Susan Stroman & Kelli O'Hara to Make Their Met Opera Debuts With The Merry Widow

Tony winner Susan Stroman, who is currently working on the Main Stem's Bullets Over Broadway, is set to make her Metropolitan Opera debut directing and choreographing Lehár's The Merry Widow. Part of the Met's just announced 2014-15 season, the production is set to open on New Year’s Eve. The Bridges of Madison County’s Kelli O’Hara will also make her Met debut starring in the operatta.

Conducted by Andrew Davis, The Merry Widow will be performed in English, in a translation by Jeremy Sams. Lehár’s best-known composition has been an audience favorite since its 1905 premiere and features well-known classics including “Vilja,” “You’ll Find Me at Maxim’s,” and “The Merry Widow Waltz.” Along with O’Hara as Valencienne, the cast will include Renée Fleming as Hanna, Nathan Gunn as Danilom, Alek Shrader as the young nobleman and Thomas Allen as Baron Zeta. Set design will be by Julian Crouch, costume design by William Ivey Long and lighting design by Paule Constable.

Stroman is a Tony winner for her choreography of Crazy For You, Show Boat, Contact and The Producers and for her direction of The Producers. She has been nominated for Tonys for her choreography of Big, Steel Pier, The Music Man, Oklahoma! and The Scottsboro Boys and for her direction of The Music Man, Contact and The Scottsboro Boys. Other Broadway credits include Young Frankenstein, The Frogs and Thou Shalt Not. O’Hara garnered a fourth Tony nomination for her recent run in Nice Work If You Can Get It. Her other Broadway credits include South Pacific, Pajama Game, The Light in the Piazza, Sweet Smell of Success, Follies and Dracula.