singer
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...
Kansas
Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...
Sunday in the Park with George
''Sunday in the Park with George'' is a 1984 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It was inspired by the French pointillist painter Georges Seurat's painting '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La G ...
'' as Frieda / Betty (1984), '' Anything Goes'' (replacement Hope Harcourt), '' Triumph of Love'' (1997) as Corine ''
Fiddler on the Roof
''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and musical theatre#Book musicals, book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Russian Empire, Imperial Russia in or around 19 ...
'' (2004) as Yente, '' Memphis'' as Mama in 2011 and 2012 and ''
Cinderella
"Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...
'' as Madame (the Stepmother) in June 2014 to September 7, 2014. She performed the roles of Mazeppa and Miss Cratchitt in the
Encores!
Encores! is a Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, Tony-honored concert series dedicated to reviving United States, American Musical theatre, musicals, usually with their original orchestrations. Presented by New York City Center since 1994, E ...
staged concert of ''
Gypsy
{{Infobox ethnic group
, group = Romani people
, image =
, image_caption =
, flag = Roma flag.svg
, flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress
, po ...
'' in 2007.
Opel portrayed Kafka in the Off-Broadway debut of David Ives' one-acter, '' Words, Words, Words'', which ran at Primary Stages in November 1993 to February 1994 She appeared in another Ives play, ''Polish Joke'', which ran Off-Broadway in a Manhattan Theatre Club production in February to April 2003. Opel played several characters, and was nominated for the 2003 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play.
Opel played the title character in the first national tour of '' The Drowsy Chaperone'', which started in September 2007.Jones, Kenneth "Nancy Opel Will Be Drowsy in National Tour" Playbill, July 18, 2007
In the 2008 rock musical '' The Toxic Avenger'', she played three characters: the Mayor, Toxie's Mother, and a nun. The musical was performed at the
George Street Playhouse
George Street Playhouse is a theater company in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in the city's Civic Square, New Brunswick, Civic Square government and theater district and resident at the newly built New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. The GSP is o ...
in
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New World Stages, starting in April 2009. For this role, she received a 2009
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...
nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical.
From November 2014 to April 2015 she appeared on Broadway in the musical ''
Honeymoon in Vegas
''Honeymoon in Vegas'' is a 1992 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Andrew Bergman and starring James Caan, Nicolas Cage and Sarah Jessica Parker.
Plot
Private eye Jack Singer swore to his mother on her deathbed that h ...
'', and was nominated for the 2015 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical.
She played the title role in '' Hello, Dolly!'' at Ford's Theatre in 2013. She appeared in '' Follies'' at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis in September to October 2016, as Carlotta. She appeared in the new musical ''Curvy Widow: The Musical'' at the North Carolina Stage Company in October 2016.
It was announced on November 13, 2018, that Opel would be taking over the role of Madame Morrible in the Broadway production of '' Wicked'', which she did from November 20, 2018 to January 20, 2020.
In 2021 Opel portrayed
Carrie Chapman Catt
Carrie Chapman Catt (born Carrie Clinton Lane; January 9, 1859#Fowler, Fowler, p. 3 – March 9, 1947) was an American women's suffrage leader who campaigned for the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave U.S. women t ...
in the historical musical ''The Suffragist'', about the lives of Chapman Catt,
Alice Paul
Alice Stokes Paul (January 11, 1885 – July 9, 1977) was an American Quaker, suffragette, suffragist, feminist, and women's rights activist, and one of the foremost leaders and strategists of the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the Unit ...
, Ida B. Wells, Lucy Burns, and Anna Howard Shaw. The production was written by Cavan Hallman, with music by Nancy Hill Cobb, directed by Rachel Klein, and performed at the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center.
In 2022, Opel started portraying Cinderella's Stepmother in the Broadway revival of ''
Into the Woods
''Into the Woods'' is a 1986 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine.
The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. T ...
''. She reprised this role in the subsequent 2023 national tour.
Opel's television credits include ''
Law & Order
''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, launching the ''Law & Order'' franchise.
''Law & Order'' aired its entire ...
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...