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Kristin Chenoweth to Star in Musical Adaptation of SOAPDISH in London in 2017?

By: Dec. 02, 2016
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According to WhatsOnStage, sources report that Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth may be making her return to the London stage in in George Stiles (music) and Anthony Drewe (lyrics) musical SOAPDISH.

The show is a musical adaptation of the 1991 comedy film which tells a backstage story of the cast and crew of a popular fictional television soap opera. It starred Sally Field as an aging soap star, joined by Kevin Kline, Robert Downey Jr., Elisabeth Shue, Whoopi Goldberg, Teri Hatcher, Cathy Moriarty, Garry Marshall, Kathy Najimy, and Carrie Fisher, as well as cameo appearances by TV personalities like Leeza Gibbons, John Tesh, and Ben Stein. Kline was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for the film. Soapdish was directed by Michael Hoffman, from a screenplay by Robert Harling and Andrew Bergman.

Stiles and Drewe have been writing together since they met at Exeter University over twenty years ago. Their recent successes have included Mary Poppins, Half a Sixpence and The Wind in the Willows.

SOAPDISH was first workshopped back in 2010, featuring the talents of Gavin Creel and Sally Ann Triplett. In 2012, the show received a rehearsed reading in New York City, featuring Chenoweth and SHE LOVES ME's Jane Krakowski. According to the site, the musical may have its UK premiere at the newly rebranded The Other Palace sometime in 2017.

Kristin Chenoweth will star as Velma Von Tussle in NBC's upcoming holiday musical "Hairspray Live!" The Emmy and Tony Award winning actress and singer received an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in "Pushing Daises." In 1999, she won a Tony Award for "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" and she was also nominated for her original role of Glinda the Good Witch in "Wicked" in 2004. Chenoweth has been nominated for two Emmy Awards and for a People's Choice Award for her role on "Glee." In 2009, she wrote an uplifting candid, comedic chronicle of her life so far, "A Little Bit Wicked," which debuted on the New York Times Hardcover Non Fiction Best Seller List.

In 2015, Chenoweth earned a Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Broadway.com Audience Choice Award for her lead role in the Roundabout Theatre Company's "On the Twentieth Century." She also earned nominations for a Tony Award and a Drama League Award. Chenoweth has performed to sold-out audiences across the world, including performances at Carnegie Hall and Royal Albert Hall. In 2014, she released a CD and DVD of her own live concert performance, "Kristin Chenoweth: Coming Home." Notable television roles include appearances in "The West Wing," Disney's "Descendants" and most recently "The Muppets." In film, Chenoweth voiced the role of Gabi in the hit animated film "Rio 2" and Fifi, Snoopy's beloved French poodle in "The Peanuts Movie." This spring, she starred in the indie teen drama entitled "Hard Sell" and began pre-production on Lionsgate/Hasbro's My Little Pony movie, set for a fall 2017 release. This December, she will star in NBC's "Hairspray Live!" as Velma Von Tussle.

On September 23, Chenoweth released "The Art of Elegance," her first album of American Songbook classics via Concord Records. In November, she will return to the stage in MY LOVE LETTER TO BROADWAY, a limited engagement at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. In 2017, Chenoweth will reunite with executive producer Bryan Fuller in his upcoming Starz series "American Gods," in the role of Easter.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos




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