Idina Menzel doesn’t do anything halfway – even when she’s deciding on her gay faves. “It’s so silly,” says the homo-hearted theater queen, surfing Google for “hot gay male celebrities.” Her assistant even gets involved. “This is very important stuff,” Menzel giggles, fully immersed in her search to name her current gay crush.

Neil Patrick Harris? Too typical. George Michael? Maybe 20 years ago.

“Oh, I could do a woman” she realizes, before catching the unintentional humor in that: “I mean, not do a woman.”

And on she goes, scouring the web relentlessly. Again, she laughs. “(My assistant) just went onto a gay porn site. That’s helpful!”

Ten minutes later, she’s got it: Jane Lynch, Wanda Sykes and Anderson Cooper, because “that makes me sound really smart.” Not that she has to sound anything except beautiful, and that she already does – as demonstrated in her 20 years on stage, from “Rent” to “Wicked” (originating the roles of Maureen and Elphaba, respectively), and as a cradle-robber on “Glee.”

Now the ever-sweet Broadway diva has a new live album, “Idina Menzel Live: Barefoot at the Symphony,” airing on PBS Saturday, before she hits the road this summer for a series of tour dates (Menzel will perform June 27 at the Detroit Opera House; tickets are on sale Monday, March 5). She caught up with us recently to talk toes, hubby Taye Diggs’ gay tendency and learning the real definition of “white party.”

“Barefoot at the Symphony” is the name of the new album – do you have nice feet?

They’re all right. My toes are pretty in proportion to each other. No weird toes.

Is the second toe longer than the big toe?

No, they’re actually nice like that. It’s just that – from working out and stuff – my heels are always dry. But the toes are nice!

Will your tour be a lot like this album?

(more…)

Dirty diapers

You might be surprised by my take on changing diapers, but I grew up as the oldest in a family of five, so I changed all of my siblings’ diapers. When it comes to fatherhood, we’re playing catch-up. I can’t carry a baby or breastfeed, but I sure can change a dirty diaper.

With my son Walker, I wanted to be there as much as possible and changing his diapers was just one of the ways I could accomplish that. If we dads think about it in that manner — spending as much time with our babies as possible — it’s about more than a stinky diaper.

(more…)

When Private Practice hunk Taye Diggs, 40, isn’t steaming up the silver screen, he’s at home doting on his two-year old son Walker and wife Idina Menzel.

Like many devoted dads, he has a laundry list of lessons to pass on to his son. But instead of being content to share those pearls of wisdom at home, he’s sharing them with the world as well. On September 27, Diggs brings his artistic passion to stores in the form of his new children’s book, Chocolate Me.

Diggs spoke to Parade about his inspiration, who lays down the law at home, and whether he’ll finally join Idina on Glee.

Why write a children’s book?
“This book is based on a poem I wrote back in college. I remembered being 5-years-old and moving into this neighborhood where none of the kids looked like me and were very inquisitive. Questioning why I looked the way I looked and why my hair was the way it was. I remember feeling really awkward, like I didn’t fit in. My best friend Shane Evans is a very established publisher and had published other children’s books and he thought this concept would make a good one. We just joined forces and put a mockup together and took it to some places and here were are. It’s great working as best friends on something that means so much to us, like self-esteem and self-awareness, especially at this time of bullying. I wrote the book to my kid.”

(more…)

Newly-minted childrens’ book author and actor Taye Diggs may have plenty of work on his hands, but the “Private Practice” star’s wife tells Zap2it he’d love to make a guest appearance on “Glee.”

His wife, we should add, is Idina Menzel who just returned to “Glee” in the role of Shelby Corcoran, Rachel’s (Lea Michele’s) mom.

“He would love that,” said Menzel when we asked her if Diggs would be interested in joining her at McKinley High. “I’m always sort of subtly lobbying for that to happen.”

“He’s busy saving lives on ‘Private Practice,’” she added. “I’m sure I would love it, too. My husband’s actually a song and dance man. People don’t know that. He’s got his Broadway chops.”

Menzel and Diggs met while co-starring in the Broadway production of “Rent.”

Actor Taye Diggs, currently starring on ABC’s “Private Practice,” has co-written a children’s book with his childhood friend Shane Evans. Diggs tells USA Today the reasoning behind the book stemmed from the struggles all kids have with what makes them different.

“You should be proud and embrace your differences regardless if its race or religion or if something is looked upon as a handicap,” says Diggs.

Diggs’ wife of eight years Idina Menzel tells Zap2it of the book, “It’s this amazing children’s book. Taye’s best friend is a very successful illustrator. The book is based on a poem he wrote in college. It’s been several years in the making and it’s about a little boy who has the dark skin that Taye has and he was bullied as a child.”

Certainly one of the first readers of the book (or having it read to him) is Taye and Idina’s 2-year-old son Walker. Diggs also tells USA Today he didn’t think he could love anything so much until Walker came along.

“I’ve never loved anything so much. It comes to the point where it’s almost painful to realize that someone has you in such a vulnerable position.”

Taye and Idina, who met on the Broadway set of “Rent” in 1996 and married in 2003, can’t wait to see what Walker starts becoming interested in as he gets older.

“We’re so excited to see what he’s going to become. He’s got a huge personality. He loves to dance and sing, and he’s very athletic. He has a wicked sense of humor,” says Diggs.

We’d bet money Walker will have a set of pipes.

“Chocolate Me” hits bookshelves Tuesday, Sept. 27.

Zap2It.com – September 27, 2011

Acting, singing, comedy – Idina Menzel can do it all, and that includes severe self-doubt. It has a lot to do with her parents.

Idina Menzel is one of the biggest names in musical theatre, having appeared in Rent on Broadway and Wicked in the West End, as well as a film actress, starring most recently in Disney fantasy, Enchanted. She is also a recording artist, her latest, mostly self-penned album, I Stand, being produced by Glen Ballard, the man who helped Alanis Morissette sell 16 million copies of Jagged Little Pill.

So which is the real Idina Menzel – the nice Jewish girl from Long Island: the turbo-lunged diva singing flawless power ballads in musicals, or the “edgy little rocker” (her words) whose gritty performances on I Stand put her more in the Sheryl Crow category of raunchy female singer-songwriters? It turns out the answer could be all of them because Menzel fancies herself as a bit of a Renaissance woman.

(more…)

Taye Diggs and his actress wife Idina Menzel met in 1996 while costarring in the Broadway show Rent, got married in 2003 and had their son Walker in 2009. And in all those years, Diggs says the most romantic thing he ever did for his wife was buy her a house. “I think that’s pretty romantic,” the actor tells iVillage in an exclusive interview. “A house and a car — from a male perspective, I think that’s as romantic as it can get!”
(more…)

Idina Menzel cites gays as her longtime “peeps,” and even though Tonys are always nice, she has the real mark of Broadway success in throngs of gay men belting “Defying Gravity” at Splash during Musical Mondays. But now with a major label behind her, Idina’s stretching beyond her Rent and Wicked fame.

I Stand, which came out Jan. 29, is still very Wicked-y – don’t worry – and I spoke with Idina shortly after the release, an event she likened to giving birth. We chatted about performing for the gays, her early Rent days … and of course, her hot piece-of-husband, Taye Diggs.

(more…)