Two women in elegant dresses pose in a lavish living room set; one sits on a sofa with a fan, the other stands by a window holding a cigarette.

Kelli O'Hara falls down the stairs over her Tony nomination in 'Fallen Angels'

Q: What is Fallen Angels about?

Fallen Angels is a hilarious comedy about two housewives and friends who realize they are both having an affair...with the same man.

Kelli O'Hara is over the Paris moon (and down the stairs) about her Tony nomination for Fallen Angels.

Caroline CaoMay 5, 2026, 04:00

In the Broadway revival of Noël Coward’s Fallen Angels, two housewife besties share an ex-flame and now covet the same paramour. A play about married women chatting casually about premarital sex and conspiring adultery certainly attracted the tsk-tsks of the British censor when the play premiered in 1920s. About a century after the play’s premiere, Kelli O’Hara and Rose Byrne spend the farce of a play gagging, guzzling champagne, pratfalling over the agonizing wait for their ex while their respective husbands busy themselves in golf. Now O’Hara, who plays the unhappily married Julia Sterroll, shares a Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play Tony nomination with her co-star Rose Byrne.

“I think Rose and I have exchanged about 50 texts,” O’Hara told New York Theatre Guide. They also texted with “their beautiful ensemble” and the other nominees as well. Fallen Angels also scored nominations for Best Revival of a Play, Best Scenic Design of a Play (David Rockwell), and Best Costume Design of a Play (Jeff Mahshie). In her New York Theatre Guide review, Allison Considine praised the show and cast as an “all-around delight, from its starry cast to its exuberant physical comedy and beautiful costumes.”

O’Hara has been a famed songstress and actress in previous Tony-nominated roles in The Light in the Piazza, The Pajama Game, South Pacific, Nice Work If You Can Get It, The Bridges of Madison County, Kiss Me, Kate, and Days of Wine and Roses, so Fallen Angels marks a departure from her musicals and foray into a comedy play with slapstick.

“I've done musical comedy, but waiver for sure in my willingness to just sort of leap or fall downstairs or whatever,” she mused, crediting director Scott Ellis for getting her to venture beyond her (already acclaimed) comfort zone. “So that feels like a good exercise to try new things at this point in my career – and to have them land.”

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Photo credit: Rose Byrne and Kelli O'Hara in Fallen Angels on Broadway. (Photo by Joan Marcus)