{"id":1140,"date":"2022-12-19T18:51:38","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T23:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/?p=1140"},"modified":"2022-12-30T12:45:34","modified_gmt":"2022-12-30T17:45:34","slug":"my-worst-moment-idina-menzel-and-an-exposed-underboob","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/my-worst-moment-idina-menzel-and-an-exposed-underboob\/","title":{"rendered":"My worst moment: Idina Menzel and an exposed underboob"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three generations of audiences have come of age to Idina Menzel\u2019s voice. She originated the role of Maureen in \u201cRent,\u201d Elphaba in \u201cWicked\u201d \u2014 both Broadway musicals \u2014 and Elsa in the animated film \u201cFrozen.\u201d<\/a> Her other film roles include everything from \u201cUncut Gems\u201d<\/a> to \u201cEnchanted\u201d and its sequel, \u201cDisenchanted,\u201d among others.<\/p>\n

A Broadway powerhouse, Menzel gives audiences a peek into her career in her new documentary \u201cIdina Menzel: Which Way to the Stage?\u201d on Disney+, which goes on the road with her while she tours with Josh Groban. The film traces the arc of her career but also shows her juggling various aspects of her personal life: Being a mother to a young son and embarking on IVF in the hopes of having another child.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a fine line between how much you want to show the public and how much you want to keep to yourself,\u201d she said of the film. \u201cI do feel like in order to be a good performer, you need be able to take risks and be willing to make yourself vulnerable. Because that\u2019s when people in an audience really connect with you \u2014 and I think they can pick up on when you\u2019re inauthentic. So I\u2019m really comfortable letting people in.\u201d<\/p>\n

A willingness to be vulnerable is the very hallmark of this column. When asked about a worst moment in her career, Menzel recalled a night on stage when things didn\u2019t go quite as planned.<\/p>\n

\u201cI welcome mistakes,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I find that they are usually a window into who you really are and an opportunity to learn something \u2014 and an opportunity for other people to learn something about you. Especially when it happens on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

My worst moment \u2026<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cI had this big concert at Radio City Music Hall on my day off from a show I was doing on Broadway called \u2018If\/Then.\u2019 This was 2014 or 2015. I was going through a divorce. And for some stupid reason, I decided to put together a concert on my only day off from doing eight shows a week.<\/p>\n

\u201cRadio City is an incredible place to play and I put this show together pretty quickly. I decided I wanted to do this funny thing where I make a quick (costume) change. I had my dresser Joby with me, and she\u2019s one of my closest friends. She\u2019s done every show with me, so she knows how to get me in and out of a costume very quickly. So I just thought, we\u2019ll be able to do it, Joby and me.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s the night of the show. I run off while the band is playing and I come back wearing this great sequined dress that has a black leather bra that\u2019s part of the outfit. It\u2019s a silver sequined one-piece dress with a low back, but I was kind of wearing it backward on purpose, so it had this low scoop in the front with a black leather bra. So it was classy but also rock \u2019n\u2019 roll.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I forgot is that I normally wouldn\u2019t have a microphone pack on my spine \u2014 it\u2019s normally in your wig or something like that when you\u2019re in a Broadway show. I hadn\u2019t taken that into consideration. So I go offstage to change, that falls off, we put it back on. We\u2019re rushing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I get back on stage. And I start to sing, I think it was \u2018Defying Gravity\u2019 from \u2018Wicked.\u2019 And I hear the audience saying, \u2018Idina! Idina!\u2019 and they\u2019re pointing at me and I don\u2019t understand what they\u2019re saying.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I realized my boob is halfway out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is that called? It\u2019s not bottom boob. All the girls wear their bikinis like that \u2014 underboob, that\u2019s it! But it was really exposed.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I go, \u2018Oh! My boob is out!\u2019 And I fix the bra.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just didn\u2019t think it was a big deal. I thought it was funny and an opportunity to make a joke. Maybe the old me would have thought: Oh my god<\/i>, this happened at Radio City! And in the middle of a show! It\u2019s supposed to be a classy show!<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut I\u2019ve learned over the years, when things happen, it just endears you to your audience. So I fixed it and continued on and it didn\u2019t plague me for the rest of the night. I was able to laugh it off and make jokes about it for the rest of the show \u2014 and it ended up making the show better and funnier.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have this rapport with my fans where I go off book. I never do the same show twice. I talk to the audience a lot; I let them talk to me sometimes. So I\u2019m not stuck. I\u2019m not rigid about what happens in my shows. I have a shell \u2014 a shape and a structure to my show \u2014 and then I allow for it to go into tangents. So it\u2019s not uncommon that fans will yell out and say something to me. But this time I couldn\u2019t understand what they were saying. It took me a minute. And the whole time the boob is still out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Audiences these days are often filming at shows, did that cross Menzel\u2019s mind?<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201c(Pause) <\/i>Yes, because everything is social media. It\u2019s actually out there I think: There\u2019s pictures of me with the bottom boob just sticking out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s another thing. As performers, we\u2019re still getting accustomed to people recording all the time. It used to feel invasive. Like, they were taking advantage, in a way. When you\u2019re on Broadway, you can be in the middle of a serious scene and if you see that someone\u2019s filming, you\u2019re just so exposed. It used to really bother me. But as years have gone by now, you just let it go (laughs)<\/i>. So now I\u2019m used to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this kind of issue with my costume happened in the middle of a Broadway show, it would be different because a Broadway show is like a runaway train. Once it starts, it\u2019s just going. You definitely try not to stop, unless something falls on your head and you have to break the fourth wall with the audience, which does happen sometimes. But knowing me \u2014 the director would get mad at me \u2014 but I probably would stop a show and make it a thing and then get back on track, just because I love a good laugh. But if it was in the middle of a serious dramatic scene, I don\u2019t know what I would do, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

That instinct to engage with the moment and joke about it is a way to get the audience on your side.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, because everyone\u2019s distracted anyway. So they\u2019re not going to hear what you\u2019re singing or saying, so you might as well embrace it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when I got home that night, (any anxiety or embarrassment) was gone. Because I had a great show and a standing ovation and I was proud of myself for accomplishing what I accomplished, knowing that I had so much on my plate outside of that show. I felt really good about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The takeaway \u2026<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cTo keep reminding myself to keep welcoming mistakes. They almost always give you an opportunity to show a side of yourself that other people may not see.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also makes people feel really special. That they were at a particular show where only that <\/i>thing happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cImperfection is more beautiful than perfection.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three generations of audiences have come of age to Idina Menzel\u2019s voice. She originated the role of Maureen in \u201cRent,\u201d Elphaba in \u201cWicked\u201d \u2014 both Broadway musicals \u2014 and Elsa in the animated film \u201cFrozen.\u201d Her other film roles include everything from \u201cUncut Gems\u201d to \u201cEnchanted\u201d and its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1164,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[64],"class_list":["post-1140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-64"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/HCLJUPGIARHMVKE5QG3Y54HUHE.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Srnq-io","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1142,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140\/revisions\/1142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}