Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great singer and actress all in one
Comment: The first time I saw Kristin Chenoweth in a movie was the TV "Music Man". Just lately I listened to the "Wicked" soundtrack, and after that, I've been listening to Kristin's CDs whenever I can. This one is a jazzy, Broadway-type CD with fun, engaging songs. She's a different type of singer, and while not everyone might enjoy her voice, I really do. If you like Broadway, jazz, drama, romance, or just fun, catchy songs, this is a CD for you.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Big Wow
Comment: A few years back I caught Kristin Chenoweth's socko boffo performance on a Boston Pops special on PBS and was suitably wowed. I had heard nothing but good things about her prior, but since Broadway is not my main musical interest, I admit I hadn't felt compelled to rush to check her out. Then a friend whose main musical interest is in fact, musicals played me a few tracks of the WICKED cast album, on which both Chenoweth and co-star Idina Menzel excelled (and were swell--hmm, maybe I should take up hip hop). All of that made me eager to hear Chenoweth's solo recordings, to experience--as it were--her full palette.
LET YOURSELF GO from 2001 is as good a sampling as you could hope for. A solid mix of peppy, witty showtunes and heartfelt ballads, all sung with what we critics and would-be critics like to call "genuine flair." She's got the stuff, and she knows how to use it.
Of course, all popular music is, at least in part, selling an artist's personality. Chenowith's impressive vocal prowess would not necessarily guarantee stardom if she weren't so charming and, as John Lahr observes in his liner notes, so downright wholesome. Like Bernadette Peters and rock's Cyndi Lauper, she has a somewhat comic, Betty Boopesque speaking voice, but is capable of turning around and blowing an audience away with sheer vocal power.
Employing all that natural charm and wit, Chenoweth can get away with vocalizing stunts that might seem way too show-offy on paper. Her take on "The Girl in 14G" has her alternating operatic trills with very convincing, very Ella-like scatting. In less hands, it might prove WAAAY too cute. But I defy any listener to listen to Chenoweth's triple-tracked vocal pyrotechnics and not be suitably impressed, if not fully enraptured. Ultimately, the song is about the sheer joy of singing, and Kristin Chenoweth's take on it conveys that joy. And if there's a little bit of showboating going on, well, it's done with warmth and humor and, anyway, the girl's ENTITLED.
The album is beautifully orchestrated and very well sequenced. A light hearted number like the above mentioned "14G" is followed by the sensitively rendered Rodgers and Hart number "I'll Tell the Man On the Street," which proves that the young Barbra Streisand did not OWN that song after all.
The inclusion of the Ogden Nash/Kurt Weill classic "Stranger Here Myself" did make me hungry for something even edgier, though. Yes, I could imagine Chenoweth doing BRECHT/Weill as well. In noting her wholesome appeal, John Lahr suggests that she is something of a throwback to an era of lighter, more innocent musical theater. I take the point, but I disagree that she would not be a good candidate for a Sondheim production. Lahr maintains that Chenoweth is not "desiccated" enough for Sondheim. But surely, he of all people would be appreciative of the benefits of casting against type. After all, the above cited Bernadette has been doing it for years. And even Cyndi made a her Broadway debut a year or so ago doing Brecht/Weill. I could well see the already versatile Ms Chenoweth getting a little, how you say, edgier?
