Fresh off her well-deserved Emmy win as Best Supporting Actress for Pushing Daisies, Kristin Chenoweth appeared on Fox's Glee on Wednesday. The diminutive actress/singer was a total delight, going all-in as a washed-up glee-club star wooed back to help the high school team (conveniently her character hadn't graduated).The episode, of course, gave Chenoweth a perfect showcase for her Broadway-honed talents. While a stunning "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret was the standout, my favorite pop-song moment in "The Rhodes Not Taken" was when Chenoweth's character commandeered the bowling-alley stage for a karaoke version of "Alone." I loved the song when Heart took it to #1 for three weeks in 1987, when Carrie Underwood stunned with a star-making version on American Idol in 2005, and again this past year when another Idol-er, Allison Iraheta, rocked it out. Celine Dion also covered "Alone" for 2007's Taking Chances, but somehow her take really missed the mark. (The Glee episode featured a more obvious reference to Underwood, with Chenoweth singing her 2008 hit, "Last Name.")Until the day Underwood gives "Alone" a proper (and way overdue) release, I'm happy to make do with what Kristin Chenoweth, joined by Glee lead (and Tony nominee) Matthew Morrison, brought to their performance. "Alone," like the Divinyls' tune recently featured in this space, is yet another brilliant entry from the Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly songbook:Purchase "Alone (Glee Cast Version)" via iTunes.
Fresh off her well-deserved Emmy win as Best Supporting Actress for Pushing Daisies, Kristin Chenoweth appeared on Fox's Glee on Wednesday. The diminutive actress/singer was a total delight, going all-in as a washed-up glee-club star wooed back to help the high school team (conveniently her character hadn't graduated).The episode, of course, gave Chenoweth a perfect showcase for her Broadway-honed talents. While a stunning "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret was the standout, my favorite pop-song moment in "The Rhodes Not Taken" was when Chenoweth's character commandeered the bowling-alley stage for a karaoke version of "Alone." I loved the song when Heart took it to #1 for three weeks in 1987, when Carrie Underwood stunned with a star-making version on American Idol in 2005, and again this past year when another Idol-er, Allison Iraheta, rocked it out. Celine Dion also covered "Alone" for 2007's Taking Chances, but somehow her take really missed the mark. (The Glee episode featured a more obvious reference to Underwood, with Chenoweth singing her 2008 hit, "Last Name.")Until the day Underwood gives "Alone" a proper (and way overdue) release, I'm happy to make do with what Kristin Chenoweth, joined by Glee lead (and Tony nominee) Matthew Morrison, brought to their performance. "Alone," like the Divinyls' tune recently featured in this space, is yet another brilliant entry from the Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly songbook:Purchase "Alone (Glee Cast Version)" via iTunes.
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