Kristin Chenoweth: Killin' It With Kindness

Adorable Broadway prodigy Kristin Chenoweth has been building quite a name for herself in the TV world these days, winning an Emmy this year for her supporting work on Pushing Daisies and, this Saturday, starring in an original Lifetime movie, the nudie-calendar romantic comedy 12 Men of Christmas. We recently had a phone chat to discuss her TV endeavors and what may lie in the future, which she happily discussed in her signature cheery Oklahoma patois. But don't let the folksiness fool you. This woman is a serious pro.

Playing the lead in a Lifetime movie is sort of a rite of passage for an actress. How did you come to the project?

I used to tell my manager when I signed with her: "When I get a Lifetime movie, I'll be happy." I mean, all of a sudden we've been seeing Sigourney Weaver and Marcia Gay Harden, and other really great actresses of that caliber, doing Lifetime movies. There are no rules anymore! Our movie is not trying to be Shakespeare. It's trying to be fun and funny and a holiday film. And I think it's all of that. It's kind of a Private Benjamin situation, which is my favorite movie. I read it and thought it had a lot of potential, that it could be really fun for Christmas, and I just love Lifetime. So it felt like a really good choice.

There's a certain less-than-quirkiness to the character. You're known for playing these kind of manic characters, but this one is pretty "normal." Was that part of the attraction to the role?

Oh my God yes. Because she is a real person. I mean, there's always going to be a part of me in every part. I am a very animated, I love comedy, I have a unique speaking voice, I'm petite. These are things that make me different. But I'm also a woman, I'm a person, I'm not a cartoon. This was definitely another reason that I took this part. I really wanted people to see me in the leading part, I wanted them to see that I could carry it.

You shot a David E. Kelley pilot that unfortunately didn't get picked up this season. Any other TV projects on the horizon?

Here's kinda what I'm thinkin'. I'd love to work with Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies) again. I'm gonna do another Glee episode, which I'm sooo excited about. That show has what Pushing Daisies had, which is that it's different. Other than that, while I'm on Broadway this spring I'd like to figure out what my next move is gonna be in terms of television. After the Emmy, everyone expected me to do my own show. I would like to do that, but I want to be careful. This business is not brain surgery, but you do have to consider things. A TV deal could be the next seven years of your life. So I'm glad I will have time to do that considering while on Broadway.

How do you plot a course from stage to screen? Is it a very planned-out process, or do you just kind of consider things as they come? I know you had a sitcom for a little while after you won the Tony for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.

It's interesting, and I can only say what happened in my case, but all I ever wanted to do was be on Broadway. I would be the third tree from the left if I had to. The things that make you different are what make you special, and when you're told you're short and all that, certain things don't always seem possible? But then I won the Tony, and that's how I got the deal with Paramount. They saw the speech [at the Tonys]. Y'know, it was a different time for television. You signed with studios, they'd order thirteen episodes before they even saw the pilot. People say [Kristin] wasn't a success, but It was for me. I loved the show, and I got to learn about making a four-camera sitcom. And I got paid to do it!

You now have a Tony and an Emmy, which is two-thirds of the Liza Minnelli trifecta. What do you think could be your Oscar-winning role? The rumored Dusty Springfield project?

Oh gosh, I don't know! But I hope it involves music. People ask me all the time if I like acting or singing more, but to me it's all the same. Singing is just when you can't speak anymore. It's all the same. I'm obviously a music lover, it's what I was trained in. So I'd really like that Grammy, is what I'd like!

What kind of role, on stage or screen, are you dying to play? What's a side of you we haven't seen?

Well, I'm getting ready to play a girl who tries to kill herself [in Promises, Promises on Broadway this spring]. And that's not what a lot of audiences expect from a Kristin Chenoweth show! Obviously if you're a comedian, you're tortured. There's a lot of drama. You know, I'll never forget it. During Wicked, Joel Grey [who played the Wizard] said "You're a very serious actress, you have a lot going on, you're not just funny. I want you to do something that shows that." It was so nice to hear that coming from him. The only reason to do anything in life is to grow as a person. As an actress, a writer, a construction worker. Whatever it is. I'm a little scared of this part, it's a little close to home. I know what it's like to be hurt.

So that's why you chose Promises, Promises in particular? It's definitely a lesser-known musical.

There are several reasons I took the job. Let me tell you: One, it's a woman. I've played awesome parts, but this one is different. She's very troubled, very sad. Well, not sad. She's just been spending a lot of time with the wrong man. The other reasons were to work with Burt Bacharach and Sean Hayes. And Promises was willing to let me do a six month run, when most contracts are usually for a year. Which means I can leave for a bit to do TV or something, and then come back.

In the Emmys press room you said you'd love to be on Mad Men. What other shows do you watch and/or want to be on?

I love everything on Bravo that's reality TV. The Real Housewives of any county, love Flipping Out. I don't want to be on those shows, but boy do I watch 'em. I like a lot of the crime shows, the real ones though. American Justice, things like that. And yes, I love Mad Men. I really love period pieces, love the whole look, the way it's shot, the writing. Let's see... I just got on the 24 bandwagon. And there's another, which is Lost. I wish I could be the one that rescues them all.