By Melissa Rose Bernardo
05 Jun 2010

The eight-show-a-week grind, the stage-door autograph hounds, the dietary sacrifices a singer makes for a phlegm-free throat (so long, ice cream!) — it’s all new to Hayes, who's making his Broadway debut. He describes his run in 2008's Damn Yankees at City Center as "a nice little handshake to New York. I'm saying, 'Hello, and I'll be on my way. I won't interfere with your establishment as of yet.'" Chenoweth, meanwhile, ranks as one of the theatre's most bankable stars — a Tony winner, and Wicked's original and undoubtedly most popular Glinda. She got her first taste of Promises as a college student in her native Oklahoma: "I was 19. I looked like I was 12. I was like, 'I guess she fell in love with a married man, shame on her! And then she doesn't like him?’ [pointing to Baxter] Why not? Crazy! Okay, I'll act!'” She sighs. "It was summer stock. I also had Tuptim in The King and I. Another role I was perfect for." Yet she insists that Hayes needed none of her counsel; rather, it was she who relied on her less experienced co-star's assistance.

CHENOWETH: I went over to his apartment the night before they offered me the role.

HAYES: And she got it! Which is weird.

Okay, in all seriousness…

HAYES: Oh please, I'm constantly asking her — the first day, she brought me a huge bag from Duane Reade of 50,000 products to keep yourself healthy.

CHENOWETH: And of course I got sick!

HAYES: Just the other day I asked her, "Am I singing correctly?"

CHENOWETH: He just needs to be his darling self, which is perfect. But I am going to make him wear gloves when he goes out and [greets fans]. Your whole thinking changes when you're on Broadway. You wake up and you're like, "There's a tickle, my glands are swollen. [Vocalizing] Hmm, hmm…okay, I’m good."

HAYES: That's why I do a steam shower every day.

CHENOWETH: Steam, nasal douche, the whole thing. I also never go out unless I absolutely have to. I don't really have an exciting life.

HAYES:­ And that's me when I'm not doing Broadway, by the way.

CHENOWETH: That's why we get along so well. We're both homebodies. I honestly feel like we were separated at birth.

"Separated at Birth." A potential sitcom title, perhaps?