Kristin Chenoweth has discovered a surprise family link to the Wizard Of Oz.
In 2003 the 57-year-old Tony-winning actress originated the role of Glinda in Wicked, the stage adaptation of the L. Frank Baum novel.
And on a new episode of PBS's Finding Your Roots with Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., she learned her late relative Billy Eugene Ethridge also has ties to the Oz universe.
She was incredulous as Gates showed her an old newspaper clipping that revealed Ethridge performed in a small-town production of the Wizard of Oz.
'The junior players guild production of The Wizard of Oz, opening at 8pm Friday at the Great Hall of St. Matthew's Cathedral,' she read aloud. 'The cast of the Wizard is as follows: Oz, Billy Eugene Ethridge.'
She nearly got choked up as she reacted, 'Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Is that not freaky? That's nuts. Wow. Well, we were a lot alike!'
Gates went on to add another layer of the striking coincidence.
It turned out Ethridge was also heavily involved in musical theatre, also performing in The King and I, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, school choir, and dance reviews.
Chenoweth reflected, 'You know, I think of Billy as a Rockabilly. He was an incredible guitarist and also pianist. But I don't think of him as this musical theater kid - but he was!'
Gates then asked if the newly discovered link made the veteran entertainer 'believe in fate.'
'It does, right? Right there!' Chenoweth answered.
She then exclaimed, 'Oh, I wish he was alive so I could just be like, "Look at this!"'
Her latest stage appearance was in the musical Queen of Versailles, a stage-adapted version of the 2012 documentary about billionaire Jackie Siegel who set out to build a 90,000 square-foot Florida estate.
It officially opened on Broadway on November 9, 2025, and the final curtain came down on December 21, weeks earlier than its original January 2026 closing date.
In 2003 the 57-year-old Tony-winning actress originated the role of Glinda in Wicked, the stage adaptation of the L. Frank Baum novel;
Chenoweth was incredulous as she learned her late relative Billy Eugene Ethridge starred as Oz in a small town stage production;
Menzel (L) and Chenoweth (R) as Elphaba and Glinda in 2004
Chenoweth produced and starred in the Michael Arden stage show, which featured music by Stephen Schwartz.
Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham portrayed Jackie's late billionaire husband 'Timeshare King' David Siegel in the Trumpian satire which had been in the works since 2020.
It had been a decade since Oklahoma-born Chenoweth starred in a Broadway musical following her two roles in On the Twentieth Century.
'I just want to say that I'm so proud of this new art that we've created,' she said in a video recorded in her dressing room in November and shared online.
'It's getting harder and harder to do, so I think about all the shows in the past couple of seasons that have come and gone that, you know, not everybody got to see.
'I just love Broadway so much, and I love audiences and a live art form.'
She went on to thank the patrons who had attended Queen of Versailles since it began previews October 8 at the St. James Theatre in Midtown Manhattan.