How Sutton Foster and Kelli O'Hara Got to Carnegie Hall
“I blame Kelli,” Sutton Foster says. “It was her idea.”
It’s a few days before Foster and Kelli O’Hara, two of theater’s biggest stars, are set to take the stage at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops for One Night Only: An Evening with Sutton Foster and Kelli O'Hara, and the Tony-winning women—each of whom is set to appear on Broadway this season, Foster in Sweeney Todd and O’Hara in Days of Wine and Roses—are telling T&C what made this performance impossible to turn down.
“Back in 1962,” Foster explains, “Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett did a concert at Carnegie Hall, which was filmed for television, and it was this incredible evening celebrating two strong women. That was the jumping off point, being inspired by their show at Carnegie Hall. Maybe five years ago, Kelli reached out with the idea of not exactly recreating the evening but being inspired by that duo.”
O’Hara adds, “It wasn’t even an idea, it was a must. Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett have affected millions of us, and when I thought about it, I was like, well, I think it should be done, and it should be done by Sutton Foster and me. It's not so much an idea, it's a truth.”
That much was apparent on the night of the show. The pair charmed a packed house by performing numbers both familiar and not—including songs from The Music Man, South Pacific, Kiss Me, Kate, Kimberly Akimbo, Most Happy Fella, and The Light in the Piazza, as well as a 90s pop montage featuring hits by Nirvana, Wilson Phillips, Madonna, Cher, Mariah Carey, and more—as well as hamming it up with charming banter and dance. The entire evening sparkled with a sense of whimsy, but that only truly worked because one sensed he was in the hands of true professionals— Foster and O’Hara, of course, but also New York Pops music director Steven Reineke and the talented writers, musicians, and choreographers who helped give the evening a feel of being both off-the-cuff and supremely polished.
Another pair that lent their talents to the show? Burnett and Andrews, who were referenced time and time again, and also made an audio-only appearance giving the evening their blessing. It wasn’t the first time the foursome had spoken; prior to the show, Foster and O’Hara were able to chat with Burnett and Andrews—as well as gain access to their original music charts from the UCLA archives—about their own experiences performing together. “We had the opportunity to talk to both of them; we did a conference call and I think both Kelli and I were speechless,” Foster says. “I've never been more at a loss for words… you’re talking to your idols, and they were just chit-chatting with each other. Immediately, I was back to being that 10-year-old kid sitting in the beanbag watching them on TV.”
It wasn’t just Burnett and Andrews who the duo wanted to bring on board. “I can't remember a time before I was watching The Carol Burnett Show or Julie's movie musicals,” O’Hara says. “Mike Nichols had put those [television] specials together and had helped them over the years. We had a meeting on the books with Mike Nichols to talk about a recreation of this the week he died. So, after that, it went away for a little bit. It was great when Sutton came back and said, “OK when are we going to do this?”
Foster recalls, “I think I sent a text” “Is now the time? Should we go for it?” And we just picked a date and put it on the calendar.”
And what about the old adage about how one gets to Carnegie Hall? There was practice (practice, practice), of course, but also the sense that the two stars can offer something like this—and who’d refuse? “Both of us have worked with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, so we do have a relationship there,” Foster says. “But it is sort of a crazy thing to realize we've reached a part of our careers where we're like, “We'd like to play Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops, can you call 'em and see if they're up for that? It is a wild thing to be able to go, ‘hello, Carnegie Hall? Yeah, can we come hang out?’ It's a pinch me kind of crazy thing.”
That's just the way it felt from the audience as well.
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