Monday, August 26, 2013

A Magic Moment



Kristin Chenoweth gave a concert at the Hollywood Bowl over the weekend and invited someone from the audience to come up on stage with her to sing "For Good" from the Broadway musical Wicked (which Kristin starred in when it first opened). She and the audience were obviously very surprised at how well it went...

When musicians call audience members up on stage to perform with them, the results are usually fun but a little cringe-worthy. During the show, she [Chenoweth] called Southern California resident Sarah Horn to the stage and invited her to sing "For Good," a duet from the musical "Wicked." (Chenoweth, of course, played the original "Glinda"). Once on stage, Horn revealed that she is a voice teacher and loves musical theater. Still, it seemed that Chenoweth didn't truly understand who she had called to the stage. In the video, Chenoweth playfully instructs Horn to wait her turn. But as soon as Horn belts out her part, Chenoweth throws her hands up in the air. "Oh sing it, sing it!" said Chenoweth, laughing. Toward the end of the duet, Chenoweth exclaims again: "Holy crap, harmony!"

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The video of that performance has already received over 1.1 million views as of this morning and continues to grow. Some folks tried to say it was all rehearsed and planned, but that is not how it actually happened, if you read the full report from the singer, Sara Horn, over on BroadwayWorld.com...

Toward the end of the second half of the performance, Kristin wanders on to the pasarel. She held a mic up to a lady in front of me and asked if she knew the song "For Good." Nope. I took the chance, as I was directly behind Kristin, to stand up and wave and say, "I know the song!" This is not like me - to jump up and wave my arms like a crazy person and raise my voice at a celebrity. One of Kristin's backup singers held a mic up to my face so I could answer some questions: "What's you're name?" - "Sarah." "Who's your favorite Broadway star?" I sarcastically hummm as if it's a difficult question to answer. "Do you know the song 'For Good'?" - "Yes. It's one of my favorites." This seemed to peak her interest. After this, she moved down the line and asked a guy if he knew the song and bantered with him for a few seconds. Afterwards, she said something about going back to pick me because I was a girl. Then, she invited me up on stage.

I love this video and thought Sara did an amazing job. Wicked is my favorite musical and "For Good" is one of my favorite songs from that show. I can't count the number of times I've watched this video in the past 24 hours and it still makes me grin like a loon.

With all the awful news out in the world these days, it's just so nice to see something that actually touches your heart and, if only momentarily, reminds you that there is a lot of good in the world.

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And, not only did she get to sing with Kristin and hang out backstage, she also got to meet Darren Criss that night too.

Lucky, bit...nice singing lady.

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