Kelli O’Hara is a once in a lifetime performer. While it’s easy to make that claim for an eight-time Tony award nominee who won for her performance in The King and I, it isn’t just her accolades that make her so fascinating. Throughout her career, whenever people told O’Hara to go right, she went left instead and followed her heart. Whether in musical theater, opera or television, she’s brought distinctive artistry to each and every one of her roles, performing in front of some of the largest audiences each medium has to offer. But how did this Oklahoma native achieve immense success?  

O’Hara’s first love was musical theater. When it came time to pick a major in college, that’s what she planned to study at Oklahoma City University (the same school that Kristen Chenoweth attended). However, she was told that her voice wouldn’t fit into the pop and rock styles that dominated the musical theater landscape of the time, so she was convinced to study opera instead. She studied under the late, great Florence Birdwell (who also taught Chenoweth) and competed in the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions after graduating. Despite making it to the regional finals, she couldn’t turn away from her love for musical theater and decided to leave opera.  

So began O’Hara’s incredibly prolific career on Broadway, where she starred in classic revivals such as The King and I   and South Pacific   as well as bold original works like Days of Wine and Roses.   But while she never regretted leaving opera for Broadway, she couldn’t help but be curious about what it would be like to sing on the Met stage. Her chance came in 2014 when she was cast in the leading role of Valencienne in The Merry Widow   at the Met, holding her own in a formidable cast led by Renée Fleming in the title role along with opera luminaries Nathan Gunn and Thomas Allen. That production gave audience members a taste of O’Hara’s operatic capabilities, which she was able to show again when she returned to the Met in 2018 as Despina in Così fan tutte. Even anyone still doubted her abilities, O’Hara proved she could stand toe to toe with the greatest singers when she was cast in the Met’s world premiere of The Hours   by Kevin Puts, as one of the three female leads,   alongside Renée Fleming and Joyce DiDonato. (She performed the same role portrayed by Julianne Moore in the 2002 film adaptation of the original novel.)