-Our first guest tonight is
a Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress
who you know from shows like "The West Wing" and "Glee"
and the Broadway production "Wicked."
She stars in the new series "Schmigadoon!,"
with new episodes streaming Fridays on Apple TV+.
Let's take a look.
-You know what? We are both outraged
by these outlandish allegations.
-The only outrageous thing here is your behavior,
which has now, officially, been deemed as unseemly
by the Mothers Against the Future.
Therefore, no one -- and I mean, no one --
in Schmigadoon will give you lodging.
And, Harvey, don't even think about letting them back in
after I've left. I can read you like a book.
Oh, wait, books have spines. [ Laughter ]
[ Laughter stops ]
-Please welcome back to the show, Kristin Chenoweth.
Hello, Kristin! -Hi, honey.
-It's so lovely to see you. -You too, man. I've missed you.
-Your wardrobe is the physical manifestation of your spirit.
[ Laughs ] -You know what, Seth?
I thought, "I'm bringing it, Seth.
I don't care. No more jackets and no makeup."
I'm bringing it just to the "Seth Meyers Show."
In fact...
-Look at that, top to tail.
Yes! No sweat pants on Kristin. Thank you.
-No, I'm bringing it to you, Seth, okay?
-We -- Don't think it will be unappreciated by everyone here.
Thank you so, so much. -[ Laughs ] You're welcome.
And by the way, I loved, in "Ya Burnt,"
when you said the delta variant. Yesterday, I flew Delta
to get to L.A. And I love Delta, okay?
Like, I love Delta Air Lines. I'm not ashamed to say it.
Why must they call it the delta variant? Why?
-Yeah, you know who has no sympathy?
The good people at Corona, who made the beer.
[ Laughter ] They're like, "Okay."
They're like, "Oh, is it hard for you, Delta?"
[ Both imitating crying ]
So, first of all, before I ask about "Schmigadoon!,"
a lot of people learned new skills.
A lot of people had to find new platforms for their talent.
You found your way onto TikTok during the pandemic.
How did that come about in the first place?
-Well, you were talking about TikTok-ing this morning.
-Yes. -I was unaware about --
I'm not that lame, but my boyfriend was like,
"You've got to do TikTok." And I was the crazy --
not crazy, but, you know, insane person running around
with Lysol and singing high notes.
And unfortunately, I was doing it in a Winnie-the-Pooh onesie,
because why wear anything with a waistband?
-Right. -So, he said these would be
great TikToks, and you know, he was right.
I'm ashamed and yet -- and yet I'm thrilled, because...
[Sings high-pitched note] I walk around, spray,
wear my Winnie-the-Pooh onesie, and, you know, it's a hit.
What can I say? -Look, if TikTok wasn't
built for that, what was it built for?
-[ Laughing ] I don't know.
-So, that's you being very modern, very of-the-moment.
"Schmigadoon!" is a lovely throwback
to, sort of, these style of musical from the '40s and '50s.
It seems like this was a perfect match -- you in this project.
How did it come about? How were you approached for it?
-You know, I know that you understand
that, especially in New York -- New York was so hit --
right? -- with the pandemic.
I think, the hardest, in my opinion.
And Barry Sonnenfeld called me.
And I'd had a lot of loss at the time.
And he called me and said, "I want this new show."
And I'm a huge fan of Cecily's.
And obviously, Alan's one of my best friends, and Dove.
I wanted to do it.
But I just didn't feel I had it in my spirit.
I just thought, "I don't know if I can."
He goes, "You have an 18-page song,
and we're going to do it in one take."
Now, he knows me. This is my fifth project
with him, and I went, "I'll be there."
So, that's how it happened. And it was the hardest thing
I've ever done, and the most -- it was so fun.
It was so fun. -You basically do,
inspired by "Ya Got Trouble" from "The Music Man,"
and so this isn't just an 18-page song.
This is like an 18-page, single-spaced patter song.
-Thank you for knowing that. -And I would imagine it's harder
when you film it. Even though you can do
multiple takes, this was done in one take.
-Yes. -And that is --
I mean everything you do onstage is, obviously, one take,
when people see you on Broadway. But how is it different
doing it with cameras and crews around?
-I got really good friends with camera A operator Jim.
We practiced, you know --
I don't know if you heard, but we wore cones.
Like, we wore cones and masks. I felt like I'd been spayed.
But it was fine. I didn't care, Seth.
I showed up for rehearsal. I said, "Jim, follow me."
I gather the town. So it wasn't just
that I was doing an 18-page patter song.
Thank you for knowing what that means.
But I was also gathering the town,
so I've used the entire set,
and one mistake means back to one.
And I thought, "It's not going to be on my dime or problem
if we mess up." So I practiced
in my hotel room, by myself, yabba-dabba-dooing around,
like a freak, doing "Tribulation."
It's called "Tribulation." -You mentioned, when you're
yabba-dabba-dooing in your hotel room
that you shared a wall with your friend Alan Cumming?
Is that correct? -I hope we're still friends.
Yes. -[ Laughs ]
He's a night owl, as am I. But, he's -- I'm much --
I go to bed at like 5:00 a.m.
He goes to bed at like 2:30, 3:00.
And I would wake up in and literally try to go to sleep,
and I'd be like, "We've got tribulation, my good sir.
We've got tribulation in Schmigadoon."
And I'd do it in the bathroom, because there's high notes, too.
And I wanted to hear myself really good.
Every soprano knows, you practice in the bathroom.
And I'd hear bang, bang, bang! -[ Laughs ]
-"Shut up! [ Laughter ]
"Shut the -- Shut up!" [ Laughter ]
And then, at like 8:30 in the morning,
he'd be, like, doing his song.
You know, and I'm like, "I can hear you!
I just went to bed." This was during quarantine.
I mean, but that being said, he beat me --
he got out of quarantine three days before me.
And when I was done, he was there
and took me -- He's vegan, you know.
Which is fine, but I'm not. And we went to a vegan diner.
We had dinner. He took care of me.
I -- I -- I love him.
-It's a very -- It strikes me
that you guys have a very nice friendship.
He did tell a story about you that I now need to verify,
'cause it's a pretty memorable story
about you sending muffins to someone.
-Okay. With -- I have to just say,
yes, I saw him tell the story, and I died 1,000 deaths.
But one of my friends, she used to run the theater wing.
I was unaware that she had passed.
Her family reached out and said, "We're honoring her."
-Mm-hmm. -I was doing my -- I was young.
I was doing -- not paying attention.
I had a deal with Mrs. Beasley's.
Thank you, Mrs. Beasley's.
I sent Mrs. Beasley's cookies to the...
-The honoring. -It was her funeral, Seth.
[ Laughter ] It was her funeral, Seth.
And Alan Cumming loves to tell it.
He also loves to tell when I very first got invited
to my first fashion show, this was -- I'm dating myself.
A very, very famous designer woman
sent me a bunch of clothes. Well, you know I'm 4'11."
You know my size. It's hard for me to --
So, she sent nothing that fit, except this one cute --
really cute skirt. So I thought,
"I'll add my own jacket." I got to sit next to her.
And when I saw her, she goes, "Hmm, inventive."
I thought, "She doesn't like my shirt.
She doesn't like it. But nothing fit."
It was later that I found out it was a tube top.
[ Laughter ]
And it was in The New York Post.
-Oh, no! Did they know it was a tube top?
Or did they think you were being inventive, as well?
-I hope they thought I was being inventive.
But her face is kind of like...
-[ Chuckles ] -This was like 1999.
What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do?
-Look, everybody was tube-topping in '99.
-[ Laughs ]
-And you couldn't walk in New York City
without bumping into somebody wearing a tube top
as a dress. Hey --
-But as a skirt. -As a skirt.
So I've asked a lot of Broadway veterans about this question,
about the fact that Broadway's opening up again
and what they're most excited to do.
And a lot of people have told me, you know,
it's less about getting back onstage,
which they desperately want to do,
but that they want to be in the audience again
for a Broadway show.
Is that something that's true for you, as well?
-You know, just like you, you're doing your show,
and we listen to the audience, right?
It's the relationship between yourself and your audience.
Same with me when I'm in a concert
or if I'm doing a role. I listen.
That's the biggest part of my job.
When I'm in the audience, I participate.
So, yes, I can't wait. I'm going to go --
As soon as I can, I'm gonna go see "Lion King."
My boyfriend has never seen the --
He's only seen one -- two Broadway shows.
I'm going to go take him down.
I'm going to take him to see "Hamilton."
I mean, I want to -- I want to celebrate my friends.
I want to celebrate the art of music theater and plays --
anything live. Just like how I know you feel
when you're -- like, you know, "Ya Burnt."
I'm sitting over here cracking up,
and you can't hear me. You know what I mean?
-Yeah, we would very -- we should have mic'd you.
That was a big mistake. It was real quiet in here.
-You should have, because I was laughing my butt off.
The subway thing, forget it.
-Well, it is always so lovely to see you.
-Thank you. -Thank you, as always,
for making time for us. And I hope, next time,
to see you here in the city. -Amen.
And my love to your family. And just in case, stay safe.
[ Laughter ]
-Oh, good -- good product placement.
"Schmigadoon!" Is currently streaming on Apple TV+.