Broadway alumna, Kristin Chenoweth, is set to star in a single-camera comedy series at Disney+ titled The Biggest Star in Appleton. Chenoweth will play Carol Dannhauser, a waitress and mother from Wisconsin who’s deepest joy in life was starring in lead roles at the local community theater, before a struggling and younger girl moves back home jeopardizing her position.
Chenoweth will also executive produce while starring in the series alongside Paul Rudnick as writer and executive produce—Dan Jinks will also executive produce in partnership with 20th Century Fox Television. Officially launching this past in November, Disney+ has been steadily adding shows similar toThe Biggest Star in Appleton such as The Mandalorian and the High School Musical series. The service also currently offers a variety of original unscripted shows such as The World According to Jeff Goldblum and The Imagineering Story.
Chenoweth got her big break starring in Broadway productions and by 1999 she won a Tony Award for her musical performance as Sally Brown in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. In 2003, Chenoweth received even wider acclaim and notice after she originated the role of Glinda in the musical Wicked which also led to another Tony award nomination.
Her biggest television roles to date have included: Annabeth Schott in Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing and Olive Snook on the ABC dark comedy Pushing Daisies, for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2009. The songstress also had a staring role in ABC’s 2012 series GCB (aka Good Christian Belles) before its cancellation.
Jinks and Chenoweth previously worked together on the ABC’s Pushing Daisies, with The Biggest Star in Appleton marking their second collaboration with each other. Aside from starring in television and broadway roles, Chenoweth has also lent her voice to the critically-acclaimed Netflix animated series, BoJack Horseman.