The New York Pops, led by music director Steven Reineke, will pay tribute to Tony winners Kelli O’Hara and Bartlett Sher next year. The Broadway star and director, who most recently collaborated on the Tony-winning Lincoln Center revival of The King and I, will be honored at the Pops' annual gala on May 1, 2017. The evening will include a star-filled concert at Carnegie Hall and a gala dinner to follow.
The Light in the Piazza composer Adam Guettel, O'Hara's Sweet Smell of Success co-star John Lithgow, O’Hara’s Piazza and South Pacific co-star Matthew Morrison, composer Nico Muhly, opera star Anna Netrebko and O’Hara’s fellow The King and I headliner Ken Watanabe will serve as honorary co-chairs for the event. Performers will be announced at a later date.
Sher and O’Hara’s collaboration began with The Light in the Piazza, marking Sher’s Broadway debut and the first Tony nomination for both of them. Since then, he has directed O’Hara in South Pacific (for which he won a Tony), The Bridges of Madison County and The King and I, which won O’Hara her first Tony Award.