CELEBRITY Strong will behind the sweet smile
Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth speaks her mind even when it’s not popular with fans
Kristin Chenoweth, the pride of Broken Arrow, Okla., has always worked her image as the opera singer next door. The surefire Broadway star, former Glee actress and frequent guest on the Jay Leno-era Tonight Show has broad, common-denominator appeal. In June, she and Scottish actor Alan Cumming were praised for their cheeky comic turn as hosts of the 2015 Tony Awards.
And yet, get Chenoweth talking — or writing, as in her 2009 memoir A Little Bit Wicked — and the singer with a sugarysweet smile embraces stances and tactics that are not, well, popular.
For starters, she’s always been open about her failed celebrity relationships. Her string of boyfriends includes Tony nominee Marc Kudisch, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and violinist Joshua Bell. She’s also not afraid to stick her neck out, petite as she may be. Chenoweth spoke by phone to Backstage this month, and once she got her set list out of the way, she went off script to talk about the danger of the socalled Idina Menzel effect, and why more evangelical Christians should support gay marriage: On her concert set: “I do different shows for different venues. In Utah earlier this month, for example, my whole act it was songs from movies, like Que Sera Sera and Moon River and songs from musicals that became movies, like My Fair Lady. But, look, I am also going to have to do some things that people know me for, or else I am going to be strung up and shot. I’ll do everything from Dolly Parton to Leonard Bernstein to the Dixie Chicks to Wicked to Judy Garland. It will be an interesting amalgamation of everything that I do.”
On her opera training, and whether some musical theatre performers can “scream” like her Wicked co-star Idina Menzel, but not “sing.”
( Composer Rachel Peters recently complained about a dearth of versatility in her muchbuzzed about blog post for New Music Box.)
“I’ll tell you what I think — and this is going to sound fuddyduddy: I’m getting old — but this does seem to be what is happening now.
“I was trained operatically. It’s like learning ballet. Ballet is key to learning all kinds of dance — modern, jazz and tap. It’s the key that allows you to find your style, and it’s also what allows you to do other styles and move easily in and out of all kinds of dance. That’s how I view my operatic training.
“I just did an operetta on Broadway for six months (On the Twentieth Century). Before that I did Burt Bacharach, and before that I did Glinda (in Wicked) and before that I played a five-yearold little girl (Sally in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown). I don’t think I could have done that without the base, which is technique.
“In young singers that I hear today, it’s either just screaming, or not stepping out of their comfort zone and being able to do anything else. That is what makes me a little nervous. I want them to find their voices, for sure, and their favourite style to sing in, but we all must learn to do other things. I don’t think there are any more rules. And that’s what this writer is talking about. When there is no real base, there is no way to step outside your comfort zone, and then there is no versatility.”
On why it’s important to speak out as a Christian celebrity who supports marriage equality:
“Even though I grew up in the Bible Belt, I had really awesome parents who said, ‘If I ever hear you not accepting someone for who they are, you’re gonna get a butt-busting.’ (spanking.)
“And I didn’t just hear it, I saw it by example. I understand, as a Christian, what the Bible says. I also believe that God makes us how we are, like, I’m 4-11. There’s nothing I can do about it. I can put on a wig and highheeled shoes, but I’m still 4-11. He made us how we are. And that’s how I feel about homosexuality. If I have the right as a short, straight Christian artist lady to get married, everyone else should, too. And that view is not always popular when I go out on the road in certain parts of the country.