A Zoom meeting with Broadway legend Kristin Chenoweth fulfills all my expectations and then some. When she first appears on my computer screen, she’s enveloped in a fluffy pink robe (something her Wicked character, Glinda, would undoubtedly wear) and sitting comfortably on a large couch. A ribbon microphone is propped up behind her, and a grand piano looms in the background.
At first I mistake this area as a rehearsal space. It’s actually Chenoweth’s living room. “Oh, it’s my home, and that’s my piano,” Chenoweth explains. “I had to decide between having a big old dining room table or a grand piano. I chose the piano, always.”
For Chenoweth, music is simply a part of everyday life, as natural as eating and breathing. Case in point: She just wrapped up a preview performance for her latest Broadway show, The Queen of Versailles, debuting this fall, and has another one slated for tonight. Hence the cozy robe. “I just wanted to be comfortable,” she says.
But the Tony Award winner has also found time away from the stage to take on another new role: chief mature officer of makeup brand Laura Geller. In celebration of National Mature Women’s Day, on April 9, Chenoweth is celebrating beauty for all ages. A fan of the brand for years, Chenoweth first discovered Laura Geller products when she moved to New York from Oklahoma in the 1990s.
“I lived on the Upper West Side, and there was a little store, and at the very back it had this cool makeup,” Chenoweth says. “The sales associate was trying to describe it to me as, ‘It’s very easy to apply.’ I was not making any money at the time, so I didn’t get to buy it. But then a year and a half ago, I received some products and fell in love with it again.”
In fact, Chenoweth wore Laura Geller for today’s performance, adding that the products never irritate her sensitive skin. The brand is also aligned with her current beauty ethos—looking “even and clean” instead of going full glam.
But most impressive of all for Chenoweth is seeing how the brand has grown. “Us women, especially looking back at my own life, we have to remember where we came from, and she started out in this podunk little store, and look at her now,” says Chenoweth. “And so I’m excited to be doing this with her. It’s also easy to talk about something that you love.”
Ahead, Kristin Chenoweth opens up about beauty tips she picked up from Broadway, creating Glinda’s glittery makeup, her thoughts on Wicked: For Good, and more.
How has your relationship with beauty evolved over the years?
Kristin Chenoweth: You’d think you’d get more obsessed and determined as you get older, but when I was younger, I always felt like I had to look perfect. I’m from the South, so we leave home looking great. But then you move to New York, and you realize that’s not really going to happen. For so many years, there’d be times that I’ve run into people in New York and I look like I was from The Shining. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that for me, less is more. Less space, less stuff on your face. Chapstick, a little of the Laura Geller powder, just even out your skin.
And also, I’m drinking a Coke right now, but that has really gotten a lot better. I used to drink two a day, and now it’s like one a week. Drink water. I didn’t pay that close attention to water drinking when I was younger. I was busy. I was slamming it on Broadway, doing my thing, and not worrying about all that stuff. I exercise, I water. Now I realize how important it is.
And that has to do with beauty. We all do know that beauty comes from within. So how do you feel? I feel better when I drink water. I feel better when I do my hot yoga, whatever that means for other people. That’s what works for me.
Are there any Broadway beauty tips you’ve picked up over the years?
What’s become so popular is a setting spray. And I do believe in those now. I used to be like, “Why is it assaulting me with water?” But now it feels less of assault, and it does get your makeup to stay put.
One trick that we’ve been doing on stage that it feels like now the general people are wearing is a cheek highlighter. I’ve been doing that on stage—we learned to do that in stage-makeup class. And another thing is a tiny little white line on the inner lash line. I don’t do it all the way across. I just go from mid eye pupil and out. It just pops the eye a little bit. Especially when you’re tired and you have a long day of meetings and you want to feel more awake. That little white line there makes all the difference.
What did you wear on stage for Wicked?
I designed my own makeup for that show. I got some craft glitter, and I put it in my blush, and I mixed it together. And then I also did it on my lips. Another good trick is to cover your lips with your foundation and powder it, and then do your lip. It stays. I don’t know why. It does make a difference.
What are your three desert-island products?
Sothere is a Laura Geller palette—it has face bronzer, blush, and eye shadows. So I would choose that. I mean, I have to have mascara. I like mascara. I don’t cake it on. And I like the Nivea lip balm. No, I’m not being paid. Nivea Pink Shimmer. I love that one. Those were in my wedding gift bags.
Laura Geller The Best of the Best Baked Face Palette
Laura Geller
Nivea Shimmer Lip Care Moisturizing Lip Balm
Amazon
What is your favorite getting-ready music?
Hamilton. Hearing Leslie Odom Jr. and Lin-Manuel Miranda sing, and Renée Elise Goldsberry and all the girls singing. It gets me pumped. I even listen to that before I go out on stage on a Broadway show, even though I’m doing something completely different. There are so many great scores to Broadway shows that we forget about. So I’ll usually pick a Broadway score that nobody listens to very often anymore.
What’s your favorite way to take a moment for yourself?
I am so not exciting. I love to binge-watch any true crime like a lot of people. I’m obsessed. I like to color, I like to draw; I’m not a drawer, but I like to color with pencil. So I get all these books that have the print and it’s really intricate, and I really get in there. It takes me hours. I am obsessed with it. I sometimes do my best thinking when I’m drawing, when I’m coloring like that.
We need to talk about Wicked: For Good. What are you most excited for people to see?
For me, I’m excited for people to see Ariana Grande in a very different light than the first movie. That’s all I’m going to say about it. It’s not what people think. And I did it in the original, but this is just a longer idea of it. And so, just when you think you’ve loved what she’s done, you’re going to love this even more.
Ariana Grande has spoken about how you’ve given her advice over the years, and I imagine a lot of young performers come to you for advice. What’s your piece that you like to give them?
It’s a piece of advice I have to practice myself still: Don’t let them naysayers be your truth slayer. Your truth is your truth. Don’t let them steal that. Someone would say joy, but don’t let them steal who you are, your authentic self, your truth. If they’re going to hate or say, “Nah, no good,” don’t let that steal what you are giving the world in your authentic way. And I have to practice that still.
It’s very hard to be in the business and not care. If we were not great actors, we wouldn’t care. To be a good actor, you care, you see things, and you notice, and when someone doesn’t like you or says something bad about you, it feels very personal. And you know what? Everybody is allowed to have their opinion. You cannot make everyone happy. So the most important person to make happy is yourself. You’re the one that’s stuck with you.
Is there anything about Glinda that you’ve learned or realized about her that you didn’t maybe necessarily know when you first played the role?
I got to tell you, I know the ins and outs of everything she does and why she says them. So, no. What I was happy to see was Ariana paying homage to me, but making it hers, putting her stamp on the part too. She did such a beautiful job. And by the way, Cynthia Erivo too. Good grief, right? Those two, what a powerful dynamic. What a powerful duo.
Idina and I, that was what, 23 years ago? Whenever we see each other, only we know what we went through. We were creating those parts, and it’s not easy. You’re putting up a new show. It’s very hard. But nobody can take away what we did too. Now these girls are just taking it, and it lives on, and there’s really no greater compliment to us than to have it continue. There’s a whole new generation, especially people who can’t afford to come to Broadway and see a Broadway show and stay in a hotel, go to dinner, get the tickets—they can now watch the movie. And that’s beautiful.
Are there any up-and-coming Broadway stars you’re feeling inspired or moved by right now?
I have a Camp Kristin Chenoweth Broadway Bootcamp. It’s grown in size, and now we have kids from all over the world in this camp. I have all my Broadway friends come teach in the summer. I have a state-of-the-art beautiful theater in Oklahoma, where I grew up, that is the size of a Broadway house. It’s where Broadway shows come to tour and acts come in. I met Tatum Hopkins when she was 14, and I knew that she was special. She had star quality. She came to camp every year, and I really invested in the kid because I believe in her.
We needed a character to play my niece in The Queen of Versailles. This is a very good story: I was performing in Morristown, New Jersey, at the concert hall there, and Stephen Schwartz, the composer of Queen of Versailles and Wicked, was coming to see my show. I knew that we needed that character, but I didn’t tell him, “Hey, I think she’d be great.” And I said, “Tatum, do you want to come sing a song in this show with me? Just sing one of your songs.” I didn’t tell her that they were looking for a part. I didn’t want it to feel like an audition for either of them. I wanted it to happen organically, and I knew it would.
Stephen Schwartz, after the show, said, “Who’s the kid? She’s perfect for Jonquil.” And that’s how she got the part. People ask me why I do the camp: It’s because of that. Like Carol Burnett has said to me, I get to say to her now, “You can do this.” She’s currently looking for her first New York apartment. Her parents moved from Oklahoma to be in Upstate New York so she could come and work here.
You probably remember your first New York apartment. That’s so exciting.
I do. And I told her, “If you want to go shopping….” I mean, I had to get a futon, and that’s all I had. But just to watch her grow and get better and better, I can’t wait to see what she gives the world. And so that’s inspiring to me. At this point, as the CMO, what do I care about? I care about that.
Ariana Yaptangco is the senior beauty editor at Glamour.
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