Jill O’Hara returning for local benefit
By MEGAN BOLLINGER Staff Intern
POSTED: June 2, 2008
Article Photos
On Sunday, June 29, they will both return to Warren and sing it again at the cabaret portion of the Revitalization of Youngsville’s golf scramble, dinner and cabaret.
Since that performance, O’Hara’s singing and acting talent has carried her to Broadway and beyond. She is now an actress and singer, performing in numerous Broadway shows and one-woman cabaret acts.
O’Hara moved to Warren with her family when she was nine years old, and lived on Conewango Ave. She is now a actress and singer, having performed in numerous Broadway shows and one-woman cabaret acts.
“My father was a traveling salesman and so we lived in many different places. In Warren he worked at a Chevrolet dealership,” she said.
O’Hara is the daughter of Edith O’Hara and the late John O’Hara. Her 91-year-old mother lives in New York and runs the off- Broadway performance company, 13th Repertoire. Her sister, Jenny O’Hara, is an actress in California and her brother, Jack O’Hara, is a singer and songwriter in New York.
O’Hara remembers the Warren Children’s Theater where she performed many times as a young girl. The theater was run by her mother, who also taught ballet to children.
Vonnie Radecki recalls taking lessons from Edith O’Hara as a young girl. “I remember she used to come to Youngsville from Warren and we would have lessons in St. Francis Church,” she said.
In high school, O’Hara performed as Ado Annie in “Oklahoma” and was chosen to perform as part of the Pennsylvania Ballet. “It was an honor because they only selected two students from Pennsylvania,” she said.
In 1963, when she was 16, O’Hara left Warren and moved to New York City. O’Hara said she struggled at first with the transition to a large city.
“It was extremely difficult and terrifying,” she said. “I remember I had no idea how to buy food. I went to the grocery store, and I came home with only Pepsi and blueberries.”
O’Hara supported herself by singing in coffee houses in Greenwich Village. “it was very difficult,” she said. “They paid almost nothing.” In 1964, O’Hara eventually began performing at the legendary Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village, where she worked with Richard Pryor and Richie Havens. O’Hara studied acting under Uta Hagen while performing in theaters.
From 1967 to 1968 O’Hara performed in “Hair” and “George M!”. She was playing the female lead in “Hair” when she received an offer to join the cast of “George M!”, which she accepted because of the diversity of the role. For a time, she was performing in “Hair” in the evening and rehearsing for “George M!” during the day.
“At night I was wearing this button that said ‘Let’s get naked and smoke’ and then during the day I was wearing an entirely different period costume,” she said.
After her rise from singing in Greenwich Village to her successes on Broadway, O’Hara intentionally slowed the pace of her career.
“I was busy being Mrs. Jones,” O’Hara said, explaining that in 1984 she married Philip Jones, an architect and painter.
Although O’Hara began performing at a young age, she had moments when nerves and a case of stage fright almost overwhelmed her.
“The first time that I opened in New York in my own cabaret I remembered my legs were shaking so badly I wasn’t sure if I could make the last step onto the stage,” O’Hara recalled. While early auditions were not always easy for O’Hara, it wasn’t until later in her career when she began to feel more nervous before a performance. “I had a lot more at stake then,” she said.
In 1990, O’Hara performed “Jill and Her Jacks” at the King’s Head Theater in London. “I was being reviewed by London drama critics, which was quite frightening,” she said.
O’Hara lives in New York and is currently recording a new CD. She plans to begin performing the songs on the road and Warren will be one of her first stops.
ROY’s golf scramble, dinner and cabaret will be held at Jackson Valley Country Club.
