Tony Award winner Kelli O’Hara is belting out Broadway tunes in Steppenwolf’s Downstage Theater for three special performances this April. She will be accompanied by her longtime collaborator and music director, Dan Lipton, in the iconic venue.
This traveling soprano will be packing up an array of numbers designed to thrill musical fans and highlight her decades of work in the entertainment industry. O’Hara’s lengthy theatrical resume includes such classics as The King and I, South Pacific and The Light in the Piazza, among many others. Her television credits have covered everything from period pieces like HBO’s The Gilded Age to Showtime’s steamy Master of Sex. Her talents have expanded over time including her operatic range with The Merry Widow and The Hours, based on the movie.
The accolades continue for O’Hara from Grammy nominations to taking home an Outer Critics Circle Award. In November of 2024, she visited The Arts Club of Chicago to accept the prestigious Sarah Siddons Society Award. She spoke about her trophies and much before her upcoming gig in the Windy City.
Windy City Times: Thanks for taking the time to talk, Ms. Kelli.
Kelli O’Hara: “Ms.” reminds me of home. Are you from the South?
WCT: I was born in Oklahoma like you were. Aren’t you from Tulsa?
KOH: Yes, I was born there and I grew up in Elk City on the West side of the state. My family moved to Edmund, near Oklahoma City, because of my dad’s work.
WCT: Kristin Chenoweth is also from around that area.
KOH: Yes. She and I both went to Oklahoma City University at different times, but we had the same voice teacher. She was instrumental in the beginning of my career because she helped me get an agent.
WCT: You’ve had such an illustrious career. Where do you keep that Tony Award?
KOH: I keep it on a little shelf in one of the rooms in my house. Kate Winslet keeps her Oscar in her powder bath because she likes to imagine her guests coming over to give a little Oscar speech in the bathroom mirror. I might do that one day, but for now, it’s on a shelf with some of my other special things.
WCT: You received the Sarah Siddons Society Award in Chicago last November.
KOH: Yes, it was a beautiful event and so generous of them. It was the evening after the election, so it was a shared space of artistic hope and love, which was sort of a balm and a nice night. Several performers did a retrospective of my songs and I was weeping the whole time.
WCT: I can imagine that being emotional. Has there been one person who changed the trajectory of your life?
KOH: Florence Birdwell, the voice teacher in Oklahoma we mentioned before, definitely was. I could name so many people, but she was a huge influence on me. I learned about her when I was five years old and knew she taught at Oklahoma City University. When it came time to pick colleges, I had that in the back of my head. She was not just an acting and singing mentor, by my life coach as well.
WCT: Are these the kinds of stories you are planning for your upcoming Steppenwolf appearance?
KOH: Yes, and it’s interesting that you asked about her. I have done different takes on this show and I change the songs at times, although I have my mainstays, of course.
In the fall, my music director and I did a show at the 92nd St. Y that I dedicated to the women in my life. I took specific songs surrounding a female who has inspired me either professionally or personally.
I think we will do a version of that in Chicago while adding in a few things. I will tell my stories about people who have impacted me and led me to where I am today.
WCT: What is the process of deciding the mainstays that make up your set list?
KOH: I love doing solo concerts and I always have. I will put a country song along with an original song on the list. I always have to sing something from South Pacific and The Light in the Piazza. Sometimes, I would choose a song that I never performed in a show or a song that paired well with a story that I planned to tell.
I will do one for the audience, then one for me, and rotate that. I always think about what my audience would want. I might even change the set list that day, depending on what the world feels like. We are coming together for a shared emotional experience and we can escape life for a few hours. If I don’t fulfill that part of the service then I am not doing my job.
WCT: Have you worked with Dan Lipton for a long time?
KOH: Dan has been my music director for 23 years. We were brand new babies together when we worked on The Light in the Piazza. Dan and I started in Chicago, so we will talk about that a bit in this show, I am sure. We have traveled the world together and he does many of my arrangements.
WCT: Having that person you can trust onstage for that amount of time must be vital to your act.
KOH: Yes, and it’s a weird marriage at this point, even though we are married to different people separately. I have razzed him in the past while performing together because he’s very dry. It’s my life’s work to try to get him to chuckle [laughs]. I will call him out onstage and get the audience to give me a hand with it!
WCT: Is there a musical that you would still like to do but haven’t yet?
KOH: It’s a great question and I think a lot of people do have that one musical that either got away or is still looming somewhere.
I feel like we’re changing the way we tell stories. As I get older, I think about the way to reinvent stories about women my age. We’ve never been allowed to research and go inside feminine-driven stories as older women.
I’m waiting for the next one to be written. I’ve got lots of ideas and I’m having constant meetings about such things. As I get older, I have a lot of things on my mind…
WCT: It makes me think of Nicole Kidman, who has made a commitment recently to work with female directors.
KOH: That’s great. If someone is telling a female story, then I want the female voice in the room to be heard and respected.
WCT: Who have you collaborated with from the LGBTQ+ community that stands out in your career?
KOH: One of my first Carnegie Hall appearances was with the Gay Men’s Chorus. It was fun to do a whole Christmas show and be in the middle of all that action.
I just finished Finn, the musical that was canceled by the Kennedy Center, to work with Stars in the House creators Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley Jackson. We did a one-night-only fundraiser for The Trevor Project to shine a light on that sweet story about a sparkly fish. Nina West read from the book at the beginning and then Andrew Rannells went into his main part. It was a joyful celebration that night.
The comfort I have with gay men is very different than with straight men. Whatever is going on in the world right now, all I want is love and acceptance. People should get out of the way of whatever an individual deems as their best life. When I can support the LGBTQ+ community with my work and time for a charity I will always do that.
WCT: Will Finn swim again?
KOH: They streamed it online and it was a star-studded cast. Michael Urie came out for two seconds to steal the show as a pufferfish. We had the original cast on stage with us, singing and dancing their hearts out. The audience just went crazy that night.
We were bringing attention to a beautiful piece of art that was hurting no one and instead was possibly changing the lives of some people in positive ways. I hope it lives on since it can’t play at the Kennedy Center.
WCT: One gay fan of yours, Claybourne Elder, told me recently how wonderful you are to work with on a TV show.
KOH: I love Clay!
WCT: Is The Gilded Age on season three?
KOH: Yes, we finished filming season three and it comes out in the summer. It’s just the most wonderful group of people who are hardworking and theatrically based actors.
We started it during the pandemic when we thought we had nothing. I will always think of that job with such gratitude, not only artistically but personally, because it lifted us all up out of a real fear. After the third season comes out, we will see if there will be a fourth season, but there may not be.
WCT: What other projects do you have coming up?
KOH: I just came back from Dallas two days ago where Sutton Foster and I did a duo show based on the Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews specials back in the day. We put one together for Carnegie Hall last year, which went like gangbusters, so we are taking it on the road!
We will be near Chicago in Highland Park at Ravinia in July. Also, in July, we will be at Tanglewood and then Wolf Trap in August. We always have a blast, so we are looking forward to it.
I am doing a Noel Coward play called Fallen Angels on Broadway with Rose Byrne next year. It’s about two British ladies who go through a bunch of hijinks one night. It will be premiering next spring at the Roundabout Theatre.
I’ve got a TV show in the works but I am not sure I can talk about it yet. I have been staying busy!
O’Hara sinks her teeth into the Steppenwolf for two days of three solo shows on April 18 at 7:30 p.m. and April 19 at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Visit steppenwolf.org for more information and ticket opportunities. Try ravinia.org For One Night Only: An Evening with Sutton Foster & Kelli O’Hara on July 13.