BWW Interviews: Kelli O'Hara & Paulo Szot on Lerner, Loewe and Carnegie Hall

Eight shows a week for two years (more or less, off and on), they have taken on some of Rodgers and Hammerstein's most challenging material in South Pacific. On Friday at Carnegie Hall, Paulo Szot and Kelli O'Hara will shift gears to take on a very different kind of Golden Age music with a one-night-only concert of Lerner and Loewe songs, backed by the New York Pops.

The concert, O'Hara says, will be "a whole evening of obvious choices--but then, some not so obvious." Between the obvious Brigadoon and My Fair Lady picks, there will also be selections from Paint Your Wagon and Gigi. "It's a night full of a lot of interesting things," she says happily. "And we're going to sing together quite a few times which is very fun for us, because in South Pacific, we never sang together."

Szot is quick to point out, however, that the concert "will be Paulo and Kelli singing, not Emile and Nellie." Still, he adds, "We enjoy singing together, and we were lucky to have so much fun on many different stages since we met two years ago."

The idea for the concert, O'Hara says, came about when the Pops wanted to do a special evening with their new conductor, Steve Reinke. "And then they came up with the idea of doing an evening of Lerner and Loewe. Some of these things, you're lucky. You're in the right place, and they say, 'Hmm, Kelli O'Hara can do it.' And then they call you."

O'Hara is no stranger to Lerner and Loewe's songbook, having played Eliza Doolittle in a well-received concert with the New York Philharmonic a few years ago. "When they talked about the program, I thought, 'That's kind of perfect for me! I can sing those things from My Fair Lady with a big orchestra again,'--which I've hoped to get that chance again." While she appeared in a college production of Brigadoon, she is new to Paint Your Wagon and Gigi. "It's an opportunity to learn, as well," she says.

While both singers are fairly mum about what specific songs would appear in the program, Szot did mention his appreciation for "If Ever I Would Leave You" from Camelot. "It was their first song I sang," he remembers, "and since then I always include it in my shows whenever it is possible." O'Hara, for her part, says that she is looking forward to the duets of the evening, such as "It's Almost Like Being in Love" and "What the Simple Folk Do" from Camelot. 

Creating chemistry in a concert setting is, of course, very different from creating chemistry in a book musical. "Each song is about something different--different situations, [different] roles, so it's hard to have always a good link," Szot says. "We need to have in mind other elements to create an identity. In a play, musical or opera you have the drama leading you from one point to next. In a concert, we need to turn each song in to something magical and very special."

O'Hara, on the other hand, has a different take on creating a concert identity: "There will be many different characters in this one particular evening, so what  I'm going to try to do with this is just be me" she says. "The songs all fit me to a certain T. I'm a soprano, and in each of these, I could probably play the role--and would love to do so--so instead of trying to go from character to character in a concert setting, I try to bring the concert to people as myself... They're there to see Kelli O'Hara sing songs, not Kelli O'Hara play Gigi or Eliza. They're there to hear the music, and that's the first, most important thing." Ultimately, she says, "It will be us as ourselves enjoying and embodying this music rather than the characters as much."

Still, like Szot, O'Hara feels it's important to find where the singer connects to each song's emotion. For example, if she is going to sing "I Could Have Danced All Night," she says, "There's no reason why Kelli O'Hara couldn't be so excited that she can't sleep and that she wants to dance all night because she's in Carnegie Hall and she feels celebratory. It doesn't have to be that she's Eliza Doolittle feeling that because she danced with Professor Higgins at the party."

As a young actress, O'Hara feels that her greatest challenge is to keep developing and stretching herself. "I've had great opportunities to show different sides of myself, but the challenge will always be getting either people to let you do it or finding the right things to do in order to do it," she says. "I was doing Light in the Piazza, where I was playing a young girl with a handicap. And then I went to do Pajama Game, which was a very womanly, kind of sexier role." She points out that getting two divergent roles was somewhat risky, especially for Pajama Game director Kathleen Marshall. "It's hard to not only find them, the different kinds of roles, but then to have people take the risk and let you do it. I think any actress would say the same thing. We want to keep re-inventing ourselves, and it's a challenge to not get pigeonholed. I love playing an ingénue and I love doing revivals and I will continue to do that. But I will always be looking, every once in a while to that edgier thing [to] show a different side of myself."

As an operatic singer who transferred successfully to Broadway, Szot has a somewhat different perspective on professional challenges. "I had many great moments that were crucial for me," he says, "The most recent was the joy of being part of South Pacific, which introduced me to a wonderful universe I didn't know;  and few weeks  ago my  Met debut with The Nose. Singing at the Met is a dream for every opera singer...I will never forget these two very special moments in my career."

But right now, the two are getting ready for another special moment, and a new step in their careers when the curtain goes up on Friday at Carnegie Hall. "It is the perfect concert!" Szot says. "I mean, singing at Carnegie Hall, with the New York Pops and Kelli O'Hara! What a dream!"