Broadway NewsKelli O’Hara to Return to Broadway in Kiss Me, Kate Following last year’s concert revival from Roundabout Theatre Company, the Tony winner will return to the musical comedy in 2019.
By
Olivia Clement
November 06, 2017
Kelli O'Hara
Marc J. Franklin
Tony Award winner Kelli O'Hara (The King and I) will return to Broadway in February 2019 in a Roundabout Theatre Company revival of Kiss Me, Kate.
O'Hara will take on the leading role of Lilli Vanessi in the musical from Cole Porter and Sam and Bella Spewack, reprising her performance from Roundabout’s 2016 benefit concert.
Norm Lewis, Will Burton, Robert Fairchild, Heléne Yorke, Kelli O'Hara, Will Chase, John Pankow, and Richard Kind
Joseph Marzullo/WENN
Scott Ellis, who helmed last year’s concert presentation, will direct. Warren Carlyle will return to choreograph.
A theatre, complete creative team, and further casting for the production will be announced at a later date. O’Hara starred opposite Will Chase in the 2016 concert alongside a cast that also featured Robert Fairchild, Heléne Yorke, Chuck Cooper, Richard Kind, and John Pankow.
Before O'Hara's next Broadway bow, the soprano will return to the Metropolitan Opera stage in spring 2018, singing the role of Despina in a new production of Cosiì fan tutte. She is also slated to reprise her performance as Anna in The King and I in London that June, marking her West End debut.
“Kelli O’Hara is inarguably one of the best actresses in the American theatre and a dear friend to Roundabout,” says Artistic Director Todd Haimes. “We have been talking about projects for years and it is particularly thrilling to celebrate her return to Roundabout in a role that will showcase her impeccable range and virtuosic talent as a singer, actress and comedienne, just as she did in our production of The Pajama Game a decade ago.”
O’Hara was nominated for five Tony Awards between 2005 and 2014 before winning in 2015 for her performance as Anna Leonowens in the Lincoln Center revival of The King and I. Her Broadway credits also include South Pacific, The Light in the Piazza, The Bridges of Madison County, and Nice Work If You Can Get It, and The Pajama Game.
In the 1948 musical comedy, two divorced and egocentric performers find themselves starring opposite each other in a musical version of Taming of the Shrew. The revival will premiere 20 years after the last Broadway production, which starred Marin Mazzie and Brian Stokes Mitchell.
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See Kelli O’Hara and Will Chase in Kiss Me, Kate
See Kelli O’Hara and Will Chase in Kiss Me, Kate
Robert Fairchild, Heléne Yorke, Chuck Cooper, and more also joined the one-night-only benefit concert.
24 PHOTOS
Norm Lewis, Will Burton, Robert Fairchild, Heléne Yorke, Kelli O'Hara, Will Chase, John Pankow, and Richard Kind
Joseph Marzullo/WENN
Kelli O'Hara, Richard Kind, and cast
Will Burton, Helene Yorke, Kelli O'Hara, and cast of the 2016 Kiss Me, Kate concert
Norm Lewis, Will Burton, Robert Fairchild, Helene Yorke, Kelli O'Hara, Will Chase, John Pankow, Richard Kind, and cast
