ARTS
Insider By GIOIA PATTON
“
I
view myself as an athlete,” declares Kristin Chenoweth, the Emmy- and Tony Award-winning singer/ actress who, in the 17 years since arriving in New York City armed with a master’s degree in opera performance from Oklahoma City University, has become a very familiar face from her roles on television (Pushing Daisies, The Good Wife, The West Wing, Glee) and in feature films (Bewitched, RV, Running With Scissors). To connoisseurs of Broadway musicals, though, Chenoweth is a household name — i.e., You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, for which she earned a Tony Award in 1999 for her performance as Sally; and a 2004 leading actress Tony Award nomination for originating the role of Glinda the Good Witch in the juggernaut Wicked. Chenoweth’s most recent Broadway musical role was alongside Sean Hayes in the 2010 revival of Promises, Promises. She has also recorded four albums to date, her most recent being 2011’s Some Lessons Learned. Chenoweth’s ‘athlete’ remark occurred during the portion of her Today’s Woman phone interview when she talked about her backstage vocal warm up process. “My music director and I have a ritual of warm-ups and scales that I do with my backup singers,” begins the vivacious
36
FEBRUARY
2014
KRISTIN CHENOWETH:
A Master Class
“New York and Los Angeles will always be there, but the training that I had at my University cannot be replaced. I cannot express how happy I am that my father made me go and get that masters degree!”
artist, before adding, “I view myself as an athlete. If (Olympic gold medalists) figure skater Tara Lipinski or decathlon athlete Bruce Jenner or any other famous athletes went out to compete without having warmed up first, they would be injured immediately. And I feel like that’s actually irresponsible for me not to have warmed up. I vocalize every day, I exercise every day… because I can. And
WHAT ~ A n Evening With Kristin Chenoweth WHERE ~ Kentucky Center WHEN ~ February 12 @ 7:30 p.m. TICKETS ~ starting @ $35 ox office walk up or drive thru or CONTACT ~ b
502.584.7777 or kentuckycenter.org/presents
because I do movies, TV, Broadway, and concert roles, I’ve always got to be ready. It’s like any muscle…I work it out!” On February 12, Chenoweth will be in concert at the Kentucky Center “with a selection of songs from everything that my voice can do,”
she reveals. “Everything from Rogers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, and Dolly Parton songs to some Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand disco music. It’s all over the mat, which is what I love to do.” I tell Chenoweth I have a feeling she’s
as passionate about bringing music education awareness to the masses as she is about her career. Is that true? “I’m very passionate about it,” she answers quickly, “and here’s why. I’m occasionally on a television show called Glee, and we do a lot of songs that have been done. I remember on the first episode I did, I sang Kander & Ebb’s Maybe This Time (featured in the 1972 film Cabaret.) And I got a bunch of tweets afterward from young fans who wrote: ‘I LOVE that song! Who wrote it?’ They thought it was a current song. “And, I thought, I can at least show this next generation that there’s music out there that they don’t know about, that they will love…and that is not just Pink and Britney Spears. And though I appreciate those artists and what they do,” Chenoweth mentions, “there are other artists like Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland, Amy Grant, Barbara Cook, Sandi Patty, Julie Andrews, and Dolly Parton. “What Glee creator Ryan Murphy has done is open up musical theater and other current music artists of today like Bruno Mars and Adele to the masses. And that’s what I feel is our responsibility as an artist to do well.” — Gioia Patton is an Arts & Entertainment celebrity profiler and inconcert photographer. TODAY’S WOMAN