World class musicians, gourmet dining and history meet when the Virginia Arts Festival and Festival Williamsburg renew their partnership Memorial Day weekend for one of the commonwealth’s most spectacular annual events. Each evening concert is presented in tandem with succulent meals conceived by Rhys Lewis, Colonial Williamsburg’s executive chef.
If you go
The Virginia Arts Festival presents Kelli O’Hara and music director/conductor Rob Fisher.
Where: Virginia Room of the Williamsburg Lodge
When: 5:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday
Info: $35 to $45; 800-982-2787; vafest.org
Other events:
Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer –Ê8 p.m. Friday; tickets $35 to $45
Friday’s concert features Grammy Award-winner and banjo virtuoso Bela Flack, tabla master Zakir Hussain and double bassist Edgar Meyer playing their commissioned work, “The Melody of Rhythm-Triple Concerto.” This event is one stop on a nationwide tour that brings them to Wolf Trap in July. On Sunday, cellist Alisa Weilerstein performs in company with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra conducted by JoAnn Falletta. It is followed Monday by a commemorative program honoring those who died in service.
Kelli O’Hara takes over Saturday with an evening of songs by prolific composer Harold Arlen directed by Broadway veteran Rob Fisher. The soprano’s three Tony Award nominations for “The Light in the Piazza,” “The Pajama Game” and “South Pacific” propelled her to Broadway heights. Her debut solo album, “Wonder in the World,” features songs arranged and orchestrated by Harry Connick Jr., her co-star in “Pajama Game.”
Five years after making her Broadway debut in “Jekyll and Hyde” and subsequent roles in “Follies” and “Sweet Smell of Success,” O”Hara won hearts with her deft portrayal in “The Light in the Piazza” of Clara Johnson, the beautiful young girl who overcame slight mental retardation from a head trauma and found true love.
“We did a lot of research in advance,” O”Hara said. “Even though the story is fictional, it”s a very tricky and sensitive subject. Our objective was to make her come to life in a realistic and respectful way.”
Critics raved and audiences fell in love with Clara, but when the opportunity came to play opposite Connick in “Pajama Game,” she reluctantly left the cast. Her sizzling Babe, the antithesis of Clara, led directly to her role as Nellie Forbush in the Lincoln Center Theater revival of “South Pacific.” Slated for a very brief run, it opened in March of 2008, captured coveted Tony and Drama Desk Awards and is still going strong.
“‘South Pacific’ has a special warm place in my heart, proof that one thing leads to another,” O’Hara said. “After ‘Pajama Game,’ I put together an album that is very personal to me with lyrics I love and music that moves me. Now I’ve just returned from a cruise where I performed the Arlen songs I’ve chosen for Williamsburg. Many people aren’t aware of his extensive contributions to both film and Broadway.”
On Memorial Day, O’Hara will join National Symphony Orchestra for the live Capitol Hill Concert broadcast simultaneously on PBS before heading to Boston to sing Cole Porter music with the Boston Pops. In July, she is the featured artist at the National Association of Teachers of Singing in Salt Lake City, followed by an evening performance at the Ravinia Festival and a return appearance with the Boston Pops at Tanglewood. Looking ahead, several new musicals on the horizon pique her interest.
“It’s important to try something new,” she said. “Had I not left ‘The Light in the Piazza’ for ‘Pajama Game,’ the wonderful things that have happened to me since might never have occurred.”
