She was nominated for the 2002 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her performance as Penelope Pennywise in Urinetown. She has appeared on Broadway in Evita, Teddy & Alice, Sunday in the Park with George as Frieda, Betty, Anything Goes, Triumph of Love as Corine Fiddler on the Roof as Yente, Memphis as Mama in 2011 and 2012 and Cinderella as Madame in June 2014 to September 7, 2014. She performed the roles of Mazeppa and Miss Cratchitt in the Encores! staged concert of Gypsy in 2007. She 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. She played the title character in the first national tour of The Drowsy Chaperone, which started in September 2007. She played three characters: the Mayor, Toxie's Mother, and a nun, in the rock musical The Toxic Avenger. She appeared in the musical at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey in October 2008. She appeared in the musical Off-Broadway at New World Stages, starting in April 2009. She received the 2009 Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical. From November 2014 to April 2015 she appeared on Broadway in the musical Honeymoon in Vegas, 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 the Ford's Theatre, Washington, DC 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. Her television credits include Law & Order, ', and '. She is an acting coach. She stated her philosophy: "I try to teach my students to get out of their heads and into their instincts, back to that spark that started them out in the first place." It was announced on November 13, 2018 that Opel will be taking over the role of Madame Morrible in the Broadway production of Wicked on November 20.
Personal life
She resides with her daughter in Manhattan. Opel mentioned that she painted the walls and ceiling of their apartment.
