Kristin Chenoweth could be upset that her tour came to an abrupt halt when the pandemic started. And that for the foreseeable future, she doesn’t have any live performances.
“Or I could just be here and be alive and get through this,” she said recently on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.” “It’s funny, this whole thing has brought perspective, hasn’t it?”
While chatting with the Broadway star, Kelly Clarkson asked if there was music Chenoweth has turned to during a year that has brought challenge after challenge. The “Wicked” star immediately pointed to a song called “Reasons for Hope,” written by her longtime music friends Crystal Monee Hall and conductor Mary-Mitchell Campbell.
“I’ll just sing two lines of it,” said the artist, who in true Chenoweth fashion was wearing an orange Charlie Brown sweatshirt, jeans and sparkly silver boots.
But of course she went on to sing a lot more than two lines.
We got reasons for hope/Reasons to sing/We can bring everyone together/Show them the best things we have are who we are
We need to unite/With courage and love/Remember that faith can move mountains/When things seem dark we see reasons for hope
“That’s the song that’s been getting me through,” Chenoweth said while receiving applause from a virtual audience. “I wish I’d written it.”
“We’re the vessel sometimes, not the writer,” Clarkson responded. “It’s a beautiful thing to have people trust you with their message. And what a great one.”
Although she’s not touring at the moment, Chenoweth has managed to stay relatively busy. Last month, she premiered in the HBO Max film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book “The Witches” and the Netflix movie “Holidate,” according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. And on Nov. 15, she’ll hit the Food Network Channel as the host of a new baking competition show called “Candy Land.”
As of now, Chenoweth has two engagements in Utah for 2021: A performance in May at Tuacahn Amphitheatre, and a concert with the Utah Symphony in July. Chenoweth performed with the symphony in 2019 and was the guest artist for the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square Christmas concert in 2018.
“We (are) just all completely overwhelmed and charmed by her incredible energy that she brings to the stage,” Mack Wilberg, the choir’s music director, said before that 2018 concert. “And I’m sure that the audience … will be able to feel that not only great energy but warmth and generosity.”