Broadway star Idina Menzel doesn’t have a long list of dream roles she hopes to play some day.

“I really think that I want those roles that haven’t been written yet,” she said in a telephone interview. “I really want to originate roles. I’ve had so much success with that process, and I love it very much — just having the privilege of being with the writers, with the creative team, in the privacy of their home while they’re working and being given that window into what they’re doing. It’s a beautiful thing for me, and to watch it unfold is very rewarding.”

She’s intimately familiar with all of that. She was involved early on in both “Rent” and “Wicked,” creating the roles of self-involved performance artist Maureen Johnson in the former and the powerful, misunderstood enchantress Elphaba in the latter. She was nominated for a Tony for “Rent,” and won for “Wicked.” (more…)

Gay men wish they could be Idina Menzel fo­r two reasons: First, she’s got a killer voice, and acting chops to match — notable on Glee, in Rent and her Tony Award-winning role in Wicked, where she got to defy gravity. Second, she’s married to breathtaking heartthrob Taye Diggs — we so want to be able to come home to him.

And Menzel knows it. Though sometimes there’s a twist that surprises even her.

“Lately, when we’ve been stopped on the street together, people will come up to him and say, ‘I love you but I love your wife even more.’ Often that’s even the boys.”

That’s the mark of a diva: Even a gay guy would put Taye Diggs second to praise you.

It’s not something that happens overnight. Menzel was in her early 20s when she first came to prominence on the surprise Broadway hit Rent, which won the

Pulitzer and the Tony and became a phenomenon. But after that, she met with hardship.

“My career has ebbed and flowed,” she admits. “After I left Rent, I did an album that did not sell well. I got dropped from my record label; I was the third replacement on Aida when I entered it.” She wondered if lightning would strike twice. (more…)

Idina Menzel grew up in New York and always loved to sing As Idina got older, she knew that music was her passion and she wanted to perform on Broadway someday. Her mom encouraged her to pursue her education first and not perform professionally as a child. “She wanted me to go to school and go to college. Then after that I could figure out what I wanted to do.” She figured out that the only thing she wanted to do was to be onstage. She never had a back-up plan.

Recently, Idina took time out of her busy tour and her busy life to catch up with Broadway World and share with us how she balances it all. Idina has been travelling with her son for the first time and is busy trying to figure out how to do it all. “I don’t feel like I’m doing a great job. (As) moms, we just do it. There is a lot of good planning and good help.” Her husband, Taye Diggs is very supportive and helps out a lot. She said that it’s great that she is getting to do so many things that she loves which is very important to her. (more…)

Dallas — It would be difficult for Idina Menzel to top the two major Broadway experiences of her life so far: originating the role of Maureen in the groundbreaking musical Rent, and then originating Elphaba, and winning the Tony, in the mega-hit Wicked. But that won’t keep her from trying.

Since Rent, she has crafted a solid recording and concert career, including an early album of songs that she wrote. She has also become a reoccuring character on the TV show Glee, playing Rachel Berry’s mother.

That’s a role she has also taken on in real life, with her now two-and-a-half year old son with husband and actor Taye Diggs, who she met in doing Rent.

She’s currently touring, doing 25 concerts in 30 days, including a stop in Dallas at the Music Hall at Fair Park on Wednesday, presented by Dallas Pops. She has her own musicians and then adds more in each city to be accompanied by a 26-piece orchestra. You can count on showtunes (including material from Wicked and Rent) and some pop material—on her last live album, Barefoot at the Symphony, there’s a cover of Lady Gaga’s Poker Face, which she sang on Glee.

We talked to her about the concert, touring with her son, the influence of Glee and the memory of Rent creator Jonathan Larson. At the end of this interview, you’ll find instructions for a ticket giveaway to the Dallas concert.

TheaterJones: What songs can we expect at your concert? (more…)

For those of us who know Idina Menzel only from her star-making performances in Broadway’s “Rent” and “Wicked,” her Sunday night Smith Center concert was a revelation. We expected the electrifying belt in songs such as “Don’t Rain on My Parade” and “Defying Gravity,” but who knew she is an artist of extraordinary depth?

Her two-hour presentation (backed by about two dozen onstage musicians from Las Vegas and New York) included a lot of personal stories, including a criticism she once received as a student at New York University. She had begun singing for her teacher Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale” but got out only a few bars before he stopped her.

“Do you have any idea where this woman is coming from?” he asked. “She lives on the street. She doesn’t know where her next meal is coming from. She’s desperate.” It was apparently an epiphany for Menzel. She proved how well she learned that lesson by interpreting the number with the skill of a veteran actress.

(more…)

Idina Menzel recently performed at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, Texas and continues to perform throughout the United States. From the moment she walked out onstage, you knew Idina’s concert was going to be different from any other concert. As Idina walked across the stage, it was apparent that she had no shoes on and was very comfortable on the stage. She immediately connected with the audience. Suddenly you felt as if you were with an intimate group of friends listening to a private performance. Idina sang songs from Rent and Wicked as well as Barbara Streisand songs and even U2. And her version of “Both Sides Now” made famous by Joni Mitchell was beyond words.

What one can take away from the evening that made it a one-of-a-kind event was the way Idina seemed to make every audience member feel individual and included. The most remarkable part of the connection came when Idina came out into the audience and asked for someone to help her sing, “Take Me or Leave Me” from Rent. Girls from the audience leapt from their seats and rushed towards Idina. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, Idina let them come. She invited a handful to go to the stage and she then found one young man to sing with her as well.

The young man was Dennis Perez. In speaking to Dennis after the show, he told me, “I was completely shocked when she pulled me into the center aisle to sing. It was a once in a lifetime dream come true. I’ve been looking up to Idina for 6 years now and to be able to perform with one of my idols was mind blowing!”

One of the young ladies invited onstage was Seeley Stephens. I caught up with Seeley and asked her about her experience. Seeley said, “It has been one of my biggest goals in life to sing on stage with Idina Menzel, so when I was waiting there to sing, I could feel my dream coming true, and I couldn’t wait to sing for her. When I sang, I had that same excitement and happiness, but I also had the disbelief that it was actually happening to me. When I got her autograph after the show, she told me I sounded great on stage. That one small comment meant more to me than she will ever know, and I will never forget that night as long as I live.”

Idina made a difference in her life and gave her the confidence she needed. Seeley also shared with me that is has been her dream since she was very young to sing on the Broadway stage. “I love to sing more than anything in the world and adding dancing and acting to that on Broadway is all I want to do with my life. I am actually auditioning for American Idol (in San Antonio) to start on my journey that I hope will land me on the Broadway stage in the future.” (more…)

What better way to kick off Sunday—and to celebrate Father’s Day!—than with the latest installment of Music City Confidential! Here’s where you’ll find all the news that’s fit to print (or not—depending on your perspective) from Nashville’s ever-growing, ever-fascinating live theater industry. Amid the florid prose and flowery praise, you’ll find all the stories that don’t quite fit anywhere else, some of ‘em kind of gossipy, some of ‘em stone-cold serious, some of ‘em just lists of names you need to know. You’ll also find photos from our new “Intermission@” series, details about the latest cast parties and various and sundry minutiae—the veritable flotsam and jetsam—from backstage, onstage, offstage and beyond…

Idina Menzel was in Nashville last night (Saturday, June 16), performing in The Woods Amphitheatre at Fontanel, the former estate of country music superstar Barbara Mandrell. I didn’t go (more about that in the next paragraph), but we’re told she was just as marvelous as expected—even though this was her third visit to Music City in 18 months. We think she and Taye need to buy a house here.  The concert was spectacular, of course, but not quite perfect, according to Lisa Marie Wright, who was nonplussed, aghast in fact, when Idina picked a guy from the audience to join her in singing a duet from Rent, only to discover he didn’t know the lyrics.

“I think he needs to turn in his membership card,” LM demands. Turns out, “that guy” was none other than Spencer Dean, local actor/dancer/raconteur and high school student who is, obviously, one of our favorites. So, did Spencer really forget the words? “Maaaaaaaaaaaybe,” he says (perhaps with fewer A’s, but who’s counting?). “I actually know them, but completely forgot that when Idina Menzel was belting an inch away from my face.” At press time, it was reported that Spencer’s face, which had melted off—due to a combination of Idina singing to him and the fact that it was hotter’n hell at Fontanel (which is also the name for a baby’s soft spot)—has returned to its normal state, although we can only assume he is still floating on air. That’s Idina and the aforementioned and self-proclaimed superfan Spencer to the left. Thanks for the photos, Spencer! You’re my favorite.

Things weren’t quite so rosy for Jonathan Pinkerton, who normally takes the best pictures you’ll see from live performances—because security wouldn’t let him bring in his camera! Here’s how Jonathan tells the story: “I was in second row, but the only problem was they wouldn’t allow cameras! WTH? The website for Fontanel clearly says cameras, but no flash photography,” he says. “Then one of the owners even made the announcement, no flash photography or video. After we got in and saw a few people with cameras and everyone with cell phone cameras—flash and all—Suzanne [Spooner Faulk] went back to the car to get my camera and they still wouldn’t let her bring it in!” Thanks to Anthony Just for that stunning picture of Idina to the left, backed by the woods at Fontanel (and millions of ticks).