

Updated On: 6/9/18 at 11:19 PM

[Soaring29]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 11:54pm

I think if the show had focused exclusively on the two lovers, it would have succeeded. The supporting characters seemed to get in the way from what I can tell. 

[JudyDenmark]

Posted: 6/9/18 at 11:56pm

I think she’d be a fantastic Aldonza! She’d obviously sing the hell out of it, but I also think it would be a fun acting departure from the typical soprano ingenue. 

(I also really want a Bartlett Sher revival of Man of La Mancha, so...)

Posted: 6/10/18 at 12:09am

I would also like to see Kelli do more musical comedy. I think in about 10 years or so she could really sink her teeth into Mrs. Lovett. Might sound strange but it is often done with opera companies, so why not?! I'm also saying this mainly because my dream is a Lincoln Center production of Sweeney Todd.

[Elegance101]

Posted: 6/10/18 at 12:24am

In regards to musical comedy, she'll get to show her chops next year in Kiss Me, Kate! Very excited to see what she does with a big comedic diva role (and with "I Hate Men".

[Soaring29]

Posted: 6/10/18 at 3:18am

I'm excited for it too- I also hope she creates a brand new album soon!