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Hardcover
Publisher: Touchstone
Joni Rodgers
ISBN13: 9781416580553
Condition: USED - GOOD
Notes:
"Life's too short. I'm not." You might know her as a Tony Award-winning Broadway star, who originated the role of Galinda the Good Witch in the smash musical Wicked and won a Tony for 1999's You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Or you may recognize her from her starring roles on TV -- The West Wing, Pushing Daisies, Sesame Street...oh, and her Huge Hit Sitcom Kristin on NBC. (Huge hit. L.A. breast-implant huge. Ask either of the people who watched it.) Or maybe you saw her sexy spread in FHM magazine? Or her appearance on Pat Robertson's The 700 Club? Kristin is a wonderful collection of contradictions -- but everyone who's ever met her remembers her as the little girl with the big voice. At four foot eleven, Kristin Chenoweth is an immense talent in a petite but powerful package. In this lively, laugh-out-loud book, Kristin shares her journey from Oklahoma beauty queen to Broadway leading lady, reflecting on how faith and family have kept her grounded in the dysfunctional rodeo of show biz. The daughter of an engineer and a nurse, Kristin was singing in front of thousands at Baptist conventions by age twelve and winning beauty pageants by age twenty-two. (Well, actually she was second runner-up almost every freaking time. But, hey, she's not bitter.) On her way to a career as a professional opera singer, she stopped in New York to visit a friend and went on a whim to an audition. Through a combination of talent, hard work, and (she's quick to add) the grace of God, Kristin took Broadway by storm. But of course, into every storm, the occasional drizzle of disaster must fall. Filled with wit, wisdom, and backstage insight, A Little Bit Wicked is long on love and short on sleep; it's essential reading for Kristin's legions of fans and an uplifting story for anyone seeking motivation to follow his or her dreams -- over the rainbow and beyond.
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| How do you get to Carnegie Hall? |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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"PRACTICE PRACTICE" is the most important part of the mix for Kristin Chenoweth. Being talented and beautiful surely helps but this memoir makes it clear that Chenoweth wanted to be the best. Here's a woman who decided early on that she was going to become an amazing performer, and did. Chenoweth describes her road to success not in terms of waiting tables, but studying hard and practicing her craft. Her tales of family, friendship, illness and the oddities of show business are a pleasure to read--in part because she never let go of her own identity and values. She's an Oklahoma native who loves God, her family, friends and show business but she's not the least bit preachy. Her book is full of funny, touching and wise stories, not mean ones. Before I read this I was a minor fan. Having read it I was thrilled to know how much work she's produced.
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| A Little Bit Wicked |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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I am a big fan of Kristin Chenoweth so this was definitely a treat for me to read. I listen to the soundtrack for Wicked on my iPod all the time. I only wish I would have seen her perform as "Glinda" in Wicked live with Idina Menzel. But nonetheless, she was my favorite character on Pushing Daisies as Olive Snook. Oh, and did I mention her fabulous cameo on Glee (to die for). So I couldn't help but picking up this book in order to get more insider information on this tiny (with a very big voice) gal.
The moment you open the book you quickly hear Kristin's voice - you can hear her southern drawl, and her personality really shines through with each paragraph. Reading about her trials and tribulations made me love her even more.
At first the time line is a bit confusing because she runs back and forth from past to present, but her tone of writing is so fun that you can definitely overlook that. After awhile you get used to the skipping around and it just becomes part of the charm.
I loved getting insight into the workings of Broadway, how she felt about being adopted, her faith, her schooling, Wicked, her love life, that huge mega-hit "Kristin", and it all wrapped up into this "tiny" package that you can definitely envision as being KRISTIN.
I thought it was interesting, light and more than once found myself laughing out loud. If you're a fan of Kristin Chenoweth, then you definitely have to read this (although I will forewarn this not a tell-all book; she doesn't dish on any co-stars or friends and I really appreciated that).
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| she's gonna be popular |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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This is a fabulously entertaining book. The voice is in Kristin's own southern drawl, and her personality just shines through with each paragraph. Reading about her trials and tribulations made me love her even more. She's definitely not a writer, she's an actress, so there were times when she would go off on tangents and it would be a bit confusing. But as a whole, it's a great book.
She speaks about her faith through the entire book because it has always been a part of her life and she has never felt the need to hide it while on Broadway or in Hollywood. She is proud of how God has helped her to get to where she is today, and she mentions it more than once. Some reviewers have mentioned they think she has a "holier-than-thou" attitude, and I completely disagree. Her faith is part of who she is, and when writing an auto-biography, it needs to be included. She can't leave out a piece of herself. She wasn't pushy or arrogant about it, only matter-of-fact and straight-forward. And I admire her even more for not being afraid to show it.
Pick up this book and give it a whirl, especially if you are a fan of Kristin. She brings you along on her journey from high school performances to singing at the Oscars and "defying gravity". You'll laugh, you'll cry, it'll be just like a Hollywood movie.
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| Revealing and thought provoking in the best way |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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On the Wicked scale of Elphaba verses Galinda, I've always fallen on the Elphaba side. I love Idina and loved her album and saw her in concert pre-baby. However, I picked up this autobiography and found Kristin to be wonderfully revealing and yet endearing at the same time. Chronicling her journey from small town Oklahoma girl to major celebrity in a not totally chronological fashion, she answered all my questions about how she handles fame, love, being a performer and her faith. By the title you can tell she doesn't purport to be perfect, but more than that she puts her faith and family first in a way that seems totally authentic and is not at all off-putting. Great job, Kristin! Fantastic, quick read with a lot of juicy stuff for your average Broadway-lover like me.
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| Fun read, but not a real memoir |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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Kristin Chenoweth's book is more of a tale of how she got to where she is in her career than a true memoir. In a very engaging style, she tells the story of how she began singing and dancing at an early age, and how little by little and with a lot of hard work she got different opportunities that took her where she is today: the teacher who believed in her, the first Broadway audition, the life of a struggling actress in New York City. She colors her narrative with wonderful vignettes of her childhood, her faith, and her love life, but she never goes into real detail about any of these. This is not a criticism, since I found the book to be great fun, and I think it paints a very realistic picture for any aspiring performer. In the end, the book is an entertaining account of how a girl from a small town worked her way to the top.
One additional note: Kristin's on-again off-again boyfriend Aaron Sorkin makes "guest appearances" in the book, and he writes a section in which he describes how they met and how he fell in love with her. This section is toward the end of the book, and it is the gem of the book.
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