Interview: Kristin Chenoweth Talks To Nads

Hey Gasmii, I got to talk to Kirstin Chenoweth last week in support of the TNT’s Christmas in Washington. The special will be hosted by Dr. Phil and Robin McGraw and it will feature Casting Crowns, Kristin Chenoweth, Julianne Hough, Darius Rucker, and Straight No Chaser.

I was so excited to talk to Kristin that I totally geeked out and ask her about her Funny or Die spoof she did on Intervention. hehe.

Enjoy:

Nads: I’m a huge fan! I just have to tell you I was dying watching your Funny or Die Intervention video. I literally peed myself laughing, it was so unexpected.



Kristin: Thank you so much!!! I’m so glad you liked it!

Nads: It was amazing.

Kristin: You know, I – I – I took a little heat for that, but….

Nads: You did, why? Was it the crystal meth? Lol.

Kristin: Especially being you know a person of faith and like here I am singing about crystal meth, but I thought it was hilarious. So, who cares?

Nads: I’m obsessed with that show (Intervention), and was watching it online, and then I literally stumbled up on your spoof…

Kristin: I’m obsessed with that show, too. I love it!!

Nads: I can’t stop. I cry – first – then I laugh…oh it’s bad.

Kristin: I always have to see the update, and they are trying to get me to do one where I do an update. But I really want to do another one you know with another kind of addiction, I know it’s horrible. But I think it’s funny to take the – the genre of musical theatre and – and attach it to something very serious.

Nads: I totally agree and – and it gets the good message out so I loved it. And with that said (I’m sure you get asked this all the time), what do you prefer TV, stage, film…do you have a favorite medium? I know you’re classically trained musically, but is there one that you do prefer now that you have done everything?

Kristin: You know I – I do get asked this question a lot and it’s so funny it depends, but the answer is always different because it depends on my mood.

Nads: Like whatever you’re working on then?

Kristin: Yes. I think for me, I love obviously Broadway. I mean there’s nothing like performing in front of a live audience. And also losing yourself in a character, and TV and film certainly has its challenges. Pushing Daisies was one of the highlights of my career, certainly playing that character was. But my favorite this is I do a lot of concerts with orchestras all over the world and I love making music with you know an 80 piece orchestra behind me and I also love bringing what it is that I do to – to – to – which is a little bit of everything and – and especially if you are doing an opera to try and make it relatable to people that might not normally like opera or opera buffs that might not normally like country music or you know country music people that might not normally like musical theatre.

I like – like to not be limited by myself by – by being in a role so I would have to say that the concert singing, the concertizing is really what fulfills me the most. With that being said, you know, Broadway doesn’t suck. I love it and I miss it, I miss it a lot and but I loved being on TV and I’ve loved being in movies. Four Christmases was so fun and you know I just want and all I care with this economy is that I keep can keep getting a job.

So I you know beggars won’t be choosers. I do have concert dates booked throughout the next three or four years, but you know I’m always wanting to challenge myself and do new things, so.

(Read on and see a clip after the jump)

Some other questions asked from the interview (it was a conf. call):

Q: What made you want to be a part of TNT’s Christmas special?

Kristin: Well, I – I certainly love that – that the President and First Lady will be there obviously, that will be cool. But this is also benefiting the National Children’s Medical Center and I don’t like to see any child suffer in any way. So I’m really honored that – that this is actually something that is going to be charitable too. And also I love Christmas and I have a new Christmas record out, and they asked me to sing from it, so I’m – I’m really excited to get to sing with the National Symphony. That – that is a symphony that I sung with in the past and – and one of the best in – in the world, so it’s – it’s actually my honor to be here.

Q: Do you have a favorite Christmas family tradition or cherished Christmas memory about oh anything, like maybe the best gift you ever got or – or whatever, the case may be.

Kristin: Yes, well unfortunately, my best but my favorite gift that I have ever got was some – some Gloria Vanderbilt jeans in the 7th grade. I was very happy to finally get those and I remember on the back pockets it had hamburger and French fries on them. But to be more serious, our family takes Christmas very seriously and we celebrate the actual meaning of it so we have a tradition where we – we, my Mom has unfortunate ceramic Christmas tree with candles on it, it’s not very pretty.

But what it lacks in aesthetics it – it has a lot of meaning. And basically each family member lights one of the candles and – and talks about the past year in their lives and – and what has been so great and what they are thankful for and also what they have learned from. And that is probably my favorite Christmas tradition and it’s always like we’re not going to cry, we are not going to cry, but you know obviously all of us are like bawling at the end. It’s so ridiculous, but even my father who is a man of very few tears, lets – lets it go a little bit. So that’s my favorite tradition that we have.

Q: You know you seem to be a little of everywhere right now, with your album and Pushing Daisies is still airing and the special. I know our readers are dying to know what’s going on with the Dusty Springfield Project.

Kristin: Oh, thank you. Well, I – I just have read another draft of the script, and you know I – I am a – a very much, which is I don’t know is a curse or a blessing, a perfectionist, type A personality and I just don’t want to do it until it’s just right, you know?

We are still working on that script and luckily I have a few years before I absolutely couldn’t do it anymore, the older I get in fact the better it is for her. But we are just still working on the script if I’m being honest and I’m just praying that it comes to fruition within the next year. Because you know the schedule is piling up and I – I really want to make time – time to do this and do it well.

So many people don’t know about Dusty and – and all of her – her songs that were actually hers and that were her hits and also what made her so tortured which is you know she had an abusive family, struggled with her sexuality and you know I think a lot of people just go Dusty Springfield is that some kind of a ((inaudible)) that’s kind of all that they know. So I’m not giving up, I’m not giving up and neither is the studio and neither are, you know is my agency, so keep your fingers crossed that we can get it right.

Q: I was actually wondering, you mentioned that you are a big fan of Christmas, lots of traditions surrounding the holiday, did you actually grow up singing Christmas songs and do you have a favorite that you could just listen to all year long if you had too?

Kristin: You know, I did grow up – I mean we were so like – we were just geeks when it comes to music, Christmas music and I–I listened to all the great albums. We had a Christian singer named Sandy Patty that had an awesome Christmas record, we had Frank Sinatra’s, we had Bette Midler’s and Barbara Striesand’s Christmas record.

You know it’s kind of hard because I remember the first song that I played on the piano was the Little Drummer Boy. And that is just something that I don’t need to hear anymore. I’m kind of – if I hear pa rum pa pum pum any more I’m you know…I’m done with the Little Drummer Boy. But oddly enough one of my favorite songs is – is something that I put on the album and – and hopefully put my own stamp on it and it’s – it’s called “Do You Hear What I Hear?” It’s a standard classic Christmas song, but it – it builds in the music and it tells a story and I just love it, I love it. I love the orchestrations on this – on this track especially. And, but I’ve always loved it – I’ve always love it if you sang it in church you know or you heard it on – on somebody else’s album, I’ve always loved that song, so I would have to say that one.

Q: I just had a quick question, this special seems like it is going to be really wonderful this year with the performers that are also joining you on stage and, of course, with you performing for the President and First Lady, do you still get nervous? What kind of the – the thought that goes on in your head right before you take the stage?

Kristin: Do I still get nervous? I have to tell you, I have sung many times for the President and the First Lady, and – and – and even privately for them for different functions and I will never not feel my knees knocking. I mean I will never get over that I’m singing for the President and even though especially Mrs. Bush has been like ” Well, Kristin, we just love you, we love your voice and you just remind me of my girls,” I mean they – she is like your mom, you know what I mean? So she puts you at ease is my point. There is no reason in the world that I should be nervous. But I do still get nervous.

I sung for the Clintons, I got nervous when I did that. If I am – have the opportunity to sing for the President – President Elect Obama, I’m sure I will find myself you know leaning over a trashcan as well.

I always get nervous and I get more nervous to sing, you know I’ve sung concerts all over the world in front of thousands of people. But I don’t know what it is and I only have to do two songs, but everybody please say a prayer for me because you know I’ll have to eat like five million Tums just to get through this.

Q: I was wondering if you could talk about Pushing Daisies, are you guys going to get a chance to wrap everything up and if so will you be singing because the parts that I love are best are when you break out in song?

Kristin: Thank you. Well last week’s episode I did get to do a wonderful song from the Bangles or is it the B-52s? Eternal Flame. I will be singing again, a little bit of a Lionel Richie song coming up. But no, the answer to the question is the writer, our creator Brian Fuller specifically asked if – if he could write an episode to write everything off and ABC specifically said, “No don’t do that.” Because you never know what’s going to happen, see we didn’t know until recently that we were cancelled. So we went ahead and shot an episode thinking that they could be a possibility that we’d come back…Which you know is kind of a bummer, because our fans will be kind of like wait a minute – wait what – what happens? But Brian Fuller is such a creative genius he’s you know this is not news, so I’m not breaking any – breaking any secret here, but he has talked about writing a movie version. And wrapping things up and also keeping – going ahead with the comic book version of it. And even though that would you know suck for us because we are not comic book characters.

We can’t like act those out. At least the fans will get closure and to be honest so would we. I’m not – I’m doing OK. I’m extremely sad. I wished we could have had an episode where we wrapped it up. I am very surprised that this was the – the show that was – that was – I understand that ratings weren’t what they hoped and I also understand that we are very expensive show to produce.

I get it. Like I get in my mind but my heart has a harder time with it. So I’m sad. Just keep on the lookout and hopefully there’ll be a movie. That’s why I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Q: I’m going to follow up on that last question about Pushing Daisies and I want to ask you are you – are you happy with where all of it is by the end of this series or to push it a little bit further. Do you – do you have any idea in your head about like a epilogue for Olive like where she might go after the length of the series or what you wish for her.

Kristin: I love you for asking that question. I’m just crazy enough to have planned out the whole next (season). Of course, this is this in my head, not Brian’s. I have always envisioned …

That – that – that Ned eventually sees that he can have a real relationship with Olive. I have to believe that as an actress because I have to play her. They do introduce (Randy) or David Arquette’s character …In the shows upcoming and I think that if we were to go on, you would see that maybe Olive could move forward, not on but forward with somebody and find happiness. But I always pictured that Ned saw and got a little jealous and I think he does that.

As a relationship that she can move on and guess what? She can have something he can’t…which is touch. And a real thing you know. So I eventual – I see her eventually you know getting in a relationship and still maybe being not completely satisfied like many women are. They move forward but they never – they always have that one love. And you know I always played this – this character which not a lot of people know that there was something serious going on before Chuck arrived on the scene.

Q: What – wait you mean something literal or you mean just emotional?



Kristin: Well I think that there was something between Ned and Olive that was real….And then all of a sudden there she was. And also you know when – when someone comes back – this is getting really intricate here but you know when I think about making someone greater in your mind or more fabulous or more special or think about the all the good times we had in your mind than they actually were. I think Ned and Chuck have this – they kind of love that they have the fantasy world. But eventually, they’re both going to want the real…the touch.

So anyway you know I don’t know if Ned – Ned and Olive will ultimately end up together. I can tell at the very end of the – of the season finale what I always thought was – this is – again I’m crazy. I think ahead like this. But I was always hoping that – that Ned was an old man and that – and that Olive and Emerson had been brought back to life. Eventually Olive would know what the deal was. And then they would all four be together and even though they couldn’t touch.

Q: That’s kind of creepy.

Kristin: Yes. And you know what does that say about me? We don’t know but …I – I – I just kind of always thought that the four of them would never really let each other go. And even – even though Olive drives Emerson crazy, there’s a special relationship there.

Check out Kristin on Christmas In Washington on TNT this Wednesday at 8PM ET/PT.

Here is a clip of Kristin from the special (click on image to open video):