by Rod Jones
Broadway superstar and Oklahoma City University alumna Kelli O’Hara will perform at a Feb. 29 event to benefit the Meyers Theatre for Young Audiences. “An Evening with Kelli O’Hara” will be held at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
O’Hara is returning to her home state after winning the Tony Award for Leading Actress in a Musical in the summer. She won the award for her performance in one of the most critically acclaimed productions in the country, “The King and I” at the Lincoln Center Theater.
O’Hara, lauded as “Broadway’s golden girl and luminous star” by The New York Times, has had an additional five Tony Award nominations for her work in “The Bridges of Madison County,” “Nice Work if You Can Get It,” “The Light in the Piazza,” “The Pajama Game” and “South Pacific.” She has also been nominated for Grammy awards twice and has appeared in film and television shows including “Sex & The City 2,” “Blue Bloods,” “Alexander Hamilton” and “NUMB3RS.”
Oklahoma City University is working to establish an endowment to support the Meyers Theatre for Young Audiences. The fund will provide resources to sustain annual theatrical and musical theater performances for young people and will add a creative outlet for new works.
The program at OCU is the result of a decade’s worth of work by Sandy and Stewart Meyers, who brought the Kennedy Center’s Touring Theatre for Young Audiences performances to Oklahoma City until that program was discontinued in 2012. Appointed to the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts by President George W. Bush, Sandy Meyers has sought to carry forward the work of the Kennedy Center’s touring program to engage school children in live, values-based theatrical performances. The Meyers have worked with OCU to offer spring semester productions focused on young audiences since February 2013.
The Meyers are using the experience they gained from the national Kennedy Center program to establish a local program in Oklahoma City.
“Through this special celebration, we are demonstrating how we invest in our children,” Sandy Meyers said. “We know that when children are able to experience live theatre it heightens their imagination and inspires creativity. By combining live theatre with a message about America's highest values, we are strengthening our community in many ways.”
The Feb. 29 event will begin with a 5:30 p.m. reception, followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m. Tickets to “An Evening with Kelli O’Hara” are $200 and can be purchased online at okcu.edu/Meyers.
Tax-deductible sponsorship opportunities are available. Visit the web page for more information.
