Broadway star O’Hara to perform at Garden Theatre

Broadway superstar Kelli O’Hara will headline the Garden Theatre’s annual Encore gala this spring. The Winter Garden theater will today announce O’Hara, a seven-time Tony nominee, as the star of the gala, which takes place March 14.

O’Hara follows in the footsteps of such theatrical luminaries as Joel Grey and Chita Rivera in headlining Encore, the Garden Theatre’s most high-profile yearly fundraiser. The annual gala includes food and drink along with the performance. VIP tickets include a pre-show dinner and a post-show party with O’Hara.

“Ms. O’Hara is truly a Broadway icon who continues to shape the future of our industry, and I’m thrilled to welcome her to the Garden Theatre stage,” said executive director Nao Tsurumaki in the theater’s announcement.

O’Hara has starred in such Broadway productions as “The Pajama Game,” “Kiss Me, Kate,” “The Light in the Piazza” and “Nice Work if You Can Get It.” She has starred in some of the most iconic Broadway musical roles, among them Nellie in “South Pacific” and Anna in “The King and I,” for which she won a 2015 Tony Award.

This year, the Drama League honored O’Hara with the Distinguished Achievement in Musical

Theatre Award.

An Oklahoma native, O’Hara has a degree in music from Oklahoma City University.

Outside of musical theater, she has performed with the Metropolitan Opera in New York and with the New York Philharmonic. Her two solo albums earned her two Grammy nominations.

O’Hara also has appeared on film and television in “13 Reasons Why,” “Sex & The City 2,” “The Good Fight,” “Blue Bloods” and more.

Tickets for Encore, $95-$350, go on sale at 9 a.m. Dec. 11. For more information, go to gardentheatre.org/encore or call 407-877-4736.