Talking to Idina Menzel about her concert, her sister and, of course, ‘Let It Go’
Over the past decades, Menzel has won over everyone from musical theater nerds to Tony voters to princess wannabes, as Maureen with her audience-participation bit about cows, defying gravity as the green-girl Elphaba in the Broadway musical “Wicked” and solidifying the empowerment anthem “Let It Go” as a smash hit as the voice of snow queen Elsa in Disney’s 2013 movie “Frozen.” She has appeared on Fox’s “Glee” and went back to Broadway in the Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey musical “If/Then,” garnering another Tony nomination. Outside of her stage and screen reign, Menzel has released five studios albums. She sang the national anthem at the Super Bowl and in front of Barack and Michelle Obama at the White House. She survived “Adele Dazeem.”
So, what’s next? And what’s left to do?
There’s a new memoir authored by Menzel’s younger sister, Cara Mentzel, coming out this fall (“Voice Lessons: A Sisters Story,” St. Martin’s Press) and “Frozen 2” set for 2019. And Saturday, the diva will bring her global tour, her band and her son, Walker, to Chicago, for a show aimed to please the countless fans Menzel’s picked up along the way — everyone from aging Rentheads to toddlers in tiaras.
The Tribune talked to Menzel about her ongoing success and remaining aspirations before her Chicago Theatre concert. The following interview is edited and condensed.
Q: What can fans expect from the concert? Will it be a mix of songs from your albums and Broadway hits?
A: Yep, you said it. I like to say it’s an eclectic set list. Definitely songs people would expect. I like to stay fresh and do some new arrangements of them, although I’m sensitive to not overdoing that. But there’s a few new arrangements I really like. And there’s some music from the new album. And some surprise covers.
Q: And there will be “Frozen,” I imagine. Do you ever get tired of singing “Let It Go”?
A: I love to sing it. I don’t, honestly. Because I involve the kids when I do it, so every night it’s different. And every night I am reminded of how it’s reached and connected and resonated with young people and how important it is. And that makes me really proud — that I have that in my career, that I have a song and a character and a movie that is so powerful and really changes people.
Q: Does your son like the song? Or “Frozen?”
A: (Laughs.) My son’s got a love-hate relationship with it, I think. If you’d ask him, he’d say he’s not a fan. I’ve done some analysis, and I think anything related to “Frozen” is “mom’s work.” And it has given thousands of people permission to say they know his mom, and I think that bothers him; I’m his mom, and he wants me to himself. But he’s starting to come out and watch. I think he secretly enjoys the songs. … He just won’t tell me.
Q: How do you navigate audiences filled with everyone from kids to longtime fans?
A: That’s my biggest challenge these days. Just trying to be true to myself with the understanding that I have a vast demographic. And I think I’m doing a really good job of navigating that. … I’m a woman in her 40s. I have to be myself. But I don’t want to offend anybody.
Q: What’s your favorite song in the set list? Or a moment you really look forward to?
A: Those moments change every night, to be honest with you, depending on how I’m feeling and what’s going on in my life. That’s what I love about music. Songs reflect how you feel and your association with them that can change depending on how you’re feeling that particular day. So that’s hard to answer. I have an acoustic little miniset that I really like where I do something from “Wicked” on guitar.
Q: Outside of tour news, it was recently announced that your sister wrote a book about your relationship. How involved were you in that?
A: I was super involved. It was my idea. She’s always been a great writer. And I was asked to write a book, a memoir, and I really had no interest at all in writing about myself. So she had often written about the two of us and about our lives and our childhood and our sisterhood, and we felt like there was a lot more story there, a bigger story that we can tell, with that angle. So I’m excited. She wrote a beautiful, funny, poignant book from the perspective of a little sister trying to find her voice with a sister who had a huge voice and probably overshadowed her. … It uses milestones in our lives to sort of explore how similar and different we were at the time and how we learned from each other through those experiences.
Q: Is there any role that could get you back to Broadway?
A: I’m interested in doing new work. I go back every couple months and do workshops for new writers and read their work aloud so they can develop it. And that’s where my heart is, developing a new piece and being a part of it. And helping young writers and composers do their thing and make original work.
Q: Whose work are you into right now?
I recently worked with Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. I’m a huge fan of theirs. Jason Robert Brown. I’ve never gotten to work with him, but he’s awesome. I’d love to work with him. There’s so many.
A: What else do you want to accomplish?
I’m pretty content. I feel good about where things are. I’m just going to keep trying to be part of new material and writing my music. And I would love to get more film work or TV work where I can really be on the set with some great accomplished actors so I can really learn from them.
Q: Who would you want to work with?
A: For me, it’s legends like Meryl Streep or Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet.
Q: Anything else you want to fit in during your time in Chicago?
A: I like to do my yoga. I probably would just love to take my son to a big park. Maybe some hoops for him. I’m excited to come back to Chicago. We had a great time two years ago. The fans were incredible. We’ll try to satisfy everyone’s requests.