Review: Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara with The National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap

The word legend is tossed around quite a bit when talking about performers. Sometimes it’s true but many times it isn’t. This past Friday evening at Wolf Trap’s Filene Center two true modern day legends of musical theatre took the stage to pay homage to two all-time legends of entertainment. The result as you can probably guess was nothing short of extraordinary. Our two modern day legends were multiple Tony Award winners Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara paying tribute and homage to Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews. How can you go wrong? Actually, you can’t!!

The concert started off hot with Maestro Emil de Cou energetically conducting YOUR National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) with their usual superb bravado  in a piece that encapsulated some of the songs from Foster and O’Hara’s Broadway careers entitled “Foster and O’Hara O’verture”. The composition was expertly arranged by O’Hara’s musical director and pianist Dan Lipton and orchestrated by Sam Shoup.

To bring our legends to the stage appropriately, the fanfare from Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews’ 1962 TV Special was played. It was created by Irwin Kostal, Mike Nichols, & Ken Welch for the TV show and then orchestrated and enlarged for symphony again by Sam Shoup.

Next up was a medley performed by O’Hara and Foster of some of their biggest hit songs from their respective shows. As you can see, the show kept going up and up as it went along. The medley was arranged by Foster’s longtime musical director and pianist Michael Rafter and Dick Scanlan and orchestrated by Rick Bassett.

Among the many solos of these two legends, a few stuck out to me as true highlights. Dan Lipton and Michael Rafter alternated at the piano throughout.

First up would have to be Kelli O’Hara’s stellar performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “If I Loved You” from Carousel. Her haunting vocal paired with Bruce Donnelly’s orchestration made the performance of this song an audible delight for all.

Another favorite for me was Sutton Foster’s beautiful performance of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You”.  Here is an instance where the song showed off Foster’s truly versatile talents as the song is not a big belty opus. Michael Rafter again worked his magic with a gorgeous arrangement with Rick Bassett providing the orchestration.

Then there were the duets between Foster and O’Hara. So many to choose from, so little time.

Let’s start with one written by O’Hara’s musical director and pianist Dan Lipton and lyricist David Rossmer called “How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall” shall we. Here is a case where the two ladies made this wonderful modern day piece of what was called back in the day specialty material come to life tenfold. If you are not familiar with the works of Lipton and Rossmer, please do you yourself a favor and become familiar. They’re work is definitely of the highest quality.

My favorite to be sure was a duet version of “Fable” from Adam Guettel’s The Light in The Piazza. It is usually sung as a solo but hearing it as a duet gave the song a whole new dimension. You might remember that Kelli O’Hara originated the role of the daughter in the show, so it was fitting that O’Hara and Foster dedicated the song to their daughters. Vocally arranged by Dan Lipton, Foster and O’Hara complete with Lipton playing that crazy piano run towards the end of the song, the orchestration was by the show’s original music department made up of Adam Guettel, Bruce Coughlin, and Ted Sperling.

I can also not forget to mention the crazy “9 Minutes of 90’s Mega Medley” which featured a whole bunch of songs that neither performer thought they would ever sing. Think Smash Mouth and Madonna. They actually called on the voices of Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews for encouragement. No seriously, Burnett and Andrews actually recorded their voices to be used for this concert. What more can I say?

Joining O’Hara and Foster were some young local performers along with Broadway veteran Eric Sciotto. The very talented locals were Dale Sanders, Jaxon Keller, and Zoe Robuck. The trio with along with Sciotto were featured a few times throughout the concert but by far their stand out number was backing and tapping with Sutton Foster recreating her star title number from Cole Porter’s Anything Goes. Sciotto re-created Kathleen Marshall’s choreography. Complete with David Chase’s dance arrangement as orchestrated by Bill Elliott after Michael Gibson’s original chart, this was a true standout and showstopping moment for all.

As this concert paid homage to Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett’s 1962 TV special, it was a true treat to see and hear Frank Loesser’s “Big D” performed with the original orchestration and arrangement by Irwin Kostal as enlarged for symphony by Benjamin Wallace. Here is another example of the new generation of performers honoring the older generation with class and pure respect. O’Hara, Foster and ensemble did just that.

Sutton Foster, Kelli O’Hara, Eric Sciotto, the mighty NSO under Maestro Emil de Cou, and a group young and up incoming performers heated up the stage at Wolf Trap on what was the end of a long heat wave. BRAVA to all!!! What a "Great Adventure!"

Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara with the National Symphony Orchestra was a one night only engagement at Wolf Tarap’s Filene Center on August 1st, 2025.