ANDY DRACHENBERG: What is the story at the heart of The Bridges of Madison County?
Kelli O’Hara: The heart of this story is the love story- the absolutely heartbreaking star-crossed lover type of love story. Bridges is about people living in 1960’s America. One day someone shows up on Francesca’s doorstep and it changes everything for the rest of her life. The story of Bridges just goes to show that, even if you physically stay in one place, you can make choices that are with you for the rest of your days and that change everything.
AD: Tell me about your character Francesca – what is her journey in this story?
KO: Francesca Johnson is a woman from Naples, Italy who married a soldier and moved to America when she was a teenager. She has lived in Iowa for 18 years, grown a family and made a home. She didn’t realize what happiness really was until she falls in love with Robert Kincaid.
AD: What first helped you get a strong understanding of Francesca?
KO: Becoming Francesca is one of the bigger challenges of my career, and the music brings me to her. Jason Robert Brown did this amazing thing of making her Italian and making her operatic. I can be something that I’m not in real life because of the music, and that’s the best gift.
AD: How was it to experience the production from an audience standpoint at Williamstown Theatre Festival and what were the audience’s reactions you experienced when you saw the show?
KO: Having been able to see the production in Williamstown is such a gift for me because I’ve never been able to step outside a project and look at it. It was amazing to learn about the show and to watch the audience around me responding. Couples were holding each other maybe a little too tightly, probably hoping that this doesn’t happen to them, while other people were introspectively thinking about how this relates to their own lives and the choices they’ve made. In other words the story is incredibly accessible to everyone in different ways. Whichever part you relate to, you take the journey and you feel it entirely.
AD: Can you describe working with the amazing creative team on The Bridges of Madison County?
KO: This whole creative team is at the very top of their game. I am extremely proud and honored to be working with Bart Sher, Marsha Norman, Jason Robert Brown and my good buddy Steven Pasquale. It’s just one of those moments when you pinch yourself and you know that you’re being asked to be the best that you can be. I think about what an opportunity this is and how I couldn’t be more thankful.
KELLI O’HARA (Francesca Johnson) Broadway: Nice Work If You Can Get It (Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League, OCC Nom), South Pacific (Tony, Drama Desk & OCC Nominations), Pajama Game(Tony, Drama Desk, OCC Nominations), The Light in the Piazza (Tony & Drama Desk Nominations), Sweet Smell of Success, Follies, Dracula and Jekyll & Hyde. Regional/Off Broadway: Far From Heaven(Playwrights Horizons and WTF), King Lear (Public Theater), Bells Are Ringing (City Center Encores), Sunday in the Park with George (Reprise), My Life With Albertine (Playwright’s Horizons). Concerts span from Carnegie Hall to Capitol Hill. Film/TV credits: Sex & The City 2, Scorsese’s The Key to Reserva, “Blue Bloods,” “Alexander Hamilton,” “Numb3rs” and the animated series “Car Talk.” She is a frequent performer on PBS’s live telecasts and the Kennedy Center Honors. Her solo albums, Always and Wonder in the World are available on Ghostlight Records.