Watching the amazing Megan Hilty belt out “Crazy Dreams” on Smash has gotten us thinking about some of our favorite Broadway divas of the past few decades. Hilty herself is no stranger to the Great White Way, having played Glinda in Wicked and Doralee Rhodes in 9 to 5: The Musical. But who else do we worship? While there are far too many to name them all, we managed to list — in no particular order — four powerhouse women who never stop thrilling us.
Kristin Chenoweth
Wicked’s original Glinda was this über petite Oklahoman with the great big voice. Excelling at both drama and comedy (in 1999, she won a Tony for her portrayal of Sally in the revival of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown), this operatically trained diva showed us the full scope of her incredible vocal range in a 2005 performance of Leonard Bernstein’s masterpiece operetta Candide. She also brought her unique musical sensibility to 2008’s cult hit television show Pushing Daisies, where she performed covers of songs by Lionel Richie, Helen Reddy, Olivia Newton-John, and They Might Be Giants.
Watch her sing “Popular” below.
Sherie Rene Scott
This sexy blond Tony Award nominee, whose Broadway credits include The Little Mermaid, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Aida, and Women on the Verge of A Nervous Breakdown (to name just a few) packs a powerful vocal punch and can make us both laugh and cry. Her 2008 autobiographical one-woman show, You May Now Worship Me, was a benefit for the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative of The Actors’ Fund, and its later incarnation, 2009’s Everyday Rapture caused New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley to write that Scott was “putting on the kind of sensational diva-as-trash-goddess show this city hasn’t seen since Bette Midler.” And if that weren’t impressive enough, Scott is also a cofounder of Sh-K-Boom Records, which has released more than 50 albums and earned five Grammy nominations.
Here’s a montage from Everyday Rapture.
Christine Ebersole
This Broadway star has a seemingly unlimited range, both musically and dramatically. In addition to wowing us as both the younger version of “Big Edie” Beale and the older version of “Little Edie” in the short-lived but nonetheless wonderful musical adaptation of Grey Gardens, this seasoned comedienne has appeared on television in the 1981-1982 season of SNL and was even on Ryan’s Hope back in the ’70s. Her gorgeous soprano voice has also been put to good use as a regular on the New York and L.A. nightclub circuit. There seems to be nothing she can’t do.
Here she takes us through “The Revolutionary Costume For Today.”
Idina Menzel
At the risk of being too Wicked-centric, no list of Broadway divas would be complete without this Long Island beauty whose risky stage portrayals of lesbians and witches have made her a fan favorite. She first won our hearts as the sexy, tough-as-nails Maureen in Rentand later won a Tony for playing Elphaba, the green girl with a heart. Even though Mrs. Taye Diggs up and moved to the other coast, away from the New York stage where she belongs, she managed to satisfy our need for a fix by bringing her unbeatable pipes to Glee and occasionally touring with her wonderful and highly underrated pop record, I Stand.
Here she is as a drug addled, fun-loving prostitute performing “Take A Look At Me Now” from The Wild Party (2000).
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