Mayo Performing Arts Center officially kicks off its 2015-2016 season with a performance by Tony-winning actress Kristin Chenoweth on Friday, September 11, 2015 at 8 pm. Tickets are $79-149. Limited tickets remain.
Emmy and Tony Award winning actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth takes the lead in a career that spans film, television, voiceover and stage effortlessly.
She received an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on the ABC series Pushing Daisies (Pushing Daisies was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award for “Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy.”) Chenoweth lit up the stage of McKinley High as a former student who returned to town with more than the baggage from her flight, on Fox’s hit comedy, Glee. In her role as Glee’s quirky ex-songstress, April Rhodes, she was nominated for two Emmy Awards and a People’s Choice Award in the category of “Favorite TV Guest Star.” Though Kristin has often come into our living rooms on hit shows such as The West Wing (where she starred as Annabeth Schott), she may be most remembered by Broadway lovers everywhere for her origination of the role of Glinda the Good Witch in Wicked, which earned her a Tony Award Nomination, and her Tony-winning performance in You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, for which she stole the show and many hearts in the process. In July, Kristin received the coveted star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame in the category of live performances on stage or in theatre.
Chenoweth recently made her return back to Broadway, playing the glamorous film star, Lily Garland, in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s On the Twentieth Century, which has received rave reviews. Kristin’s performance earned her the following awards: Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Broadway.com Audience Choice Award. She has also earned nominations for the following awards: Tony Award in the category “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical” and a Drama League Award. Earlier this year, she co-starred in the Universal film The Boy Next Door, alongside Jennifer Lopez. She was also seen in the film A Bet’s A Bet (International title: The Opposite Sex.) She’s completed production on the indie teen drama entitled Hard Sell and has been seen this summer in the Disney Channel’s live-action original movie Descendants, in which she will play the classic Sleeping Beauty villain Maleficent.
In 2014, Chenoweth starred as a poisonous frog named Gabi in the hit animated film Rio 2. She also reprised her nominated role in the 100th episode of “Glee.” In May 2014, she returned to the famed Carnegie Hall; her first solo-concert at Carnegie Hall was in 2004. On stage, she performed songs from her album, Some Lessons Learned, as well as some of her most memorable songs from Broadway’s Wicked, Promises Promises, and TV’s Glee. Last July, she performed “An Evening With…” show at London’s grade one listed and highly prestigious concert hall the Royal Albert Hall, in which she received a record-breaking standing ovation. Last September, she was featured in the Star-Spangled Spectacular: Bicentennial of our National Anthem, a concert special honoring the 200th anniversary of our national anthem, in Baltimore, Maryland. The event was televised live on PBS as part of the network’s Great Performances series.
Last fall, Chenoweth hosted the PBS Arts Fall Festival, which featured classic Broadway hits, music from around the country and theatre performances. The festival included her own concert performance, Kristin Chenoweth: Coming Home, where she performed a career-spanning concert in her hometown of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. The concert was released as a live CD and DVD, and aired as a PBS television special Thanksgiving weekend.
In addition to her starring roles on stage and screen, in 2009, Kristin also wrote an upliftingly candid, comedic chronicle of her life so far, in, A Little Bit Wicked, which was released by Simon & Schuster, and debuted on The New York Times Hardcover Non-Fiction Best Seller List.
It’s no secret that Kristin wears her heart on her sleeve when it comes to her love of theater, which was the catalyst for her charity partnership with the Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center (BA PAC) Foundation in her home town in Oklahoma. The Kristin Chenoweth Theater at the BA PAC, renamed in 2012 to celebrate its biggest advocate, supporter and celebrated role model to aspiring hometown performers, welcomes internationally acclaimed concert artists and Broadway productions, provides educational outreach and master classes with touring artists, after-school and summer arts institutes, scholarship programs, community enrichment and opportunities for students to travel and perform on a national level.
Kristin is also a passionate supporter of charities which dedicate their time and efforts to helping those in need, such as: the Kristin Chenoweth Art & Education Fund, The Red Cross, Broadway Cares EFA, The Point Foundation, ASTEP, breast cancer awareness, adoption advocacy and organizations supporting animal welfare.
