Tony-award winner Kelli O’Hara ventured north of the Great White Way Sunday night to perform Broadway favorites to a packed Sanders Theatre in Cambridge. Although she is accustomed to performing eight shows a week, this particular show was a little more nerve-wracking — she had recently contracted laryngitis.
“I’m going to try not to focus on [my laryngitis],” she said. “There will be times that you get nervous for me, but you know what? I love to sing, and I wish I was perfect every night. But tonight is one of those moments that I’m singing because I really want to.”
There was never reason to be nervous, as Broadway icon O’Hara powered through all 16 songs in her set, delivering impeccable vocals and bringing the audience to its feet on two separate occasions. Though she carried tea in a mug onstage with her to soothe her throat, she played it off by relating it to Frank Sinatra and his tendency to drink on stage.
The laryngitis didn’t hold her back one bit. Every high note was hit with perfection.
O’Hara is currently starring as Anna Leonowens in “The King and I” on Broadway, for which she received her first Tony award after six nominations. Many audience members were likely looking forward to hearing “Getting to Know You,” a sweet number O’Hara performed at the Tony Awards last year. But sadly, she didn’t perform any songs from “The King and I.”
Instead, O’Hara took the audience on a journey of her life through the songs she performed. Her operatic training was apparent in her performance of the title song from “The Light in the Piazza,” for which she received her first Tony nomination. Her performance of “This Nearly Was Mine” from “South Pacific” was emotional and bittersweet, a perfect segue into the part of the show where she talked about her grandfather and family.
She opened the evening with “To Build a Home,” from “The Bridges of Madison County.” It was a six-minute journey of love and reflection, which perfectly set the stage for the superb acting and raw emotion the audience would continue to see for the next hour and a half.
The audience enthusiastically applauded O’Hara for 30 seconds following her opening number. She graciously accepted the praise from the loving audience. It was clear, however, that the audience was as gracious that O’Hara decided to perform through her illness, as O’Hara had the audience’s unwavering support.
“I’m doing this career because I love it and it’s my heart, but sometimes it’s really hard and sometimes you can focus on the wrong things,” she said before performing “Finishing the Hat,” a Stephen Sondheim original. “You’re too obsessed with your craft sometimes because it’s so beautiful … and theater and art is something I so love and reach for and dedicate my life to.”
The energetic climax of the show came toward the end, when O’Hara performed a somewhat autobiographical song, written by her pianist Dan Lipton, about a Southern woman who enjoys opera but is forced to become a country star. She performed the number in a cowboy hat and used operatic runs while singing about giving birth. Needless to say, it was the most fun song of the night and even featured her highest notes (what laryngitis?).
The Sanders Theatre was not ready to say goodbye to O’Hara when she began her encore, “I Could Have Danced All Night” from “My Fair Lady” — a number that pleased many audience members as soon as it began. As audience members filtered out of the theater, praising O’Hara’s stunning vocals and bubbly personality, they left knowing they had just been graced by a reliable, elegant Broadway star, ready to keep dancing all night.
