Welcome to Simply Kelli, a fansite dedicated to Kelli O'hara.Simply KelliMobile version
TEXT BY PAUL WONTOREK | PHOTOS BY CAITLIN MCNANEY | ILLUSTRATIONS BY RYAN CASEY
Tony winner KELLI O’HARA and her Tony-nominated friend and co-star WILL CHASE have been testing out their chemistry for a big Broadway musical like Kiss Me, Kate! for a dozen years now. First they teamed up for a five-day run of Oklahoma! actually in Oklahoma in 2007, followed by a four-day concert run of Bells Are Ringing at City Center in 2010, and then a week-long in Nice Work If You Can Get It when Chase covered for O’Hara’s vacationing leading man Matthew Broderick in 2012. But Lilli Vanessi and Fred Graham, the sparring lovers at the center of Kiss Me, Kate!, are the kind of robust classic roles that allow these two stage faves the chance to do what they do best: sing beautifully and make us (and each other) laugh.
BROADWAY.COM: This revival started as a one-night thing.
KELLI O’HARA: We did that concert in… ’16? Gosh, in 2016. We had a blast. And then they said, “Let’s do it!”
WILL CHASE: Well, they actually said let’s do it in the fall of 2017. [Points to O’Hara.] Not available. “Let’s do it in 2018!” [Coughs.] Not available. She’s been busy!
O’HARA: And then they said, “Let’s do it in 2019!” [Points to Chase.] He gets a TV show. We’ll see how long he lasts.
CHASE: Steven Pasquale wasn’t available so I was! But the main point is, we needed a comedy. We need a good, old-fashioned musical comedy.
O’HARA: Yeah, it feels good to laugh. And it feels really good to hit…
CHASE: Me.
O’HARA: A man.
CHASE: In the head.
O’HARA: Yeah. It feels good to laugh and it feels good to hit.
Does this show have something to say or is it simply a good time?
O’HARA: We tried to think about where we are in 2019 as opposed to ’47, when this musical was written. And yes, we want to say something. Otherwise, why do it? This show has been seen as very misogynistic. We’re not rebuilding the show. We want to pay homage to the fantastical Cole Porter score, the Spewack book, but we also want to look at the things that are just blatantly ugly and take them out.
CHASE: The tweaks are so minute, but they change the direction of the show a little bit. The way these characters act towards each other is not always great, but at the core of it is that love story.
O’HARA: And the dancing! I kid you not when I say it’s the best dancing I’ve ever seen! There are two numbers in particular that Warren Carlyle created specifically for these specific, beautiful artists.
CHASE: World class dancers, yeah. “Too Darn Hot” is pretty exciting!
O’HARA: The audiences go crazy. I counted the applause last night. I think for “Too Darn Hot,” it was almost a minute long.
CHASE: And what about after one of my songs? Did you count those?
O’HARA: You have some numbers?
CHASE: I counted 10 seconds, 12 seconds, but then I broke the applause.
Let’s talk about chemistry, because you two have it onstage and off. You can’t fake that, or can you? Are there tricks?
CHASE: I don’t think you can in theater. [To O’Hara.] If I didn’t like you, this would be the worst job ever. If I’ve had a bad day, I know you’ve got my back. And I also know that on the fun nights, it’s going to be really fun.
O’HARA: Really fun.
CHASE: And that’s the only way to do theater, I think.
O’HARA: It’s a safety issue, too. We are beating each other up and you have to like each other in order to do that successfully.
CHASE: I agree. Or else it would be meta, meta, meta. They hate each other. Fred and Lilli hate each other…
O’HARA: Petrucio and Kate hate each other. It’s too much!
CHASE: Too much hate!
https://www.broadway.com/spring-preview/kiss-me-kate/
