Posted: 11/22/15 at 6:29pm
Anyone know why Keenan Bolger played Clara in Chicago but O'Hara played Franca and then replaced CKB on Broadway?
http://www.goodmantheatre.org/season/0304/the-light-in-the-piazza/
Updated On: 11/22/15 at 06:29 PM
Posted: 11/22/15 at 6:35pm
If you listen to the available material of Bolger in the role she played it verrrrrry "short bus" if that makes sense. That's generally the consensus on why she was replaced, as that takes a lot of the necessary depth out of the character.
Posted: 11/22/15 at 6:43pm
so why the decision to bump o'hara up?
Posted: 11/22/15 at 6:44pm
A lot of it was because O'Hara looked older and more mature in the part, where as Celia came across younger. Clara had to have a certain maturity so the audience would feel it was alright to leave her in Italy. Both Kelli and Celia discuss the matter in their chatterboxes with Seth Rudetsky, and Celia talks about it in her interview on the theater people podcast.
Posted: 11/22/15 at 6:47pm
At first Kelli refused to take the role, because of Celia and because she enjoyed playing Franca. But they told her that if she didn't take it they would find someone else (just meaning Celia would definitely not get to), so since she had been with the production for multiple years, they agreed it was best for Kelli to take it.
Posted: 11/22/15 at 6:49pm
^It's funny how they both wounded up as Tony nominees for Featured Actress in a Musical that year.
Posted: 11/22/15 at 7:56pm
Does anyone know where you can get episodes of Chatterbox? I'd like to listen the one with Jeremy Jordan.
Posted: 11/22/15 at 7:58pm
Clara is written for a true soprano. Celia Keenan-Bolger is a mezzo with some high notes, and she had a lot of difficulty with the music. She was replaced with O'Hara, who was vocally more in line with what the creators had in mind for the role.
Posted: 11/22/15 at 8:03pm
Yea larrys also right, it had to do with how the music was sounding also.
Carl- I know he uploads clips here and there to YouTube but most of the chatterboxes are on Seth tv but a membership costs money. It's totally worth it though.
Posted: 11/23/15 at 10:39am
What I also find interesting is that when I came time for Bartlett Sher to do South Pacific at Lincoln Centre, the 3 final actresses competing for the role of Nellie was Kelli O'Hara, Celia Keenan-Bolger, and Victoria Clark.
Posted: 11/23/15 at 11:23am
Kelli talks about it in her chatterbox. Szot wasn't cast yet so they were auditioning different ages.
Posted: 11/23/15 at 1:50pm
I saw the Goodman and Broadway productions and felt Bolger was FAR superior and believable in the role (as was Wayne Wilcox). I love O'Hara and think she is extremely talented, but after having seen Bolger in the role, O'Hara seemed bland and generic by comparison (as was Matthew Morrison). The Bolger/Wilcox combination had more chemistry and was so much more believable. I was actually disappointed when the casting took a turn toward the classic ingenue.
Posted: 11/23/15 at 1:56pm
I agree with everything Mister Matt just said.
Posted: 11/23/15 at 1:58pm
Wasn't O'Hara also dating (or had recently dated) Guettel?
Posted: 11/23/15 at 2:07pm
O'Hara and Guettel had a fling during the Chicago run, but they never seriously dated.
Posted: 11/23/15 at 5:48pm
I saw the earlier Seattle run. I thought Celia was good, but the great loss for me was Stephen Pasquale having to leave due to his TV show--I found him utterly compelling, much more so than Morrison on the cast album, or Lazar in the telecast.
