Kristin Chenoweth opens Mayo 2015-’16 season

Kristin Chenoweth has brought to life such characters as Charlie Brown’s sister Sally, Glinda the Good Witch, and a waitress who breaks into song at moments of stress.

But the woman who takes the stage of the Mayo Performing Arts Center tonight will not assume any role or play a part. She will just be Kristin Chenoweth — and she is thrilled.

“Concertizing gives (artists) the rare opportunity to tell everyone who they are and what they want to say through music,” the actress writes in an email. “A great gift.”

Chenoweth also notes that the concert format lets her tackle songs she might not otherwise sing in a show. She singles out “Bring Him Home,” sung by a male character, Jean Valjean, in “Les Miserables.”

“Concerts also give you the freedom to come at the lyric from a different place than how maybe the character does it in the show,” Chenoweth writes.

“When I sing ‘Bring Him Home,’ I sing it from a place of wishing all of our troops were home from the war,” she continues. “When I think of the song this way, it still honors the original, but it’s done from my perspective.”

Chenoweth’s concert, which kicks off the Mayo PAC’s 2015-2016 season, will feature Broadway tunes, movie music, country and pop songs, and even opera selections.

That diversity reflects the singer’s background. Chenoweth was raised in Oklahoma, where she sang in her church and also studied opera.

“The reason I love my background growing up singing gospel is because, way back when, I learned not to sing a song you couldn’t relate to,” she writes. “It’s important, singing from your heart!”

“Opera training has given me the technique to do eight shows a week,” she adds. “That’s when your technique is required, to get you through when you can’t.”

Chenoweth lists a string of singers and actresses who inspire her, including Beverly Sills, Sandi Patty, Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters, Madeline Kahn and Dolly Parton. But she holds a special place in her heart for still another performer.

“The very first time I saw Maria Von Trapp sing, ‘The hills are alive with the sound of music’ and swirl on a hill, I knew that was me,” Chenoweth writes. “Julie Andrews single-handedly told me what I was born to do in that moment.”

She appeared in off-Broadway and regional shows (such as “Animal Crackers” at the Paper Mill Playhouse in 1993) before her Broadway debut in “Steel Pier” in 1997.

The role that put her on the map was her Tony-winning turn as Sally Brown in the revamped version of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” in 1999.

“I had zero idea (the show) would be for me what it became,” she writes. “I was supposed to do ‘Annie Get Your Gun’ that year, but had a choice to make. Something in my heart told me ‘Charlie Brown.’ ”

“I show up the first day, and the director, Michael Mayer, says, ‘You’re going to play Sally,’ ” Chenoweth recalls. “New to me. Best news ever.” She credits Andrew Lippa for composing “My New Philosophy,” the solo that she feels earned her the Tony.

Since then, Chenoweth has appeared in musical and nonmusical roles on stage (“Wicked,” “On the Twentieth Century”), film (“You Again”), and TV (“Pushing Daisies,” for which she won an Emmy).

“Musical theater on a whole is always ever-changing,” she writes. “Sometimes I don’t (want to) change with it, especially when I hear the mics jacked up. I know that a certain style I call ‘screaming’ is very popular. I feel like a real fuddy-duddy.

“At the same time, musicals like ‘Hamilton’ are being done that change our world,” she adds. “So there’s always a balance. And since New York is the best place in the world for theater, I still have a lot of faith.”

As for what’s next, she wants to continue to work as an artist.

“I’m a lifer,” she says. “I don’t know how to do anything else. I am doing a pilot for Warner Brothers and (have) tons of concert dates to look forward to. Things usually pop up.

“I love what I do,” Chenoweth concludes. “I will die trying something new onstage, probably.”

KRISTIN CHENOWETH

WHEN: 8 tonight

WHERE: Mayo Performing Arts Center, 100 South St., Morristown

TICKETS: Sold out

INFORMATION: 973-539-8008 or www.mayoarts.org