Kristin Chenoweth: 'I'm used to it'

The recent East Coast blizzard has air traffic backed up for days, but several feet of snow wasn't about to stop the theatrical juggernaut known as Kristin Chenoweth from embarking on a bicoastal, New Year's whirlwind tour.

On a recent Wednesday, the high-energy stage and screen star appeared in a matinee performance of Broadway's Promises, Promises, then was expected to jump on an evening flight to Los Angeles. The actress was set to spend most of the following day rehearsing her new concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall, featuring the debut of a series of new songs. That Friday, she was scheduled to perform the concert twice, back-to-back, before hopping on a Saturday flight back to New York to appear on Sunday afternoon in the final performance of Promises, bringing the production to a close after more than 280 regular performances.

"I'm tired even thinking about it. But it's a good kind of tired," Chenoweth said in a phone interview. "When you're a singer, New Year's Eve is always a work night. I can't remember the last time I've had that day off, and I'm so used to it. I'm single so it's great — I don't have to think about what to do."

Chenoweth's Disney Hall concerts featured performances of familiar songs from Promises, Wicked and TV's Glee, as well as some holiday chestnuts. But the Tony- and Emmy-winning actress said that half the material would be new songs that fans hadn't heard before and are scheduled to appear on her new album, a collaboration with Diane Warren that is expected to be released this year.

"They lay in the country-pop area," Chenoweth said about the new pieces, some of which she wrote herself. "They're moving away from the persona I have of being this happy person all the time. They'll show a more serious side, dealing with relationships and men."

Challenging act

The Oklahoma native said that she has already recorded some of the songs while in the thick of her Promises run — an extremely challenging juggling act, she added — and that she will record the rest in Nashville. She's also contemplating a concert tour tied to the album.

For the Disney Hall concerts, Chenoweth said she would importing five of her Promises ensemble members, including Sean Martin Hingston, to serve as singing partners and backup. Chenoweth and her cast mates missed four Broadway performances.

Usually when she's in LA, Chenoweth stays at her West Hollywood townhouse, but a burst pipe recently rendered her home uninhabitable. The water damage, she said, was serious and ruined her piano, furniture and electronics. But she's not looking for pity: "There are people out there without roofs over their heads, so I'm not complaining." (For this trip, she stayed in a hotel.)

Own TV pilot

In 2011, Chenoweth will be devoting more time to screen projects, including a return to Glee. Last spring, the actress guest starred as April Rhodes, a dipsomaniac former classmate of Matthew Morrison's glee-club coach. Her new episodes likely will tape in the spring, she said. At the same time, she will be working on a new, musically oriented TV pilot written for her by Glee creator Ryan Murphy.

Chenoweth said she couldn't reveal more about the TV pilot, but said that she's more than happy to return to Glee. "I did the first episodes when I was still doing Pushing Daisies," she said. "I like anything that brings music into households. I know Ryan wrote it for me and the part is very different from who I am."

Perhaps the last thing on Chenoweth's mind right now is the possibility of starring in another big Broadway musical. But the actress said she's not ruling it out. "I would think something original, a new musical," she said.

The concerts that Friday had the actress slightly on edge because she'd never done back-to-back performances like that before. "If I can make it through Sunday, I'll be happy," she said. "And then I'm going on vacation."