Kelli O'Hara slams Frank Wildhorn...

[Peter]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 4:46am

Also talks about Light in the Piazza...
Playbill interview with Kelli O

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 4:53am

I wouldn't call that slamming -- just upfront. At any rate, good for her!

(And I just grabbed a playbill and realized I saw her in the ensemble of J & H. Heh.)

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 5:09am

kinda bitchy, but yeah, more of an up front bitterness than anything else... I would just be careful who I say things about if I were her, but I guess if she plans on never doing another Wildhorn musical then she's safe... and she'll always have piazza...

[Marquise]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 5:16am

That was not bitchy at all. She was being honest about her experience with him. It wasn't like she ran him to the ground and dragged his name through the mud.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 8:20am

There's nothing remotely bitchy about Kelli. She just called things as she sees them. She doesn't sound bitter, either, just very matter-of-fact. Wildhorn behaved abominably regarding the "cast" recording and lied outright to the actual cast about it. That she's telling the truth about it (and quite frankly - no pun intended),sugarcoating it, should give her no cause for concern.

Besides, Wildhorn, a nice guy in his own way, has the skin of a rhinoceros.

Thanks for the link, Peter.

[WildhornFanatic]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 8:31am

I don't think she was being bitchy, she was being honest. Plus, I agree with her about DRACULA, she had an extremely easy part...underwritten and not so deep. While I love Wildhorn, I think his music and the special effects were the strongest part of that show. The book and lyrics were atrocious and Kelli was probably right about her experience.

With that statement though, she probably never will work with/ for him again...not that she probably cares.

[kyle33nyc]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 8:39am

I wish she was meaner! Wildhorn derserves far sharper criticism... Still, it's refreshing to see an actor be candid about their feelings, rather than all pollyanna about every acting experience. My esteem of O'Hara has increased after reading this interview.

I'd love to see Piazza again, WITH Stephen Pasquale opposite O'Hara. That would be spectacular.

[LittleFish8386]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 8:47am

God I love that O'Hara woman!

[Di2]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 8:56am

She didn't say anything bitchy. Just honest.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 9:35am

What a great interview. I like her even more now.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 9:42am

I heart Kelli O'Hara.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 9:47am

Wellllll, she definitely wasn't complimentary, but she could have said a LOT worse.

[lildogs]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 10:03am

I didn't think she sounded bitchy at all--I'd be pissed too if I had to go through the process of doing that show and then be left out of the recording...no matter how bad it was

[Dollypop]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 10:20am

She says that her two encounters with Wildhorn were bad but doesn't get specific about WHY. Was he a louse? Were her parts underwritten? I wish Gans had pushed her on the subject.

[Jwei123]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 10:21am

I love Kelli. I think she's so talented and so sweet!

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 10:21am

God Bless Her for not saying things like "Oh, Dracula was a glorious experience and ....blah blah blah." I appreciate honesty. Kelli O'Hara is fantastic.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 10:28am

"In every rendition they've wanted Stephen to do it. He's basically who they wrote it for, and no one sings it like Stephen. He was almost going to do this Broadway production; that was the plan, [but] he had a television show and couldn't get out of it."

Hmmmm Morrison can't be too thrilled about that comment. She is just being honest though.

[OrdinaryJukebox1]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 11:18am

So not bitchy at all...however, if it was Sara Ramirez who said it, there would be plenty of, "Oh my God, what a stuck up bitch..." hehe

-Vincent

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 11:33am

Kelli O'Hara is amazing. As a lot of other people said, I liked how she was honest about her experiences and didn't try to sugercoat it.

[freeadmission]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 11:40am

"I enjoyed working with people. . . . I really didn't want it to affect my image — if I had an image at all or at least if I was trying to build one. I remember that article that came out in the [New York] Post with our pictures about our nudity. This is just not who I am. I'm not Paris Hilton — bad publicity is not good publicity for me. I didn't want to have anything to do with it. I couldn't wait to get to something like The Light in the Piazza and try to redeem myself."

That made me laugh. I love her attitude. It's not rude, but it's not sugar-coated. It's quite refreshing if you aske me.

[musicalsFan]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 11:44am

"In every rendition they've wanted Stephen to do it. He's basically who they wrote it for, and no one sings it like Stephen. He was almost going to do this Broadway production; that was the plan, [but] he had a television show and couldn't get out of it."

Hmmmm Morrison can't be too thrilled about that comment. She is just being honest though.

to me, the part in the interview that struck me was that Morrison seemed to want to get away from the show after the Tony Awards and move on to bigger and better things as quickly as he could

[Thenardier]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 12:08pm

And all I can say is, after certian "happenings," I'd say now is a very good time to join. (Can't/Won't say much more): http://kellionline.conforums.com


I don't think it was bitchy at all.

I was actually surprised how much she talked about.

But look, two shows she's done of his and, well, both gave her a difficult time.

At least she says that she is thankful J&H got her to Broadway.

And I think Kelli is very real and says what she thinks and doesn't sugar coat it. I mean that in a good way.

I wish more performers were like that.

But I did enjoy that interview a lot.


Oh, I didn't even read any posts:

freeadmission, but - that line stood out for me, too. I think I nearly died laughing. Nearly.

BobbyBubby - I think she may have meant that "No one can sing it better" comment before Matt? If not, I'm sure Matt knew that he had to work for the role. And he does a great job, too. I also prefer Matt to Stephen.

And from the looks of it, people who do one Wildhorn show do not wish to return.

Updated On: 8/26/05 at 12:08 PM

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 12:10pm

To give Morrison credit, he was miles better than Pasquale (or however you spell it) and left more of an impression, at least for me.

[AtypicalTheatre]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 2:20pm

I met Frank Wildhorn at the Broadway Theatre Project this summer and he didn't strike me as the greatest person to work for either.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 8/26/05 at 4:31pm

I too was a bit taken aback by her comments when I read the interview yesterday. I wasn't surprised that she FELT that way (I mean, who can blame her?), but that she would say such a thing in an interview. It's bad form to publicly criticize a colleague, no matter how much they deserve it. There should be a difference between between what you tell your friends and what you tell Playbill.com!