"The whole experience was
very emotional," Kristin Chenoweth says of the historic performance that's
captured on Coming Home, her first Concord Records release and her first-ever
live album.
Scheduled
for release on November 17, 2014, the aptly titled 15-song album captures the
versatile singer-actress singing for a rapturously enthusiastic crowd at the
Kristin Chenoweth Theatre in the Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center in her
hometown of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
"Any
time you come home, you have a flood of emotions, and singing in front of
people I've known most of my life made me even more nervous," Chenoweth
observes. "But I couldn't imagine doing it anyplace else. I just wanted
them to be proud of me."
The
career-spanning CD is the audio counterpart to Kristin Chenoweth: Coming Home,
the artist's first television concert special, which will premiere on PBS
stations nationwide on November 28 and be released on CD and DVD.
The
personally-charged performance finds Chenoweth accompanied by an expert
11-piece band incorporating strings, horns and woodwinds, along with a trio of
backup vocalists and the Broken Arrow High School Choir. The set list spans her
entire stage and screen career and encompasses the breadth of her musical
interests, incorporating Broadway classics, timeless pop standards and
contemporary material, covering a remarkable amount of stylistic ground while
providing a compelling showcase for Chenoweth's abundant talent and charisma.
Coming
Home's many highlights include powerful new renditions of "Popular"
and "For Good," both of which Chenoweth introduced in her starring
role in the Broadway smash Wicked. She also brings fresh energy and emotion to
such venerable standards as Lerner and Loewe's "I Could Have Danced All
Night," Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg's "Over the Rainbow,"
Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's "All the Things You Are," and the
more recent show tunes "Bring Him Home," from Les Misérables; and
"Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again," from Phantom of the Opera.
Elsewhere
on Coming Home, Chenoweth demonstrates her longstanding affinity for the songs
of John Kander and Fred Ebb with stirring readings of the duo's enduring
compositions "Maybe This Time" and "My Coloring Book." Her
interpretive skills also illuminate Dolly Parton's "Little Sparrow,"
the contemporary spiritual "Upon This Rock," and Barbra Streisand and
Donna Summer's disco-era smash "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)."
Chenoweth also revisits the poignant "I Was Here" and "Fathers
and Daughters," which she originally recorded in 2011, and taps into the
timeless resonance of Stephen Foster's 19th-century ballad "Hard Times
Come Again No More."
"I
can't just sing a song for no reason, so I only choose songs that mean
something to me," Chenoweth states. "For example, I chose 'My
Coloring Book' because when I was in college, my voice teacher didn't think I
understood the song, and told me to pull it out one day when I did. So I'm
singing it all these years later, and she was there to witness it. I also like
to reintroduce songs that people may not be familiar with, like Stephen
Foster's 'Hard Times,' which is from 1853 but sounds like it could have been
written today. And I love to do songs that people wouldn't expect from me, like
'Enough Is Enough.'
"I'm
known for musical theatre," she continues, "but I grew up with
country and gospel, and I've always loved standards and operas. So I figured
that this live album would be a good chance to show people the different things
that influenced me and the different things I can do."
Since
achieving Broadway stardom with her roles in You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown
and Wicked, Kristin Chenoweth has effortlessly transitioned between her
parallel careers in stage, television, film and music. After winning a Tony
Award for You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown and earning a Tony nomination for
Wicked, she won an Emmy Award for her role in the ABC TV series Pushing
Daisies, and was nominated for two Emmy Awards and a People's Choice Award for
her work in the Fox series Glee. In addition to numerous other TV, film and
stage projects, she was a series regular on NBC's The West Wing, was a guest
judge on American Idol and has recorded four studio albums.
Chenoweth
plans to return to Broadway in early 2015 with a starring role in the
Roundabout Theatre Company's 20-week limited engagement of On the Twentieth
Century. She recently completed roles in the films The Boy Next Door, alongside
Jennifer Lopez, Opposite Sex, the indie teen drama Hard Sell and the Disney
Channel's live-action original movie Descendents, in which she plays the
classic villain Maleficent.
Her
celebrated acting career aside, Chenoweth says that she finds it liberating to
sing in a concert situation, engaging directly with the songs and her audience.
"When
I'm in a concert setting, I don't have to play a role," she notes.
"It's more of a challenge to sing as yourself, because you can go to a
very raw place that you don't always want to share, or maybe you don't mean for
it to come out. But it's all part of being an artist and letting people see who
you are. And hopefully when people listen to this CD, they'll have a better
idea, or maybe even a different idea, of who Kristin Chenoweth is."
In
addition to Coming Home's CD release, Concord will also issue the Coming Home
concert on DVD in February 2015, and PBS will distribute a CD and DVD edition
of the show as a fundraising premium.
Kristin
Chenoweth: Coming Home will make its TV premiere on November 28 (check local
listings) as part of the 2014 PBS Arts Fall Festival. Chenoweth will also host
the series, which underscores PBS' commitment to America's best performing
arts, and gives millions of viewers a front-row seat and a backstage pass to great
cultural programs. Broadcasting every Friday night through December 5, with a
range of related online content, the Fall Festival features artists and
performances from across the country, comprising full-length performances,
behind-the-scenes interviews, and artist and performer profiles. For more,
visit pressroom.pbs.org.
Track
Listing:
1. I Could Have Danced All Night (3:10)
2. Maybe This Time (3:16)
3. My Coloring Book (4:20)
4. Bring Him Home (4:20)
5. Fathers and Daughters (3:41)
6. Hard Times Come Again No More (5:06)
7. Upon This Rock (5:08)
8. Over the Rainbow (3:18)
9. Popular (3:41)
10. For Good (5:13)
11. Little Sparrow (6:23)
12. Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again (3:16)
13. All the Things You Are (2:19)
14. No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) (5:23)
15. I Was Here (5:24)
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