Kara Mayer Robinson

Kristin Chenoweth is a 4'11" soprano who’s Broadway to the core, with full-on opera training and major acting and dancing chops—the Oklahoma native originated the role of Glinda the Good Witch in Wicked and is up for a Tony this year for her portrayal of an overconfident actor in the screwball comedy On the Twentieth Century. (Those who aren’t Broadway aficionados will recognize her from her roles on Glee and Pushing Daisies or the gobs of other parts in her 18-year theater, TV and film career.) Before she and Alan Cumming tackle the Great White Way’s biggest night on Sunday 7, Chenoweth, 46, reveals that there may be a trembling nerve or two under that gregarious demeanor. RECOMMENDED: Read more about the Tony AwardsHow are you feeling about hosting?Well, I’m scared. But that’s why I do things. If you live life without taking risk, you will never know success.You’re following in some famous footsteps, like your good pal Sean Hayes, who hosted in 2010. Did he offer any tips?“You’re gonna get critiqued anyway. So just fuck it, have fun.” I love Sean in such a way. The heart is ginormous, and the talent is ginormous. Me and Alan—we’re not really what you’d call vanilla. So we’re gonna go with that. I like vanilla, but I’m more of a chocolate-strawberry-pecan praline–type girl.Have you seen many of this year’s nominated plays?No, because we’re all on the same schedule! I saw The Elephant Man. I was beside myself—I was so emotional. I was very drawn to Patricia Clarkson. And I wa

On a frigid evening, Elisabeth Moss ducks into midtown trattoria Casa Nonna, sheds her winter hat and wool coat and slides into a corner booth. Although she’s been pulling long hours and hasn’t had a day off in 10—she’s starring in The Heidi Chronicles, a revival of the Pulitzer Prize–winning play by Wendy Wasserstein—she seems upbeat, even jocular. Moss plays the lead in the show (which opens March 19), a feminist art historian making her way through the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, opposite Jason Biggs and Bryce Pinkham. This is her second big role as a forward-thinking woman in not so progressive times. Before Heidi Holland, of course, there was Peggy Olson, the initially mousy but ultimately badass adwoman in Mad Men—whose style evolution you can gawp at here—which returns for its final seven episodes on April 5. Over a Moscow mule and lobster-and-burrata salad, the 32-year-old actor digs into these roles and delves, slightly hesitantly, into her life offscreen. It’s a breezy conversation—so much so that we both lose track of the time and have eaten into her cover shoot [view behind-the-scenes photos here]. “Oh, my God, how did it get to be 6-fucking-40?” she laughs midway through talking about one of her Mad Men costars. “Do you want to ride with me to 28th? We’ll just keep talking.” So your schedule’s pretty grueling these days? Yeah, I’m a little tired. This is our fourth week of rehearsals. And I did Letterman last night. How’d that go?It was great. I was pretty nervous. I d