Kristin Chenoweth vows to ‘represent’ Broadway in concerts

NEW YORK – “Glee” and “Wicked” star Kristin Chenoweth is returning to Broadway this fall for a series of concerts celebrating the history of the Great White Way in what she vows will be a different show each time because the songs will change every night.

“I’m going to do my best to represent our community,” she said Tuesday by phone, “and just as you can imagine, I’m going to try to do it all. So, if you would go ahead and start your prayers, that would be amazing.”

The Tony- and Emmy-winner will star in “My Love Letter to Broadway” from Nov. 2-13 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Music direction will be by Mary-Mitchell Campbell and costume design by Christian Siriano.

Chenoweth said she’s been putting the show together in her head for months — “actually it’s my whole life, if I’m being honest,” she said — and the title came easily. “Then there are no rules. I can sing pretty much anything because my favourite thing is Broadway. I have been raised on music by Rodgers and Hart, and Bernstein, Porter and Gershwin, but there’s also now ‘Hamilton’ and ‘Wicked.’”

Chenoweth was speaking from her hometown of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where she made a donation to the public school system’s music and arts programs, hoping to reverse fiscal cuts. Later, she was to host a master class at the Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center, mentoring 10 students from high school and college.

While she wouldn’t reveal her specific Broadway song lists, Chenoweth did say that “Popular,” her signature tune from “Wicked,” will be performed. “I’ve discovered if I don’t sing ‘Popular’ I could be shot, especially in the South,” she joked. “So I’m pretty sure that will show up.”

“Every night will be different,” she said. “You will come to see the show on one night — on a Tuesday — and on Saturday it will be different. And that will be the most fun part as an artist for me. No audience will see the same show.”

Chenoweth, whose TV credits include “The West Wing,” ”The Good Wife” and “Pushing Daisies,” was last on Broadway in the 2015 revival of “On the Twentieth Century,” for which she got a Tony nomination. Her film credits include “Bewitched,” ”The Pink Panther” and “RV.”

The singer and actress later this month will release her next album, “The Art of Elegance,” a 13-track CD with classics like “A House is Not a Home,” ”Skylark” and “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.”

Tickets for the Broadway run go on sale Sept. 17 starting at $67, with premium prices at $249.

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Online: http://www.KristinOnBroadway.com