Kristin Chenoweth

Kristin Chenoweth is very talented.  In fact, this woman is so talented in so many ways that it seems inadequate to pin a label on her like “Broadway Superstar” or “Opera/musical theater/country singer.”   This 4’11” dynamo can be found in every corner of the entertainment world: Broadway theater, television, movies, CD’s, talk shows, reality shows, awards shows and every conceivable showcase from the Rose Parade to the Yankee Stadium.  How she got there is an interesting story and she probably deserves the ubiquitous exposure she gets. Whether it’s a good thing is another question. 

Chenoweth was born July 24, 1968 in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and adopted within days of her birth.  As a young girl she diligently learned to dance and quickly discovered that she had a very big voice.  In high school, she dominated in her school’s musical theater productions.  She went to Oklahoma City University specifically to study voice with Florence Birdwell, “a master teacher, performer, and force of nature”, according to the OCU brochure.  Birdwell was a strict and intimidating teacher but she showed her hand when she told the surgeon scheduled to perform Kristin’s tonsillectomy, “You need to know that you have the voice of the decade – the voice of her generation - in your hands.”  After completing her BA in Musical Theater, she joined the beauty contest circuit where she won enough scholarship money to pay for a Master’s degree.  Ms. Birdwell was over the moon when Kristin won a coveted scholarship to the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.  Kristin was about to leave Birdwell and OCU a highly-trained, broadly experienced coloratura soprano destined for great things in the world of opera.  But fate intervened.

Kristin Chenoweth in
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
Photo: Carol Rosegg

On a lark, Kristin went to New York to audition for an off-Broadway show called Animal Crackers.  After waiting all day for the Equity actors to get their turn, Kristin did her song and dance for the director.  She got the part.  So in 1993, Kristin Chenoweth left her opera career behind and went to New York to join the cast of Animal Crackers.  (Years later, she completed her Master’s in Fine Arts in Opera Performance from OCU.)  After several shows off-Broadway (including the fabled The Fantastics), she made her Broadway debut in Scapin which was quickly followed by another Broadway show, Steel Pier. In 1998, She played Sally in a revival of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and won the Featured Actress Tony Award.  With the new millennium,  Chenoweth branched out into other media: a TV movie of Annie with Kathy Bates, a series on AMC called Paramour, Miss Noodle on Sesame Street, Rosie, Letterman, even her own short-lived TV show called Kristin.  In his 2002 review of her performance at a Lincoln Center’s American Songbook concert, Stephen Holden of the NY Times wrote, “All Ms. Chenoweth needs to become a Broadway superstar is one more hit show.” That show was Wicked.

Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel in Wicked

Wicked is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Wicked tells a parallel story to the familiar tale of Dorothy and The Wizard of Oz about the two witches, Glinda and Elphaba.  Chenoweth spent several years in workshops for Wicked and was instrumental in its evolution from book to stage. If the song “Popular” seems to be written for her, it probably was.  After a pre-Broadway run in San Francisco, Wicked opened on Broadway in October 2003 with Idina Menzel as Elphaba, Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda, and Joel Grey as the Wizard.  Wicked was nominated for 10 Tony Awards including two Best Actress nominations for Menzel and Chenoweth.  Menzel won.  Though nominated for Best Musical, it lost to Avenue Q.  Chenoweth left Wicked soon after the Tonys but insists that her decision to leave had nothing to do with her loss to Menzel. 

My favorite Chenoweth performance is when she sang Cunegonde in the New York Philharmonic revival of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide in May 2004 (Broadway.com readers chose it as their favorite, too, in 2010).  This performance was shown on PBS’s Great Performances and highlights her ability to exploit both her opera and musical comedy chops simultaneously.  Next, she took on the continuing role of Annabeth Schott in the last two seasons of The West Wing.  A wonderful moment is in Season 6 episode 10 when 6’0”Alison Janney looks down on Kristin and says “I can’t believe we’re the same species.”  At this point of the story, I must admit that I was completely star-struck by Kristin Chenoweth.    

FHM "cheesecake"

But then something strange happened.  It might be a coincidence, but at this point in her career, she hired a manager who told her she would change her life.  So let’s go to the movies!  Chenoweth made several movies during this next period including The Pink Panther with Steve Martin, Stranger Than Fiction with Will Ferrell, RV with Robin Williams, and Four Christmases with Reese Witherspoon.  Apart from the fact that most of these movies suck, they quickly pigeon-holed her as the wacky, unsophisticated, sometimes  boozy and/or slutty friend or relative.  Bolstering this dubious new image was an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show singing “Sing for your Hoo Hoo”, a ribald Funny or Die video called Intervention with Kristin Chenoweth, and posing semi-nude for FHM and Allure magazines.  In her own words, “Those FHM pictures are pure, all-American, tape-it-to-the-bottom-of-the-top-bunk, razzleberry-swirl cheesecake.”  Really, Ms. Masters in Fines Arts?  Howard Stern (of all people) asked “I just want to know how you do this Christian-music CD and then you do the T-and-A thing in nude photographs?”  Good question.

Next, her resumé positively explodes with talk show appearances.  Apparently, she was happy to show up for anyone with a microphone.  This strategy backfired when she made an appearance on Pat Robertson’s 700 Club.  The gay community loudly protested calling for a boycott of her albums, shows, and concerts.  When her gay friends and fans defended her as not homophobic at all, Christian fundamentalists called for a boycott of her albums, shows, and concerts.  Moral of the story: Be careful whose couch you sit on.

Good Christian Bitches
was quickly rename GCB

How about some TV?  From 2007 to 2009, Chenoweth appeared in Pushing Daisies, a strange TV series about a pie-maker who can bring people back from the dead with a simple touch.  She won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for the role. Despite critical praise, Pushing Daisies was cancelled in its second season.  Next, she played April Rhodes on Glee and Carlene Cockburn (yes, that’s right) on Good Christian Bitches, which was quickly renamed GCB.  Fortunately , GCB was cancelled after one season.  She was cast in the fourth season of The Good Wife but had to leave when a stage light fell on her, causing serious head injuries.

Cheno goes County

What’s on your playlist?  Chenoweth has recorded four albums: a collection of Broadway standards, a Christian music collection, a Christmas album, and a Country album.  The latter CD includes a song she co-wrote called “What Would Dolly Do?” which she (naturally) paraded around the country from A Prairie Home Companion to The Grand Ol’ Opry.  With such a wide range of music and the fans to go with it, it’s not surprising that she can now sell out concert venues like the Hollywood Bowl, the Sydney Opera House and the Royal Albert Hall.   In recent years, the publicity blitz has continued.  Just a few examples: singing the National Anthem at the 2010 New York Yankees home opener, judging on So You Think You Can Dance, co-hosting on the Oscar Red Carpet in 2013, and riding on a float in the 2013 Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.

Kristin Chenoweth on opening day
at Yankee Stadium on April 13, 2010.
 UPI/John Angelillo

As I said at the top, Kristin Chenoweth is extremely talented.  A superb voice, spectacular stage presence, loads of charisma, a smile that never ends, and she is very sexy.  It’s also obvious that she has worked hard to hone and keep that skillset.   But her strategy of shamelessly appearing in any vehicle that will have her, no matter how gratuitous or bizarre, is getting really old.  She jokes in her biography about “world domination” but it seems like that is exactly what she is trying to do.  Is it really necessary to take every gig – regardless of how cheesy, inappropriate, or downright bad it might be?  Her duet with Seth McFarlane at the 2013 Academy Awards “Here’s to the Loser” was so embarrassing I wanted to hide under the couch.  There is a story near the end of her biography where a woman on a plane calls her a starf#%ker.  “Starf#%ker? What does that even mean?”, Chenoweth writes. Well, the Urban Dictionary (my go-to resource for this sort of thing) defines it as “a person who’s obsessed with and seeks out personal interaction with celebrities. The desired interaction is often, but not necessarily, sexual in nature.”  The woman on the plane could have been referring to Ms. Chenoweth’s bed partners like Aaron Sorkin but I don’t think so.  I think it is a perfect description for her lust for celebrity, seeking it out wherever it can be found at any cost.  Personally, I wish she would stay in her wheelhouse, do what she does best, and dial down the grandstanding.  Ms. Birdwell’s star pupil is now in her mid-40’s.  Maybe we’ll see her become more discriminating with age.  Then again, … probably not.

Chenoweth, Kristin with Joni Rodgers.  A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages   Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 2009                     

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