Review: Kelli O'Hara in Concert at LA Opera
The American Songbook is alive and well in the hands of polished musicians
“Pure Imagination”, “Getting to Know You”, “Tomorrow”, a quick perusal of Kelli O’Hara’s selected repertoire for her concert at LA Opera may at first seem to flow through the frivolous and twee, showcasing only the most Pollyanna-approved, sanitized selections of the American songbook. However, O’Hara has approached the entire evening with such severe gravitas and humble respect that familiar messages seem to land fresh on even jaded ears. How else are we meant to keep singing right now? Oscar Hammerstein II’s
“I hear the human race // is falling on its face
and hasn’t very far to go,
But ev’ry whip-poor-will // is selling me a bill
and telling me it just ain’t so!”
when intoned in O’Hara’s warm soprano voice somehow feels believable and like a fresh call to action. She approaches each lyric with severity that makes it feel urgently vibrant and alive.
Of course, O’Hara also treated the audience to a smattering of more dramatic pieces. Her rendition of “This Nearly Was Mine” from South Pacific dripped with devastation, and “To Build a Home” from The Bridges of Madison County aptly rounded out the evening— a song it is hard to imagine anyone else performing. Time and again, O’Hara showcased her superior musicality and polished instrument by knocking well-worn classics out of the park (closing out the first act with “I Could Have Danced All Night”) and then bringing the house down with less-familiar gems (Dan Lipton and David Rossmer’s “They Don’t Let You in the Opera (If You’re a Country Star)”— worth a YouTube search if you haven’t seen it).
Of course, it is always a treat to hear such an esteemed musician approach Cole Porter, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Bock, and Sheldon Harnick, but one of the added treats of the evening was hearing the LA Opera Orchestra approaching the same. An overture featuring selections from Oklahoma! was a rare delight— when do we ever get to hear a full strings section sweep through “Out of my Dreams” or “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning”? An even rarer delight, as entr’acte, they played through some of John Williams’ film orchestrations for Fiddler on the Roof. Tambourines and double basses thrummed through the pavilion, only to break and allow Roberto Cani’s extended violin solo to resonate in the silence. A fitting prelude to the second act which included O’Hara’s gut-wrenching performance of “Children Will Listen” and an encore with perhaps the most apt lyrics of the evening: “Beautiful City”.
"Out of the ruins and rubble
Out of the smoke
Out of our night of struggle
Can we see a ray of hope?”
Chatter between the songs sometimes felt like small talk, and I did find the structuring a bit redundant. By the end, I was hoping to hear a piano interlude between pieces or a segue from one to another, but overall, I was deeply moved by O’Hara’s artistry and the range of pieces she selected to share with audiences.
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