Kristin Chenoweth to Star in New Fox Animated Series 'Sit Down, Shut Up'

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Kristin Chenoweth (whose most recent TV gig, Pushing Daisies, appears to be all but cancelled) has joined the cast of Fox's new animated comedy Sit Down, Shut Up, about the staff at a small-town Florida high school.

Chenoweth takes on the role, which is scheduled to debut in the Spring of 2009 playing a science teacher, Miracle Grohe. She replaces Maria Bamford in the part, and other castmates include Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Henry Winkler, Will Forte, Kenan Thompson, Cheri Oteri, Tom Kenny, and Nick Kroll.

From Emmy Award-winning writer Mitchell Hurwitz ("Arrested Development") and Eric and Kim Tannenbaum ("Two and a Half Men") comes SIT DOWN, SHUT UP, an animated comedy that focuses on the lives of eight staff members at a high school in a small northeastern fishing town (Go Baiters!) who never lose sight of the fact that the children must ALWAYS come second. We watch them grapple with their own egos, needs and personal agendas, their petty insecurities and prejudices, unrequited loves, and ruthless battles for power - and that's just at the staff meeting.

With a distinctive new look - a combination of animation against a live-action backdrop - SIT DOWN, SHUT UP is a series for the young and old at heart. It lampoons modern society while exposing the dreams, flaws and struggling humanity of our first and most formative authority figures: teachers.

Based on the hit live-action Australian series, SIT DOWN, SHUT UP is written and executive-produced by Mitchell Hurwitz and executive-produced by Eric and Kim Tannenbaum and Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein (THE SIMPSONS, "Futurama").

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http://www.fox.com/programming/shows/new/sitdown_shutup.htm

Kristin Chenoweth most recently starred in the ABC series Pushing Daisies, where she was recently nominated for an Emmy® Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and is currently promoting her new Christmas Album. She has written an uplifting, candid chronicle of her life which will be released by Simon & Schuster in spring 2009. She is also currently on the big screen in Warner Bros. film Four Christmases. The film revolves around a newly married couple who decide to visit their families for the Christmas holiday. Kristin also can be heard as the voice of the fairy, Rosetta, in Walt Disney Picture's Tinkerbell this fall. She wrapped filming the independent film, Into Temptation, directed by Sundance filmmaker Patrick Coyle, opposite Jeremy Sisto.

This past summer Kristin starred alongside Cheryl Hines and Jeff Daniels in the animated film Space Chimps for Twentieth Century Fox. She starred in Stairway to Paradise, an original Encores! production celebrating the great Broadway revue. Commemorating the centennial anniversary of the first Ziegfeld Follies, Kristin concluded New York City Center's 2007 season with beloved Broadway numbers from the early twentieth century.

Kristin was seen in the season finale of ABC's hit comedy Ugly Betty. She played an orthodontic technician who loves romantic comedies and becomes overly involved in her patients' lives - including Betty's (America Ferrera). Chenoweth starred in the critically successful and highly lauded limited-engagement of The Apple Tree at Roundabout Theatre Company's Studio 54. She also had the honor of playing a sold out solo concert at the famed Metropolitan Opera House.

Many remember her show-stealing, Tony®-winning performance in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and her triumphant star turn when she originated the role of Glinda the Good Witch in Wicked, which earned her a Tony Award® nomination. Chenoweth also performed in the Broadway comedy Epic Proportions and in the Kander and Ebb musical Steel Pier, for which she won a Theatre World award. Chenoweth also performed in an Off-Broadway production of Moliere's Scapin for the Roundabout Theatre Company.

Television fans know her as Annabeth Schott on The West Wing, the librarian, Marian Paroo, in ABC's movie version of MerEdith Wilson's The Music Man, and Lily St. Regis in the television adaptation of Annie. Kristin also starred in her own series Kristin for NBC.

Moviegoers have seen her in Deck the Halls with Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick, RV with Robin Williams, Bewitched with Nicole Kidman, Running with Scissors with Annette Bening, and The Pink Panther with Steve Martin. Her film credits also include a cameo in Stranger Than Fiction with Emma Thompson. Kristin is currently developing a feature film based on the life of Dusty Springfield.

A veteran of the concert scene, Kristin took the stage in a solo sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall in 2004 and continues to tour the country. She performed her solo concert at Sam Mendes's acclaimed Donmar Warehouse as part of the Divas at Donmar series. The show received glowing reviews. Following her show in London, Chenoweth has had numerous collaborations with various symphonies, including The New York Philharmonic, Boston Pops, National Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony. One of her proudest accomplishments was having the privilege to perform Bernstein's Candide at Lincoln Center with The New York Philharmonic. Other performances include her sold-out Los Angeles solo debut at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, an evening at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, and the Washington National Opera's 50th Anniversary Gala with Placido Domingo. She is scheduled to have her Metropolitan Opera debut in March 2010 as Samira in John Corigliano's The Ghost of Versailles.

Photo by Walter McBride / Retna Ltd.