Kristin Chenoweth Promises an Eclectic Night to Remember at WHBPAC

Next Saturday, Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center (WHBPAC) will be changed for good. Kristin Chenoweth, the Tony- and Emmy-winning singer and actress, will grace its stage for a one-night-only event that is sure to be magical.

Chenoweth’s career took off in the late ’90s and early 2000s thanks to starring roles in Broadway musicals like the 1998 revival of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and, most famously, for originating the role of Glinda the Good Witch in the hit show Wicked. Since then, she’s kept busy — releasing albums, touring, starring in TV shows, films, and theater productions, and even authoring three books, including one released earlier this year.

Currently, she is a main cast member on the critically acclaimed, Emmy-nominated Apple TV+ series, Schmigadoon! Chenoweth is also hard at work developing a new Broadway musical, Queen of Versailles. Based on the 2012 documentary about beauty queen Jackie Siegel, Chenoweth stars as Siegel and co-produces the show, which sees her reuniting with Wicked-composer Stephen Schwartz.

She’s also producing a documentary about her “Broadway Bootcamp,” her hometown summer youth program for aspiring young thespians. (Chenoweth says she wanted to lay claim in her hometown that’s not all about sports.)

“Music is the universal language. I saw how it changed my life, so I wanted to have a Broadway Bootcamp so that kids all over the state and the world could come to the camp, and have the experience to be around like-minded kids and be taught by some of the greatest teachers there are,” she gushes. “I want the world to see what we’re doing. I’m really proud of this and want it to be my legacy.”

Chenoweth also says it’s important for her to support nonprofit theaters such as the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center (WHBPAC) — especially after COVID hit, and theaters around the nation struggled to keep their doors open.

“It’s important if you love what you do, to support it,” she says. “It’s beautiful that y’all have such a beautiful spot. I want it to continue. Who knows, a kid growing up in the Hamptons might come to see a show, realize that’s what they want to do, and end up at Kristin’s Broadway Bootcamp!”

Incidentally, WHBPAC was founded in 1997, the very same year Chenoweth starred in her first Broadway show, Steel Pier. At Saturday’s show, she’ll be performing an array of songs picked from her vast repertoire of musicals, albums, films, shows — or just covers of classics she loves. But nothing’s set in stone.

“Anybody that knows what I do, knows it’s very eclectic, so you’ll have some pop rock, country, Broadway of course, and gospel — it’s all a big surprise. I’m also one to change my program up a lot. I’ll change it in the middle of the show, I listen to the audience. They’ll kind of guide you in what you want to do. There’s something for everybody,” she says, noting that she’ll be accompanied by a full band and two “amazing Broadway performers” as background singers, who she affectionately refers to as her “teammates.”

Chenoweth also makes a point to express her support of her other teammates — her fellow union members at SAG-AFTRA who’ve joined the WGA on strike. “It’s a really important time, the fact that we are joining the writers, which has not been done in the 60 years.” She expresses concerns about unfair pay for all, and A.I. “marching us all out of a job.” Until the strike is over, Chenoweth will be making music — she says she has a Broadway-themed album on the way.

While this show has no running theme, Chenoweth says, “I want (the audience) to get to know me as a person. It’s how I choose my music, I want people to walk away and go, ‘OK, I have a better sense of who she is.’ Every show is different, that’s the fun of being a live performer, a live performer gets to show who they are.”

Looking at Chenoweth’s decades-long career, one thing that’s clear about her character is that she takes pride in mentoring younger artists. This is obvious with her Arts and Education Fund that operates the Broadway Bootcamp, but also the way in which she’s supported other singers and actresses through the years. One prime example is her relationship with Ariana Grande, who at 10 years old, met Chenoweth backstage at a performance of Wicked and said, “I want to be you.”

Twenty years later, Grande and Chenoweth have collaborated on numerous occasions, and Grande is set to star as Chenoweth’s character, Glinda, in the forthcoming Wicked film.

Moments like this are, “everything,” to her, says Chenoweth, “I was lucky enough to have women like that in my life. When people like Carol Burnett, Julie Andrews, and Reba McEntire continue to be strong, that’s something I want to be. I want Ariana to call me and say, ‘It’s not about music today, it’s about life, can we talk?’ So much happens that the public doesn’t know. I figure I can continue the circle.”

Even for the audience at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, Chenoweth hopes they leave changed for the better. “I want them to laugh a lot because in the world we live in today, we need a laugh,” she says. “I want them to have a real story that they can remember.”

For a memorable evening with Kristin Chenoweth, purchase tickets for the one-night-only performance on Saturday, August 5 at whbpac.org or by calling the box office at 631-288-1500.