Interview: Kelli O'Hara Talks Boston Concert, Co-Starring with Tom Hanks in his New Play and More

If there is one thing that can always be said about Kelli O’Hara, it’s that she is always in demand.

This fall is no different. O’Hara will be co-starring with Academy Award winner Tom Hanks in the world premiere of “This World of Tomorrow,” a new play by Hanks and James Glossman, based on short stories written by Hanks, about a forlorn scientist from the future who embarks on a time-traveling quest for true love. The production runs from October 30 to December 21 at The Shed’s Griffin Theater in New York with a cast that also includes Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Jay O. Sanders, Kerry Bishé, Kayli Carter, Lee Aaron Rosen, Jamie Ann Romero, Paul Murphy, Donald Webber Jr., and Michelle Wilson.

If that weren’t demanding enough, the Tony Award winner will also be appearing in “An Evening with Kelli O’Hara,” a Celebrity Series of Boston concert, on Tuesday, October 4, at Symphony Hall.

And while she is best known for musicals, the Oklahoma native is also a respected actor who, in addition to her current role as Aurora Fane in HBO’s “The Gilded Age,” can also be seen in the new CBS-TV series “Sheriff Country.” A 2017 nominee for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama series for her starring role in the web drama “The Accidental Wolf,” O’Hara also had a recurring role in the Showtime series “Masters of Sex.”

The off-Broadway and Broadway stages, however, are where the seven-time Tony nominee has earned her greatest fame, often in dramatic musicals including “Sweet Smell of Success” (2002), the 2005 Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas musical “The Light in the Piazza” (2005), “Far from Heaven” (2013), and “The Bridges of Madison County” (2014). These, of course, stand alongside O’Hara’s acclaimed work in 2012’s “Nice Work if You Can Get It,” as well as the Broadway revivals of “Kiss Me Kate” (2019), “The King and I” (2015), for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, “South Pacific” (2008), “The Pajama Game” (2006), and “Follies” (2001).

In 2015, the crystalline soprano made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Lehar’s “The Merry Widow,” opposite Renée Fleming, and in 2018 returned as Despina in Mozart's “Cosi Fan Tutte.” She was last seen at the Metropolitan Opera in the world premiere of Kevin Puts’ “The Hours,” as Laura Brown.

O’Hara was on a break from rehearsals of “This World of Tomorrow” in New York when she checked in about her plans for her Celebrity Series of Boston appearance, the play and more.

You’re known for changing up your concert set list. What do you have planned for your upcoming Celebrity Series of Boston concert?

The exciting addition to this concert in Boston will be my band – my music director and pianist Dan Lipton, violinist Antoine Silverman, drummer Gene Lewin, bass player Pete Donovan, and guitarist Justin Goldner. Dan and I will choose songs that we’ve arranged for piano, bass, drums, violin, and guitar. We’ll perform many well-known favorites, but with the added instruments, we might also do some original pieces and songs from my roots. I like to include personal stories and songs that are mostly familiar to the audience, but add some new ones as well.

What songs are you particularly looking forward to performing in Boston? 

Early in my career, I performed at Symphony Hall with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops in a Cole Porter revue and I fell in love with the song “So in Love,” so I will sing that, in addition to a fabulous comedy number I do called “They Don’t Let You in the Opera if You’re a Country Star.”

You’ve had tremendous success in book musicals. What makes concerts different? What do you like about them?

The biggest and most wonderful difference is that in concert, I get to be myself.  I’m not acting.  My solo concerts are very personal, with stories about my journey and songs that help tell those stories.

You’ve had tremendous success in book shows. What makes concerts different? What do you like best about them?

In musicals, I play a character. In these concerts, I am introducing myself, my experiences, lessons and stories I have collected over the years. I like the chance to let people know a bit more about my own story in and out of these shows.

You’re in previews now, off-Broadway at the Shed, in “This World of Tomorrow,” in which you co-star with Hanks. Tell me about the play?

This play is about the power of love and how it can transcend time.  It involves time travel, from 2089 back to the 1939 New York World’s Fair. I play Carmen Perry, a working-class Irish woman living with her family in the Bronx. Tom Hanks plays a wealthy businessman living in 2089. Is love between them possible?

How have rehearsals been going?

We’ve had a wonderful time learning and staging the play. It’s an incredible cast led by our fabulous director, Kenny Leon. And Tom and co-writer James Glossman are working tirelessly to shape the play.

What’s it like appearing onstage opposite Tom Hanks? Is this the first time the two of you have worked together?

Although we have met a few times before (I sang for his Kennedy Center Honor), we have never worked together. I’ve been pinching myself for sure. He is just as you might imagine: positive, kind and hard-working.

Tell me about your character, Carmen?

Carmen Perry is a bookkeeper for a handbag factory in 1939. She lives in the Bronx with her brother’s family above his butcher shop. She is as she was left by her husband, one year ago tomorrow (on her birthday), and has decided to treat herself and her niece to a day at the New York World’s Fair in Flushing Meadow.

You’re set to play Miranda in the new CBS series “Sheriff Country,” which premiered earlier this month. What should viewers know about the series and Miranda?

“Sherriff Country” is a spinoff of “Fire Country.” I’m excited to be playing Miranda Fraley, the head of the Fraley family business, because, and I quote, “She is not to be trifled with.”

For more information and tickets to “This World of Tomorrow,” visit theshed.org.