OKLAHOMA CITY – At 4-foot-11, Kristin Chenoweth always wanted to play basketball. It never happened, but she still made it to the NBA Finals.
The award-winning actress, singer, Oklahoma native, Oklahoma Hall of Fame inductee and unabashed Thunder fan sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before Game 7 of the title series between the Thunder and the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night.
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Chenoweth's performance aired live on ABC shortly before tipoff of the season's final game.
She has performed on some of the biggest stages in the world — but doing the anthem for a Thunder game gives her butterflies.
“Let me just say, if they had anxiety medication for Thunder fans, I’d be taking it," Chenoweth, dressed in a Thunder sweatshirt, told The Associated Press after her soundcheck at the arena on Sunday.
Chenoweth's Thunder fandom has been no secret since the franchise's early years, though she also has professed at times to liking the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks as well. That said, the Thunder are clearly her top choice — so much so that she once told the Tulsa World she spent three hours bedazzling a Thunder hat. She went to Oklahoma City University after growing up in Broken Arrow, about 115 miles northeast of where the Thunder play.
And her 8-year-old dog's name is Thunder. She even dressed the pup up once in a Thunder outfit.
“I never miss a game unless I'm on stage,” Chenoweth said. “I was a cheerleader in high school in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and I loved football, but my favorite was basketball. I like how much of a team player you've got to be. ... And this is my team.”
Chenoweth has sung the anthem at a few Thunder games in the past, sometimes alone and at least once with children from her Chenoweth Broadway Bootcamp. That camp is part of the arts and education fund that she founded to cultivate “young artistic expression by enriching children’s lives through the power of education, entertainment and experience.”
“I’ve had some pretty big moments in my life in the entertainment field, but this one, I don’t know why, makes me nervous,” Chenoweth said. “I just am very honored that they asked. And I’m proud of these kids. I mean, we have come so far. Of course I want us to win. When the NFL has hired me for the anthem, you remain neutral. But the NBA didn’t hire me for this, so I’m Thundering it up.”
And the anthem — which the soprano finished with her own flair — is a tough song to perform, she said. Singing the words written by Francis Scott Key about the defense of Fort McHenry is a duty she takes seriously.
“Actually thinking about what he saw, it’s really important for me to remember the words and talk about what they meant then and what they mean to us now," Chenoweth said.
Chenoweth won a Tony Award in 1999 for best featured actress in a musical for her role in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” She received two Tony nominations for best leading actress in a musical, one in 2004 for playing Glinda in “Wicked” — she lost to co-star Idina Menzel — and the other in 2015 for playing 1930s Hollywood diva Lily Garland in “On the Twentieth Century.”
And in 2009, she won an Emmy for best supporting actress in a comedy series for her work on ABC's “Pushing Daisies.” She returns to Broadway this fall, playing Jackie Siegel in ”The Queen of Versailles."
“I still have the desire," Chenoweth said. “I think really what inspires me lately is young talent. I’m seeing and watching and learning from them. Hopefully they’re learning from me. And there’s nothing better than watching a budding talent whether it’s basketball or a singer, an artist, it's my jam. What keeps me going right now is other people inspiring me to do what I love.”
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba