Oprah Winfrey Bringing Inspirational Entertainment to the Sphere in 2027

^{It's been 15 years since Oprah Winfrey ended her talk show, but her next steps for motivational speaking will take shape at the Sphere in 2027. (Photo: PMC / Alamy)}

The Sphere has become the premier concert and entertainment venue in Las Vegas. And now, iconic broadcaster Oprah Winfrey will bring her talent to the Sphere stage, becoming the first non-music and non-theater entertainer to tap into the venue’s potential.

Oprah Winfrey announced on Monday that she would bring a specially designed stage production to the Sphere in 2027, titled “Oprah Winfrey’s AHA.” The show will have Winfrey take the stage of the Sphere with several special guests from April 2-4, 2027.

The show stems from an event that dates back to the Sphere’s opening back in 2023. Winfrey was one of the thousands in the stands when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame rock band U2 opened the Sphere in 2023. The venue has hosted top-notch shows by other greats in the entertainment world since then, and its facilities have wowed audiences at every spectacle.

After watching the Irish rockers put the Sphere’s multimedia capabilities to the test, Winfrey wondered what she could do with them. She told the Associated Press that she saw the venue’s potential beyond just music events and film.

“You could use this technology as a visual, immersive experience to allow people to go deeper for themselves and walk away with a sense of awe and wonder about what it means to be alive,” Winfrey said. “I know that there’s more, and the more could really help people see themselves differently. It has the potential to be an incredible experience of magnificent wonder.”

“AHA” will be a two-hour production featuring Winfrey and a roster of top entertainers from the music, poetry, and spoken-word worlds.

Seven-time Grammy winner Jacob Collier, known for his four-octave range and collaborations with artists like Coldplay and Alicia Keys, will headline on the music side along with Grammy-nominated musicians Jason White and Jon Hopkins.

Poet and author Ocean Vuong, whose book “The Emperor of Gladness” was recently featured in Winfrey’s own book club, will join the lineup along with musician Ajit and gospel singer Wintley Phipps.

To tap into Sphere’s production potential, Winfrey is sparing no expense. Oscar-nominated composer Max Richter will serve as music director, while Baz Halpin, the producer of the Awakening production at Wynn Las Vegas, is producing this as well.

Playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, known for Moonlight, wrote the show, and Es Devlin, the stage designer behind Beyoncé’s Formation and Renaissance world tours, is also contributing her expertise.

Full details on what the show will include are scarce right now, but tickets are expected to sell quickly for Oprah’s production. The 17,600-seat Sphere will open ticket sales for the Winfrey production to the general public on Friday, Sept. 25. Venue presale tickets open Thursday, Sept. 24, at 10 a.m. PT.

Since opening, the Sphere has used its technology in diverse ways, becoming home to residencies across several music genres.

Following U2’s debut at the venue in 2023, it’s hosted residencies from iconic bands such as the Eagles, Dead & Company (the surviving members of the Grateful Dead with John Mayer), the Backstreet Boys, Carin León, No Doubt, and Kenny Chesney.

Sphere will host an upcoming residency by hard rock and thrash metal legends Metallica, which will test its structural integrity. The venue has also branched out beyond music entirely with the presentation of the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz, featuring a 4D experience that engages the olfactory, auditory, and physical senses.

The Sphere also made a brief foray into live sports, hosting the 2024 NHL Draft as the venue's first-ever live sports broadcast. That turned out to be a one-off: the NHL scrapped the centralized draft format the very next year, with teams picking from their own home markets instead of gathering at a single venue.

But Winfrey will bring an entirely different dimension to what Sphere could do. The presentation will likely align with what’s defined Winfrey’s efforts since she ended her eponymous talk show in 2011: advancing humanity through entertainment. Winfrey has always been able to tap into what the public needs, whether it’s through interviews with newsmakers like former President Barack Obama, performers like Rihanna following the controversy with Chris Brown, or literal royalty like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

She also has her long-running Oprah Winfrey Book Club, a throwback to her talk show days that’s still in operation. Winfrey leaves enough empty space in what she says she wants to do with her Sphere shows that anything could be possible once it arrives.