Tony Winner Kelli O'Hara Will Lead Kiss Me, Kate on Broadway in 2019

It's another op'nin', another show for Kelli O'Hara! The Tony winner will star in the Roundabout revival production of Kiss Me, Kate in February 2019 at a venue to be announced. O'Hara is set to take on the dual leading roles of Kate and Lilli Vanessi. This mounting of Kiss Me, Kate will feature direction by eight-time Tony nominee and Roundabout’s Associate Artistic Director Scott Ellis and choreography by Tony winner Warren Carlyle.

Broadway musical favorite (and 2015's Broadway.com Star of the Year) Kelli O'Hara won her first Tony Award for playing Anna in the Lincoln Center revival of The King and I. She was previously nominated for her performances in The Bridges of Madison County, Nice Work If You Can Get It, South Pacific, The Pajama Game and The Light in the Piazza. Her other Broadway credits include Jekyll & Hyde, the 2001 revival of Follies, Sweet Smell of Success and Dracula, the Musical.

As previously reported, O'Hara is getting ready to star as Fiona MacLaren in the City Center production of Brigadoon alongside Patrick Wilson from November 15 through 19. She also returns to Lincoln Center for the Metropolitan Opera’s 2017-18 season, where she will sing the role of the spunky maid Despina in a new staging of Mozart’s Così fan tutte. The Phelim McDermott production, which is set at Coney Island in the 1950s, will premiere on March 15, 2018.

Last year, O'Hara and Will Chase led a benefit concert reading of Kiss Me, Kate for the Roundabout. The one-night-only event was directed by Ellis and played on December 12, 2016 at Studio 54. Robert Fairchild, Heléne Yorke, Chuck Cooper, Richard Kind and Norm Lewis rounded out the cast. Additional cast members and creative team for this Broadway production will be announced at a later date.

Kiss Me, Kate features a book by Sam and Bella Spewack and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The musical centers on a cast putting on a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and the conflict on and off-stage between Fred Graham, the show's director, producer, and star, and the leading lady, his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi (O'Hara). The musical premiered on Broadway in December 1948 and went on to win the Tony Award for Best Musical. The Spewacks and Porter also received awards for Best Author and Best Composer and Lyricist, respectively.