Kristin Chenoweth

Actress/singer Kristin Chenoweth went from strength to strength in the late '90s and early 2000s, beginning with an award-winning stage career in musicals and straight plays that expanded into television and a recording contract. She grew up in Broken Arrow, OK, and attended Oklahoma City University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in musical theater and a master's degree in opera performance. She won a Most Talented Up-and-Coming Singer award in the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, which entitled her to a full scholarship at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. But before starting there, she auditioned for an off-Broadway production of +Dames at Sea, and when she got the part she opted to move to New York and turn professional instead. She followed +Dames at Sea with a stint in the long-running off-Broadway musical +The Fantasticks. She also played leading roles at the prestigious regional theaters the Goodspeed Opera House and the Guthrie Theatre, and Jerome Robbins chose her as the guest soloist in his +West Side Story Suite of Dances at New York City Ballet. Chenoweth made her Broadway debut in +Scapin, then moved on to the John Kander-Fred Ebb musical +Steel Pier (April 24, 1997), for which she won a Theatre World Award. During the 1997-1998 season, she was in the City Center Encores! production of +Strike Up the Band (February 12-15, 1998) and in the Lincoln Center production of William Finn's musical +A New Brain. In the 1998-1999 season, she appeared in a Broadway revival of +You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (February 4, 1999), and her performance won her the Tony Award for best supporting actress along with similar awards from the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle. In the 1999-2000 season, she appeared in the Broadway comedy +Epic Proportions (September 30, 1999) and in an ABC-TV adaptation of the Broadway musical +Annie, and she starred in the City Center Encores! production of +On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (February 10-13, 2000). On May 29, 2001, Chenoweth's debut solo album, Let Yourself Go, was released by Sony Classical. One week later, on June 5, 2001, her NBC-TV situation comedy Kristin had its premiere. On the loosely autobiographical show, Chenoweth played Kristin Yancey, an Oklahoma native who comes to New York City to make it in show business, but, unlike the actress herself, has to settle for an office job. Chenoweth embarked on her first national tour, accompanied by the Seattle Men's Chorus, beginning on June 22, 2001, in Seattle and continuing with dates at the Hollywood Bowl and in New York's Central Park with the New York Philharmonic in July. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide