SHE’S flying! She’s actually flying! No, not that winged monkey who levitates over the audience. And not the slinky babe with green skin on the broom, though she definitely has her sky-scraping moments. No, the one I’m talking about is that improbably small woman in the white dress, […]
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — Misfortune almost strikes during Act 1 of the musical “Wicked” when Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, gets caught mid-song in a rain shower. Funnily enough, she doesn’t melt. For an audience that knows “The Wizard of Oz,” it’s an early hint […]
There’s a late-’80s episode of The Golden Girls where Blanche and Rose befriend two teenagers as part of the “Be a Pal” program. The young ladies want to go to a movie and Rose, bubbly as always, suggests a few options: “We can go see Oliver & Company. […]
John Fante, a major ‘little-known’ author, produced autobiographical novels about his early struggles which have inspired a select cadre of admirers. Among the most committed of these is writer-director Robert Towne, who’s been trying to get Fante’s Ask The Dust made for years. The upshot is a careful, […]
When “Rent,” a rock musical version of Puccini’s “La Boheme” opened off-Broadway last February, Jonathan Larson garnered the kind of rave reviews that young, struggling composer-lyricists pray and dream for. Larson wasn’t there to read the reviews–he died of an aortic aneurysm on the night of the final […]
Two months, one Pulitzer Prize and acres of magazine and newspaper pages later, the waiflike hopes of the American musical are living in fancier digs. Uprooted by a cyclone of critical ecstasy and a hunger for theatrical novelty, they have posed for fashion layouts, inspired a Bloomingdale’s ad […]
The rigors of the road and the pressures of performance are made abundantly clear in “Which Way to the Stage?’’, a new documentary about Idina Menzel that’s streaming on Disney+. Directed by Anne McCabe, “Which Way to the Stage?’’ follows Menzel on a national tour that culminates with […]
A knockout performance by Idina Menzel one expects. A total lack of pretentiousness on the part of a superstar ones does not. Maybe aficionados of Menzel’s work on stage and screen were prepared for the vocalist’s dynamic, disarming manner in her collaboration with the Cleveland Orchestra Saturday night […]
There was quite an electric, palpable excitement crackling in the huge 3,000-plus-seat Segerstrom Hall on this particular Sunday afternoon. The largest venue within the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, this stage is used to Broadway-caliber talent wowing its audience, since it usually plays host to […]
Here’s a good question for local Gleeks: what Broadway diva could fill up 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall for a simple cabaret show? Hints: – She’s hard to recognize when she’s not painted green. – Hordes of young female fans could be overheard talking about “Glee” outside the Orange County […]
In 1998, Idina Menzel made her Cincinnati debut performing with the Lilith Fair tour and promoting her first solo album, “Still I Can’t Be Still.” This past weekend, she returned to Cincinnati for another debut. This time, she opened the new season of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. And […]
Former “Rent” star Idina Menzel hasn’t moved in with a lover without giving the decision a lot of thought. Or maybe she has and lived to regret it. Just listen to her plant a few red flags into the notion of blissful cohabitation as she boldly opens her […]
Idina Menzel and a hummable pop score can’t camouflage the fact that this musical is half-baked. Still, it can make for an enjoyable evening, our critic writes. CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In the 13 years that Diane Paulus has been artistic director of the American Repertory Theater, she has […]
Idina Menzel is having a moment. Hand over heart and eyes slightly misty as she breathes in the waves of adoration from the sold out crowd at Carnegie Hall, the expression as she smiles is one of gratitude but also slightly of disbelief. The moment (this time) has […]
Although Idina Menzel looks fabulous in “Skintight,” the new play by Joshua Harmon (Bad Jews,” “Significant Other”), her character, Jodi Isaac, is a total wreck when she flies into New York for her father’s 70th birthday. Jodi’s middle-aged husband has left her for a 24-year-old, and all her […]