Kelli O'Hara as Eliza Doolittle

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 12:15am

Almost everyone is aware of the hugely successful collaboration of director Bartlett Sher and actress Kelli O'Hara in Light in the Piazza, South Pacific, Bridges of Madison County and The King and I.

Maybe not everyone knows how badly she wanted to play Eliza in Sher's current revival.

https://youtu.be/IOZOVdhbusA?t=1489

Maybe not everyone knows that Kelli played the role in the 2007 New York Philharmonic concert version of My Fair Lady which ran for a handful of performances.

This one, little-viewed clip is all I could find up on YouTube.

(the sound is very low at the beginning, but it gets louder)

https://youtu.be/kSXCPr_Ysuw

And, as you might have expected, Kelli got her usual rave from the New York Times. Not Brantley, but Isherwood.

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/09/theater/reviews/09fair.html

And confirming her status as the most accomplished Broadway ingénue to emerge in years is Kelli O’Hara, previously seen in “The Light in the Piazza” and “The Pajama Game,” undertaking the role of Eliza Doolittle for the first time — and, if there is a benevolent spirit presiding anywhere in the vicinity of Broadway, please not the last.

I find it hard to tell much from that one clip. It looks like they played it pretty broadly, for laughs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Updated On: 6/2/18 at 12:15 AM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 12:42am

Well, no offense to her, as I'm a major fan, but that was 10 years ago. And I think Sher, for whatever reason, went the route he wanted. Obviously if he had wanted her, it would have worked out. But it didn't and she did opera at the MET. 

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 12:45am

I have a hard time seeing 2018 Kelli as Eliza Doolittle, and I’m one of her biggest fans.

I do think it has all worked out for the best though. Kelli is having a banner year with the Met Opera, The King and I in London, and opening Kiss Me, Kate on Broadway next spring. That’s nothing to scoff at in the slightest. Plus, we got an earth-shattering musical theatre debut out of Lauren Ambrose.

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 1:01am

Welp, it would have been a performance and production of a lifetime. O’Hara or Benanti would have killed this part. Still, the production looks beautiful and will probably win Tonys.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 1:15am

She would have sang the score beautifully and her experience would have served her well for the part. However, it would have been a very predictable performance. I think Benanti would have had more fire than O'Hara and would have given a pitch perfect performance in a production that took the more classical musical theatre comedy tone than this one does (I watch the video of Benanti being absolutely perfect in "Vanilla Ice Cream" when I want to imagine her singing "I Could Have Danced all Night"  ). For this production, I'm extremely happy Sher went with Ambrose because it seems like she and Hadden-Paton are on the same page with Sher for this production. 

Updated On: 6/2/18 at 01:15 AM

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 1:38am

I saw Kelli doing the concert Carousel with the New York Philharmonic, and I bought the DVD when they finally got around to releasing it years later.

Sitting there on the bench as Julie, I had a hard time visualizing her as retiring and vulnerable.

She's a talented actress, though, and I don't want to sell her short. Carousel was a one night stand. Given a couple of weeks, she might have transformed herself into retiring and vulnerable.

Some felt that her appearance in Cosi Fan Tutte might have been a marketing gimmick to bring in more people, but she got very good reviews that emphasized her talent as a comedian.

 

 

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 1:40am

I think I need to admit that O'Hara is one of those performers I personally underestimate despite her pedigree and resume. I remember her totally blowing me away in The King and I when I saw it some weeks after the Tonys and there's really no reason for me to think she couldn't do the same in My Fair Lady with enough rehearsal time and performances under her belt.

[charityhopevalentine2]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 2:02am

Sally Durant Plummer said: "Welp, it would have been a performance and production of a lifetime. O’Hara or Benanti would have killed this part. Still, the production looks beautiful and will probably win Tonys."

They were considering both for this production but told them they were too old.

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 2:13am

charityhopevalentine2 said: "Sally Durant Plummer said: "Welp, it would have been a performance and production of a lifetime. O’Hara or Benanti would have killed this part. Still, the production looks beautiful and will probably win Tonys."

They were considering both for this production but told them they were too old."

And yet Laren Ambrose is almost as old as them? 

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 2:19am

Bartlett Sher has said in interviews, which seems reinforced by what the actors have said in various interviews, that a lot of the inspiration came from the 1938 film, including the lack of a huge age gap between Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller. Sher said he did not want a huge age gap between Higgins and Eliza for this production. So were the ages of O'Hara and Benanti really a reason or just something fans were assuming during the huge "Who will play Eliza?" thread? It seemed like people assumed they were too old and then they heard they weren't cast so accepted that as a reason and then it was announced Ambrose was hired who is two years older than Benanti and two years younger than O'Hara. Anyway, Ambrose does seem to read a little younger than 40 or at least she looks like she's of similar age to Hadden-Paton.

[Soaring29]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 3:09am

I think she would have been amazing, but doing it at this point in her career would seem as if she doesn't want to move forward by playing older leading parts. That said, she was amazing in Brigadoon, an arguably ingenue role(although she's supposed to be an old maid correct?). I think Kelli could have played it very easily and not read as too old at all. Eliza is mature and fiery and she certainly could capture that. 

Cosi Fan Tutte was extremely disappointing for me- She delivers strong work, but it really was not anywhere near up to to par to her professional opera co-stars. She's a better actress then the two women, but everyone else's singing of Mozart's work compared with hers makes the latter pale in comparison. I absolutely love her on so many levels, but it's true.  

I definitely thought she was too old for Carousel though, although her singing was amazing. 

 

[rjm516]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 10:27am

I'm Kelli's biggest fan - she is my favorite performer in musical theatre - but I'm so glad this production went with Lauren Ambrose for something new and absolutely exquisite. 

[LarryD2]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 10:32am

The casting of this production had nothing to do with age. O'Hara is 42, Ambrose is 40 and Benanti is 38 (about to turn 39 next month). For all intents and purposes, they're roughly the same age. Sher had a vision for the production and character, and Ambrose is the actor who aligned with that vision. Simple as that.

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 11:00am

I really didn't buy Ambrose in the part at all.  She's a wonderful actress and has a great voice, but she just wasn't Eliza.  I really felt like she was working really hard to make herself fit the role.  I was skeptical about O'Hara fitting the part, especially as the Cockney Eliza, but after seeing Sher's production, I'm positive she would've fit that production like a glove and wouldn't have struggled through the show as much as Ambrose.  Benanti also would have been perfect and, frankly, probably should have been handed the role.  She's just so perfect for it that I find it ridiculous that Laura Benanti will probably never play the role of Eliza Dolittle on Broadway.  I have heard that he told both of them that they were too old for the part and were both too funny.  I suppose Sher didn't realize he was directing a musical comedy and not Hedda Gabler.  I thought Eliza was going to shoot herself at the end in this production.  It's beautifully designed, but dull as hell, which makes Alfred Dolittle's scenes ridiculously jarring.  I'm shocked by the positive response, especially considering that the audience I saw it with was verbally dissatisfied at intermission and the applause was light and the laughter nonexistent.  There was also no standing ovation.  I love the ending, but not much in between.

 

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 11:12am

When this revival was first announced, I was dead set on seeing wither Kelli O'Hara or Laura Benanti as Eliza. I was initially disappointed when Lauren Ambrose was announced. However, after seeing this remarkable production and Ambrose's transcendent performance, I am so happy Sher ended up casting who he did.

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 11:16am

ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "I think I need to admit that O'Hara is one of those performers I personally underestimate despite her pedigree and resume. I remember her totally blowing me away inThe King and Iwhen I saw it some weeks after the Tonys and there's really no reason for me to think she couldn't do the same inMy Fair Ladywith enough rehearsal time and performances under her belt."

The New York critics, led by Ben, have been in love with Kelly from the beginning. It will be interesting to get the London reaction.

My introduction to Kelli was South Pacific. When I first saw it I was just overwhelmed by the grandeur of the production. In the opening scene with Nellie and Emile we hear "Cockeyed Optimist," "Twin Soliloquies" and "Some Enchanted Evening." 

It wasn't until the second time I watched the recording of the "Live From Lincoln Center" broadcast that I paid close attention to the actors and the dialog and I thought to myself that Kelli O'Hara is a very good actress. 

 

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 11:55am

I sincerely hope Sher didnt tell Kelli and Laura they were "too old" and then turn around and cast Ambrose. Not only is that pretty crappy and its just like WTF? They both would have been fantastic Eliza's

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 1:37pm

To give another anecdote to contrast with GeorgeandDot's report, the audience I saw it with were shocked by Ambrose and couldn't stop talking about how amazing she was. It was more of a slow burn but once she hit "I Could Have Danced all Night", everybody was enraptured. After the show, the audience, for the most part, seemed in love with it. Ambrose, especially, was particularly singled out from what I heard from other people talking that night.

[Soaring29]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 3:45pm

broadwayboy223 said: "I sincerely hope Sher didnt tell Kelli and Laura they were "too old" and then turn around and cast Ambrose. Not only is that pretty crappy and its just like WTF? They both would have been fantastic Eliza's"

 

Yep. 

 

 

 

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 4:28pm

I first fell in love with Miss O'Hara from the recording of The Bridges of Madison County. I'm a fan of the score and of Brown's work, but his material for O'Hara and her duets with Pasquale really blows most of his work post-Parade out of the water (part of the reason I was disappointed by his perfectly good Honeymoon In Vegas). I have always been a fan of the Light In the Piazza cast recording, but I was more enamored with Victoria Clark than the girl playing Clara - and even though I loved the revival recording of South Pacific, I wasn't in the know on O'Hara's riveting performance. Unfortunately, Bridges closed far before my first New York trip in November of 2014. By the time I relocated here in the summer of 2015, it was time to see The King and I, by that time having earned O'Hara her first (in my opinion, should have been second due to Bridges) Tony Award. And although I was expecting her clarion voice and gorgeous rendering of the score, I was taken aback at just how good of an actress she is. She managed to erase any trace of Kerr, especially during the whipping scene post-"Shall We Dance?". She owned that role and anyone across the pond should leap at the chance to see her performance.

What I'm trying to say is, I think people who haven't seen O'Hara in person or are a fan of BIG, histrionic, performances with ACTING (all in caps) - and I say that as an ardent fan of Patti LuPone, who does all those things to perfection - tend to write O'Hara off as a perfectly lovely soprano, or use the words "subtle", "nuance", "sincere", and "boring" interchangeably. I will say this over and over: Kelli O'Hara may be the most gifted actress who currently graces the stage of Broadway musicals regularly. And when she doesn't get the credit she deserves, it irks me (probably much more than it irks her).

So listening to the My Fair Lady cast recording, I just can't get over how lackluster Ambrose sounds. No one will ever be Julie Andrews, but O'Hara or Benanti (whom I also adore, but won't go on at length about so as not to derail this thread any further) would have made this a recording I would revisit again and again. As of now, it's a lovely supplement to a collection, but with the Broadway, London, and film recordings, who needs a lackluster Eliza (the production on the album is impeccable, by the way - my personal faults are all in Ambrose's rendition of the score). Perhaps my opinion will change upon seeing Ambrose in September (second row, thanks Linktix!), but for me it really just feels like a missed opportunity.

Updated On: 6/2/18 at 04:28 PM

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 4:37pm

Just from the clips of the audio recording I gathered from clips played during various podcasts and interviews and plus from seeing her live, I guess this is just one of those things where reasonable minds will disagree. Lackluster is not a word I would choose to characterize Ambrose's singing. Not by a long shot even if you don't like this particular production live.

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 4:40pm

A missed opportunity is exactly how I would describe this production. Ambrose, frankly, is not good in this part and I can't wrap my head around why she was cast. I must admit, I find casting to be Sher's weak spot. I didn't love Morrison in South Pacific and I didn't love several cast members in The King and I and I found Ambrose's casting in Funny Girl laughably atrocious. I also didn't love Donica who frequently scraps just under the note in Street. I sat in that theatre thinking "wow I know there are better people for these parts."

Ambrose sounds like Kiri Te Kanawa on the recording and not in a good way.  I found her voice very lackluster in the theatre.  She's very quiet, she often makes very strange shapes with her body while singing, and her voice is emotionless much of the time and unbalanced.  I've really loved her in other works, but this just did not suit her.

Updated On: 6/2/18 at 04:40 PM

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 4:44pm

I guess in the end, Sher made the right choice. Ambrose by far ran away with some of the best reviews of the season and many loved Donica's rendition of the song and his Freddy, as did I. I mean there's always going to be people who aren't pleased, but Sher can't please everyone and his gamble seems to have objectively worked given the reception. Just reading some of the critiques from people here, the main issue I see that they have is that they had their dream casts set (based on the familiar roster of BWW's chosen people who can do no wrong) and just didn't allow themselves to just immerse themselves with the direction, tone, and casting of this particular production. Maybe they should direct a more classical musical comedy approach to the piece that may be closer to what they wanted.

Updated On: 6/2/18 at 04:44 PM

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 5:24pm

I just find Kelli O’Hara such a lovely, human actress. Everything she does is grounded in a clear reality, which is why she’s done such good work with Bartlett Sher over the years - they speak a language of musical theatre that is as natural as speaking. Would she have been wonderful in the role, regardless of age? Almost definitely. But as others have said, if it was going to work out, it would have.

Lauren Ambrose’s performance was as perfect as I could have hoped an actress playing the role would be. It was my first time experiencing the full show, in live or film form, so I admittedly have nothing tangible to weigh it against. But who cares? Many brilliant women will play Eliza after this revival, just as they have before. I’m just happy to have the beautiful interpretation of her playing 8 performances a week right now.

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 6:00pm

Personally, I haven't had a chance to see Ambrose in the role. So I can't comment on the show or her acting. I have listened to some audio recordings and she has a very nice voice. I think actually the reason she comes across as quiet is that the score sits extremely low for a soprano and from what It sounds like she's probably got some crazy good upper notes and naturally that's probably where her voice blooms more. Also, of course, I don't know for sure, but I'd imagine that she hasn't sung legit music in quite some time so that might affect the quality of her voice overall. Singing is a muscle. I'm not mad that Ambrose was cast. I'm mad at hearing that Bart Sher told Beanti and O'Hara they were "too old" when Ambrose is similar in age.