KRISTIN CHENOWETH-THE FIRST "GALINDA UPLAND"
ON BROADWAY
Born on July 24, 1968,
in Tulsa, OK.
Education: Oklahoma City University, bachelor
of arts degree in musical theatre; master of arts degree in opera performance.
Kristin Chenoweth was born on July 24, 1968, in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
and raised in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Dancing and singing were a big part of her life. "I grew up singing gospel and country
music, and it was one of the biggest influences for me musically. I loved singers like Amy Grant and Sandi Patty. ... and
I was also listening to Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland, but these are the singers that really made an influence on my life,"
she said in an interview with Robert Diamond for the Broadway World website. When she was 12, she sang for the entire
Southern Baptist Convention, performing "I'm Four Foot Eleven and I'm Going to Heaven." She wanted to head to Nashville right
after graduating from high school, but her parents insisted that she go to college. She studied at Oklahoma City University,
receiving a bachelor of arts degree in musical theatre and a master of arts degree in opera performance. While there, she
won the Miss Oklahoma University title, and was runner-up in the 1991 Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant.
She performed in a stage revue at Opryland and then won a
Most Talented Up-and-Coming Singer Award in the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, which led to a full scholarship
to Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts. Before leaving for Philadelphia, she took time to help a friend move to New York
City, and while there she auditioned for an Off-Broadway show, "Animal Crackers," and was offered a role. She turned down
the scholarship and accepted the part.
Chenoweth made her Broadway debut in a production of Moliere's
Scapin, starring Bill Irwin. She followed that in the spring of 1997 with the Kander and Ebb musical Steel Pier,
winning a Theatre World award. The following season she appeared in the City Center Encores! production of Strike Up the
Band, and the Lincoln Center Theater production of A New Brain. She created the role of Sally in the first Broadway
production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown for the 1998-99 season, winning a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award, and
an Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
The year 1999 found her on television with a supporting role
on the AMC comedy-drama Paramour. She was then cast in the ABC-TV remake of Annie. She had her first non-musical
role on Broadway as the star of the comedy Epic Proportions. She then signed a deal with NBC for a 13-episode commitment
for her own talk show, simply called Kristin, which premiered in the summer of 2001. The show did not do well in the
ratings, but Chenoweth said she would try it again. The year 2001 was a busy one for Chenoweth, as she signed to play in the
pilot Seven Roses on CBS, released her first CD, Let Yourself Go, and played Marian the Librarian in a TV production
of The Music Man, opposite Matthew Broderick.
In October of 2003, she opened the Broadway production of
Wicked as Glinda, the Good, where, as described by Entertainment Weekly, she hung "suspended
in mid air in a mechanical bubble, armed with a magic wand, a sparkling smile, and a soprano that soars far beyond the land
of Oz." Wicked became a major Broadway hit, and Chenoweth was nominated for the 2004 Tony Award for
Best Actress in a Musical. In Dance Spirit, Chenoweth admitted to the challenges of both singing and dancing in Wicked:
"It's hard because, growing up as a dancer, you learn to engage the exact opposite muscles---as far as the diaphragm---as
you do to sing. The trick is maintaining your technique---keeping the breath coming from down low and not totally letting
your stomach hang out when you're dancing."
Chenoweth has worked hard to stay in shape in order to keep
up with the cardiovascular demands of her Broadway performances. She told Dance Spirit, "You've got to find ways to
breathe while you're dancing so that when it comes time for you to stop and sing again, you have it. To prepare, I do a lot
of aerobic activity. Many times at the gym, people will look at me because I'll be on the treadmill humming."
Also in 2003, she began an ongoing role on Sesame Street
as Ms. Noodle. She also starred in a video/DVD with Sesame Street star Elmo, in Elmo's World: Happy Holidays!.
In the spring of 2004, as she was finishing up her run in Wicked and rehearsing for a role in Pink Panther,
she fulfilled her dream of singing the role of Cunegonde in Candide. The song "Glitter and Be Gay" from that show has
become a staple in her concert performances.
In the fall of 2004 Chenoweth joined the television cast of
NBC's Emmy-winning series The West Wing, as Annabeth Schott, the spitfire whiz at public relations. Of her busy career,
she told the Broadway World website, "I don't vacation or have any sort of life. ... but there are bigger problems to have.
I love my work so much, that I just want to do it all." In the spring of 2005 she released a new CD, titled As I Am,
a collection of familiar Christian hits. "I've really wanted to make this spiritual, inspirational record since the events
of 9/11, and I'm glad that I can finally put it out there," she stated on the Broadway World website. The album does include
one non-spiritual song that has become a signature piece for Chenoweth, called "Taylor, the Latte Boy," a fun, lighthearted
romp about a barista at Starbucks.
In the summer of 2005 she played Marie, the nosy neighbor
in Bewitched, a film starring Nicole Kidman. Next came Pink Panther, with Chenoweth playing alongside Steve
Martin and Kevin Kline. She then went on to work on the film Running with Scissors, starring Annette Bening and Gwyneth
Paltrow. Further roles are planned, with Emma Thompson in Fiction and with Robin Williams in RV, both scheduled
for release in 2006.
Chenoweth has performed with numerous symphonies, and held
roles on and off Broadway, on television, and in film. It doesn't look as if her career will be ending anytime soon. But if
it does, "I'm really interested in forensic science," she told Entertainment Weekly. "I'd love to learn about DNA and
fighting crime."
