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The Metropolitan Opera presents

Kristin Chenoweth: Christmas at the Met

Metropolitan Opera HouseMonday, December 13, 2021, at 8 pm

Yamaha is the Official Piano of the Metropolitan Opera.

Before the performance begins, please switch off cell phones and other electronic devices.

Please remember that face masks are required at all times inside the Met.

Kristin Chenoweth: Christmas at the MetMetropolitan Opera HouseMonday, December 13, 2021, at 8 pm

Richard Jay-Alexander, DirectorMary-Mitchell Campbell, Musical Director Matt Berman, Lighting and Sound DesignRocky Noel, Production Stage Manager

Program to be announced from the stage.

2021–22 season

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About the Artists

Emmy and Tony Award–winning actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth’s career spans film, television, voiceover, and stage. In 2015, Chenoweth received a coveted star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2009, she received an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Pushing Daisies. In 1999, she won a Tony Award for You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and she was also nominated for her performances as Glinda in Wicked, a role she originated in 2004. Chenoweth has been nominated for two Emmy Awards and a People’s Choice Award for her role on Glee. In 2009, she wrote an upliftingly 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. Chenoweth just released her latest

holiday album, Happiness is...Christmas!. She was recently nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award for her role in Apple TV+’s acclaimed musical-comedy series Schmigadoon!, in which she starred alongside Cecily Strong, Keegan-Michael Key, and Dove Cameron. In 2020, Chenoweth starred in the Netflix film Holidate, voiced the character Daisy in the HBO Max film The Witches, and hosted the Food Network competition series Candy Land. Chenoweth currently stars alongside Stephan James and J.K. Simmons in the STX Entertainment sports drama National Champions. Chenoweth will soon release her first picture book, What Will I Do with My Love Today?. The heartwarming story, available for purchase March 8, 2022, is a sweet tale about a young girl named Kristi Dawn, who shares her love through acts of generosity around New York City. Chenoweth has also joined Kathy Najimy, Linda Perry, Chely Wright, and Lauren Blitzer as an editor of My Moment: 106 Women on Fighting for Themselves, a book that includes essays from figures including Cynthia Erivo, Carol Burnett, Brooke Baldwin, Brandi Carlile, and Debra Messing. To be release April 26, 2022, the essay collection is inspired by—but not limited to—the #MeToo movement and lets women from the entertainment industry and other walks of life describe a crucial point of adversity that propelled them into forward motion for good. Additionally, Chenoweth signed with Harper Celebrate, HarperCollins Focus’s

Kristin Chenoweth

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About the Artists CONTINUED

gift-book imprint in November 2021. Her hilarious and insightful gift book with Harper Celebrate, I’m No Philosopher, But I Have Thoughts: For Saints, Sinners, and the Rest of Us, is set to release in winter 2023. In 2019, Chenoweth starred alongside Scott Wolf in the holiday film A Christmas Love Story, which premiered on Hallmark Channel. Along with the holiday season, Chenoweth released a stand-alone holiday e-single titled “White Christmas.” Chenoweth also released her album For the Girls, debuting at No. 3 on the Current Pop Albums chart and No. 11 on the Billboard Top Albums chart. The album is a heartfelt tribute to the great female singers throughout history, particularly some of Kristin’s heroes and friends. Guest artists include Ariana Grande, Dolly Parton, Jennifer Hudson, and Reba McEntire. The album includes Chenoweth’s personally charged interpretations of classic songs identified with such iconic artists as Barbra Streisand, Lesley Gore, Linda Ronstadt, Dinah Washington, Dolly Parton, and more. To celebrate the release of For the Girls, Chenoweth returned to the Broadway stage in November 2019 for an eight-performance concert engagement at the Nederlander Theatre. Chenoweth has performed to sold-out audiences across the world, including performances at Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. Chenoweth released The Art of Elegance, her album of American Songbook classics, via Concord Records. The album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Current Jazz and Traditional Jazz charts, and No. 1 on Amazon’s Vocal Pop chart. Chenoweth also returned to the stage in her limited engagement My Love Letter to Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, receiving rave reviews. In 2014, she released a CD and DVD of her own live concert performance Kristin Chenoweth: Coming Home. Additionally, Chenoweth performed with the iconic Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra in their annual Christmas concert. The concert aired on PBS and BYUtv in December 2019. 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. In 2018, Chenoweth starred in the second season of NBC’s hit comedy series Trial & Error, receiving critical acclaim for her performance as heiress Lavinia Peck-Foster. She was seen in the Starz original series American Gods, where she reunited with executive producer Bryan Fuller, in the role of Easter. Notable television roles include appearances in The West Wing, Disney’s Descendants, and 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. She starred in the indie teen drama Hard Sell, and additional film credits have included The Boy Next Door, Deck the Halls, Twelve Men of Christmas, Four Christmases, RV, Bewitched, The Pink Panther, Hit & Run, and Family Weekend. She also starred in NBC’s Hairspray Live! as Velma Von Tussle

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About the Artists CONTINUED

in December 2016. Chenoweth voiced the role of Princess Skystar in Lionsgate/Hasbro’s My Little Pony: The Movie, and can also be heard in the Sony Pictures animated film The Star. Chenoweth is a passionate supporter of charities that dedicate their time and efforts to helping those in need. She formed a charity partnership with the Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center (BAPAC) Foundation in her home state of Oklahoma. Chenoweth’s accomplishments were honored by her hometown, with BAPAC naming the Kristin Chenoweth Theatre in 2012. Partnering with the BAPAC in a labor of love, Kristin launched an annual Broadway Bootcamp in 2015, providing young Broadway hopefuls with the opportunity to take classes, hold performances, and learn from top mentors in the entertainment industry, including Kristin herself. In her lifelong mission to cultivate arts education across the globe, Chenoweth has also created Places! The Kristin Chenoweth Tour Experience, a unique educational program for young singers that puts them right next to her performing on stage. Each concert in Chenoweth’s ongoing tour will feature local participants from higher-education conservatories, universities, and colleges for the immersive educational experience. Chenoweth is a graduate of Oklahoma City University with a master’s degree in opera performance. She is an inductee into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, as well as the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.

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Richard Jay-Alexanderdirector

About the Artists CONTINUED

Richard Jay-Alexander is thrilled to be teaming up with Kristin Chenoweth for Christmas at the Met. He has been working with the star for nearly a decade now, having created a number of shows, concerts, and tours, including The Dames of Broadway … All of ‘Em!, The Evolution of a Soprano, My Love Letter to Broadway, and For the Girls. Richard has also helmed Kristin Chenoweth’s annual Broadway Bootcamp and is very proud of their friendship and collaborations. His career is in its 46th year, having arrived in New York City in fall of 1975. He began as an actor/singer/dancer, making his Broadway debut in Luis Valdez’ play Zoot Suit at the Winter Garden

Theatre in 1979. He was in the original Broadway cast of Amadeus alongside Ian McKellen and Tim Curry, worked on Song & Dance with Bernadette Peters, and appeared in the revival of Oliver! starring Ron Moody and Patti LuPone. Richard is widely known for his 12 years working with Cameron Mackintosh as executive director of his North American company. He staged 11 productions of Les Misérables and served as executive producer for Les Misérables, The Phantom of The Opera, Miss Saigon, Five Guys Named Moe, and the late Stephen Sondheim’s Putting It Together, which starred Julie Andrews, presented at MTC. He entered the recording industry via cast albums and has worked with many of the greatest artists in the world in recording studios and on stages across the globe. They include Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Mandy Gonzalez, Ricky Martin, Lea Salonga, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Russell Watson, Il Divo, the Countess Luann de Lesseps, Il Volo, Betty Buckley, the Broadway Kids, Chris Botti, Lea Michele, Mary Cleere Haran, Laurie Beechman, Norm Lewis, Donny and Marie, Chris Mann, Johnny Mathis, Melissa Errico, Well-Strung, Desmond Child, Jennifer Leigh Warren, Bernadette Peters, Deborah Voigt, Deborah Cox, Sam Harris, and the late Polly Bergen, among others. Richard has worked in just about every venue imaginable from large to small, including Las Vegas showrooms, Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, the Sydney Opera House, the Kennedy Center, Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, the Village Vanguard, the Greek Theatre, the Met, nightclubs, ballrooms, arenas, stadiums, and even London’s Hyde Park and the Domain in New Zealand. Four years ago, when sitting across from Lisa Sharkey at HarperCollins, she dubbed Richard “the Diva Whisperer,” and he decided he liked it, even though none of the artists he has worked with consider themselves divas.

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Mary-Mitchell Campbellmusical director

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He has directed the Chaplin Awards for Film at Lincoln Center for a number of years now, and two seasons ago, he staged a production of Porgy and Bess for the South Florida Symphony Orchestra, which was very well received and something that had been on his bucket list. Richard proudly serves on the executive board of Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS and is a frequent contributor to BroadwayWorld, writing focus pieces and interviews about people and things that interest him in the business. Richard makes his home in Miami Beach with his adopted schnauzer, Sally, who isn’t the least bit impressed by any of it.

Mary-Mitchell Campbell is a conductor, music director, orchestrator, composer, and arranger who crosses genres easily between classical, pop, and Broadway styles. She has served as the music director for many Broadway shows, including The Prom, Mean Girls, My Love Letter to Broadway, For the Girls, Tuck Everlasting, Finding Neverland, Big Fish, The Addams Family, Company, and Sweeney Todd. She also music directed Stephen Sondheim’s last musical, Road Show, at the Public Theater. She won a Drama Desk Award for Best Orchestrations for the 2006 revival of Company, starring Raul Esparza, and was nominated for Best Orchestrations for her work on the Off Broadway productions of Allegro

and Hello Again. She has been working with Kristin Chenoweth for a very, very, very long time. Together, they have had two concerts on Broadway, played the Royal Albert Hall and the Sydney Opera House, and continue to tour extensively. In addition to Kristin, Mary-Mitchell performs frequently with Gavin Creel, Jessica Vosk, and Raul Esparza. She was the music director and orchestrator of HBO’s Homeschool Musical and the music director for Girls5eva, a sitcom produced by Tina Fey. She was the vocal coach for Better Nate than Ever, an upcoming Disney movie. She has conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, and many others around the country. She is passionate about arts education and access to arts education for marginalized communities. She is the founder and executive director of ASTEP, Artists Striving to End Poverty, which recruits and trains high-level artists to teach young people health education and life skills through the arts. She is a regular volunteer with ASTEP programs in the U.S., Africa, and India. She is very active in Maestra, an organization empowering female-identifying musicians, and is on the founding membership of MUSE, Musicians United for Social Equity. She is from North Carolina and has taught on the faculties of the Juilliard School, New York University, and Boston College.

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J Harrison GheeCrystal Monee Hall

Nikki KimbroughMarissa Rosen

Mary-Mitchell Campbell, pianoEric Davis, guitarJosh Bryant, guitarDamien Bassman, drumsBrian Hamm, bassJustin Smith, violinMonica Davis, violin/violaSummer Boggess, cello

Kirsten Agresta, harpKristy Norter, first reed / music contractorMark Thrasher, second reed Liesl Whitaker, first trumpetWayne du Maine, second trumpetSara Jacovino, trombone

Benedict Braxton-SmithMary-Mitchell CampbellNicholas ConnorsAbel Garriga

Chris GurrCameron MonourMona Seyed-Boloforosh

Abel Garriga, Associate Musical Director

Singers

Musicians

Orchestrations

Terence OdonkerAthena So

Assistant to Ms. Chenoweth Jordan GrossAssistant to Mr. Jay-Alexander Nellie BeaversHair and Makeup Bruce WayneDresser Mo LeshleyManagement Micone Entertainment Group, Eddie MiconeAgent ICM Partners, Steve Levine and Jess FrohmanPublic Relations Jill Fritzo Public Relations, Jill FritzoLegal Elliot Groffman and Leah Seymour, Music Attorneys

James Adams and Jessica Kent, Theatrical Attorneys

Film/TV Agent 3Arts Entertainment, Troy Zien

Music Assistants