In the Broadway smash, Wicked, Kristin Chenoweth played the goody-two-shoes, almost too-good-to-be-true witch, Glinda. In real life, Chenoweth doesn’t stray too far from that wholesome persona. She is outspoken about her Christian beliefs, respectful of her family and friends, gracious to those who have helped her career, and absent from the gossip pages that document bad behavior by stars. “She is just as fun and nice as you think she is,” said her friend and frequent collaborator, Kathleen Marshall.
During an appearance on April 16 at the Paley Center, Chenoweth talked about her multi-faceted career that has included star turns on stage, screen, film, and television. Her new book, A Little Bit Wicked—Life, Love, and Faith in Stages (not a tell-all, she stressed, although given her reputation, what would she have to tell?) has just been published.
Marshall, the perfect moderator for the evening, has directed Chenoweth numerous times, including in a TV production of The Music Man. The Paley Center did what it does so well, putting together film clips of Chenoweth’s best performances. While Chenoweth has so far failed to catch fire with a TV show (her two attempts, Kristin and Pushing Daisies, were cancelled, the latter just this season), she has been part of megahits such as Fraiser, Ugly Betty, and The West Wing. She may be given another opportunity this fall with a starring role in a David E. Kelley series, Legally Mad. Chenoweth described the show as a cross between Ally McBeal and Boston Legal, with her character, Skippy Pylon, “the smartest lawyer in the firm, who also happens to be bi-polar.” Kelley is waiting to hear from NBC about the pilot.
She recently finished a theatrical film, Into Temptation, where she plays a “suicidal prostitute,” and doesn’t get to flash a smile in the entire movie. “I’m so depressed and a slut,” she said with a laugh. The film, co-starring Jeremy Sisto, of Law & Order, has been accepted into three film festivals, with the hope it will be picked up by a distributor. As with her TV show, Chenoweth quipped, “So much in this business is about the waiting.”
If truth be told, however, Chenoweth didn’t have to wait long for her career to take off. After winning a scholarship to Oklahoma City University, she studied with the prestigious voice teacher, Florence Birdwell. (Kelli O’Hara, also attended OCU and studied with Birdwell). Chenoweth planned to study opera, and won a scholarship to Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts, but on a trip to New York, she auditioned for the Paper Mill Playhouse’s musical production of Animal Crackers. She nabbed the role, turned down the scholarship, and decided to pursue a career in musical theater. In 1999, she won a Tony Award for her performance as Sally in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
At four feet, eleven inches, Chenoweth is often physically dwarfed by her co-stars. She recalled such a moment, doing a “walk-a-talk” down a hallway with West Wing co-star Allison Janney, who is five-eleven. Those scenes are more difficult than they appear and “if you mess up, everyone has to start from the beginning.”
Chenoweth managed to keep up with Janney in that scene and in many others. She joined the award-winning show well into its run as media consultant Annabeth Schott. “You have to step up with the rest of the cast or get left at the station,” she said. “It’s their home, their turf.” She immediately felt at home with Stockard Channing and Bradley Whitford, theater people. Yet the person she felt closest to was John Spencer, whose death was written into the storyline.
“My character was the one who found him,” she said. Chenoweth knew that Spencer would want her to handle the scene with class. During filming she became emotional when she picked up Spencer’s jacket that still smelled of his cologne. “I miss him a lot to this day,” she said.
Chenoweth’s career has had many high points, including being part of the juggernaut Wicked. Marshall asked, “When did the cast realize the phenomenon?” Chenoweth said during tryouts in San Franciso when Idina Menzel, playing Elphaba, was lifted up and the audience went wild. Wicked opened to mixed reviews in San Francisco and New York. “I told Idina not to worry, that people would love it,” she said. And they still do.
