{"id":115,"date":"2015-08-10T02:58:07","date_gmt":"2015-08-10T02:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp\/?p=115"},"modified":"2015-10-22T21:54:19","modified_gmt":"2015-10-22T21:54:19","slug":"interview-idina-menzel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/interview-idina-menzel\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Idina Menzel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whatever type of music or theatre you\u2019re into, chances are you\u2019ve heard Idina Menzel\u2018s voice. She was part of the Broadway revolution that was Rent in 1996, was the first to immerse herself in green make-up and iconic Stephen Schwartz melodies in global hit Wicked, and more recently joined the talented and charming misfits of Glee on the small screen \u2013 and that\u2019s not even scraping the surface of her film work and songwriting. Currently on an epic US tour, Idina is heading to London on the 6th of October to appear at the Royal Albert Hall in a special one-off concert. Lucy Thackray<\/a> caught up with Idina to talk gigs, motherhood and \u2018weird\u2019 first jobs\u2026<\/p>\n

We are so looking forward to having you in London.<\/strong>
\nNot as much as I\u2019m looking forward to it!<\/p>\n

What can your fans expect from the show? I know you\u2019ll have the Royal Philharmonic with Marvin Hamlisch conducting\u2026<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s basically me standing in front of a symphony and singing all the music that I love, in a city that I love very much. It\u2019s a nice combination of thrilling orchestra meets very intimate performance, and I\u2019m just really excited about coming over.<\/p>\n

So is it similar to the material you\u2019ve been doing on your US tour?<\/strong>
\nOh yeah, I\u2019ve been honing the material from my tour so that I can return to London and do a really good job. It\u2019s songs from the shows that I\u2019ve been in, which most people would expect, and some that they wouldn\u2019t expect. There\u2019s a selection that I\u2019ve done on Glee, there are original things I did on my album, there are standards, Cole Porter \u2013 loads of stuff.<\/p>\n

What do you love about being on stage alone, as yourself?<\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s a good question. You know, it\u2019s that feeling of performing that I\u2019ve had since I was a little kid, of being in front of a live audience. It\u2019s hard to explain what it is; it\u2019s just something I\u2019ve wanted to do my whole life. There\u2019s something really exhilarating about getting in front of a bunch of people and making yourself vulnerable to them, opening up your soul and using your voice to do it. And hopefully connecting to people, in this case in another country. That\u2019s the gift that I get from putting myself in these situations. It\u2019s the scariest, most terrifying thing but usually it\u2019s very rewarding.<\/p>\n

You have one of the most distinctive voices in musical theatre. Did you train in any specific technique to allow you to hit the sort of notes you hit in Wicked, or have you always had that belt?<\/strong>
\nYes, I have a teacher I\u2019ve worked with for twenty years now. Mostly it all comes from the approach of your singing being an extension of your speaking, so that it\u2019s always coming from a real place and the way you put out words and vowels is as true as possible. As far as the range, I\u2019ve kind of worked like an athlete, like I\u2019m running a marathon. I\u2019m always singing double the amount that I\u2019m actually going to be expected to do on stage, so it\u2019s not too tiring. People always say, \u2018What note are you hitting here?\u2019, and I\u2019m flattered that people think of my range like that, but I think what\u2019s more important to put out there \u2013 especially to young, aspiring performers –\u00a0 is the idea that they should be connected to the emotion of the song. It doesn\u2019t really matter how high you sing as long as you\u2019re trying from a real place.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve released three albums and wrote many of the tracks yourself. Do you collect ideas for songs while touring or filming?<\/strong>
\nIt depends; I\u2019m not a great multi-tasker, so I either have to be in that world where I\u2019m working on an album and the ideas start to flow, or I\u2019m working on a TV show and I\u2019m very into that territory. Being the mom of a two-year-old, I can only multi-task so much, you know? But occasionally melodies come to me and I put them down on my iPhone or I\u2019ll sing them into my voicemail.<\/p>\n

You created two iconic musical theatre roles, Maureen in Rent and Elphaba in Wicked. Are you proud that these are still the parts that female performers dream of playing?<\/strong>
\nOh, yeah. One beautiful thing about doing concerts and singing the songs from these musicals on a regular basis is that it\u2019s a constant reminder of getting to be part of these shows, how poignant and powerful they are and how they resonate with young audiences. I feel a real responsibility to those roles and how they become role models for young people. It\u2019s not a thing that I take lightly. Even now with Glee, to have been part of three projects that are so groundbreaking is something that I\u2019m incredibly grateful for.<\/p>\n

Rent was your first job out of drama school. Did you know there was something special about it when you auditioned?<\/strong>
\nNo, I thought it was weird at first! I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve ever read the musical on the page, without the music going along with it, but it can be very strange. It wasn\u2019t until the first day of rehearsal when we all sang Seasons of Love together that I thought, \u2018Oh, wow, there\u2019s something really special here.\u2019 But you never know how big something is going to be; you\u2019re just happy to have a job and be doing something that you feel really close to.<\/p>\n

I think the film version of Rent is one of the best screen adaptations of a musical. Did you have fun having that sort of reunion?<\/strong>
\nThanks, I\u2019m surprised that you said that because people are usually so hard on that. I had a great time. It was 10 years later that I got to reprise that role and that\u2019s usually unheard of, so the whole time I was just trying to stay in that moment and appreciate it. I met my husband [Taye Diggs] in the original cast and he was in the movie as well, so we were back in our old costumes and everything! It just felt really wonderful being with most of the cast again. Getting to approach the role again with more experience was a gift and a curse, because you can approach it with the technique and the process that you have cultivated over the years, and yet what was beautiful about that show was that we were all real and fresh and raw, and we didn\u2019t want to lose that.<\/p>\n

You and Taye seem like such a lovely couple; what\u2019s the secret to such a mutually supportive marriage?<\/strong>
\nWe\u2019ve been through our stuff just as much as anyone else has, but we obviously have such a great respect for each other and believe in each other. We\u2019ve learned that long distance sucks, so it\u2019s important to be in the same city, to stay connected and put each other first, especially now that we have a baby [Walker Nathaniel.]<\/p>\n

How are you enjoying being parents?<\/strong>
\nWe\u2019re loving it, really loving it. It\u2019s really nice to see your husband in a new light, as a father, that\u2019s a really wonderful thing. So now it\u2019s about family first and then career. Once you give over to that it\u2019s actually quite freeing.<\/p>\n

I noticed that the two of you now have a foundation called A BroaderWay\u2026<\/strong>
\nYeah, we just had our inaugural summer this past August. We took about thirty girls from Harlem and the Bronx up to a summer camp in the mountains in Vermont for ten days. They sang and danced and played tennis and volleyball and swam, and we had some incredible composers from the Broadway community come up and actually write songs for them and with them, based on their own lyrics and poetry and choreography. Then we put on a concert back in New York on the eleventh day of camp. So it was very successful, we\u2019re really excited about it and we made a promise that they could come back next year, so now we have to figure out how to get it all done again.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve recently been back working on Glee; what part does your character Shelby play in the third season?<\/strong>
\nWell in season one we found out that she is Rachel\u2019s mother, so she\u2019s coming back to work on her relationship with her, and she also adopted the baby that Puck and Quinn had, so she has to confront that relationship. I\u2019m singing some great songs; there\u2019s one duet in particular I\u2019m doing with Lea that I\u2019m excited about, from West Side Story. Other than that, I don\u2019t really know that much more about the plot because they keep it so secret.<\/p>\n

Do we get to meet Rachel\u2019s dads?<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t know! That\u2019s a good question, I was thinking about that the other day.<\/p>\n

Was it weird when people started pointing out the similarities between you and Lea Michele?<\/strong>
\nNo, we had heard that before Glee, in our little theatre community back in New York. I\u2019m flattered because she\u2019s much younger than I am and very pretty, so if people think I look like her I\u2019ll take that as a plus.<\/p>\n

You were one of the first Broadway stars to get involved in the show; how did you come across it?<\/strong>
\nIt was serendipitous really; my husband and I were huge fans and we loved the show, we put it out there in the universe that we\u2019d be interested and I think over in LA they were thinking it too, so it all came together real easily. I had just had a baby back then, so just to have a job and fit into my costumes\u2026 [laughs] \u2013 it was very exciting for me. This time around I was able to enjoy it even more because I didn\u2019t have a newborn, I can really appreciate where I am.<\/p>\n

Glee is all about being inspired by music. Who inspires you?<\/strong>
\n\"2011_09_27_b\"
\nAs a singer? Many people. I grew up listening to Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan is a huge inspiration for me \u2013 I was a wedding singer when I was about 15, 16 years old, and you have to learn every song in the book. Everyone from Whitney Houston to Aretha Franklin, to the newest Madonna song or the old standards, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan. So as frustrating as being a wedding singer can be, it also gives you a terrific education, influencing your different musical tastes. In terms of songwriting, I love Annie Lennox, Joni Mitchell \u2013 there\u2019s a bunch of people.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for you after the tour? Filming, theatre, recording or all three?<\/strong>
\nWell, I\u2019ll be back and forth in Glee all throughout the season, which I\u2019m very excited about. Also, I\u2019m developing a new musical for New York that is still so early stages that I can\u2019t mention more than that, but it\u2019s something I\u2019m very excited about and means that I will be getting back to New York, thankfully, in the next year or two. I guess my biggest project is still my son Walker and his daddy, and trying to figure out how to balance motherhood and career and all that kind of stuff.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll be such an inspiration to him though, career wise.<\/strong>
\nThank you. He likes to come up on stage when I\u2019m doing sound check with the orchestra; he\u2019s not overwhelmed by it at all. He\u2019ll start dancing or trying to touch the violins!<\/p>\n

Is Walker coming over to London with you?<\/strong>
\nNo, I wasn\u2019t sure until a couple of days ago, but I made the executive decision to leave him home. I haven\u2019t been away from him for more than two nights, so this is going to be really difficult for me.<\/p>\n

Do you have any other plans while you\u2019re in London, seeing any shows or sights?<\/strong>
\nI hope I\u2019ll get to see some theatre; like I said, I\u2019m coming in and out really quickly because I don\u2019t want to be away from my boy for too long, but I opened in Wicked there\u2026 how many years ago? Oh five, right, because it\u2019s the anniversary. I\u2019m missing the anniversary by a few days which is very sad. But I might actually go to the theatre and say hi, that would be something high on my list. I\u2019d like to go see some other theatre, I have a bunch of friends that I\u2019d like to see, and my mom\u2019s coming with me so I might show her around, take her to the rose garden at Regent\u2019s Park or something like that.<\/p>\n

You worked with producer Glen Ballard on your album I Stand; have you heard any of Ghost: the musical, that he co-wrote?<\/strong>
\nI haven\u2019t seen Ghost, but I love Glen very much and I remember when he was setting out to do it and it was his first foray into musical theatre, and being so proud of him. So I\u2019m really excited for him.<\/p>\n

The lead character Molly is quite a powerhouse, Idina-esque role. Are there parts out there you\u2019d still love to play?<\/strong>
\nThere are some, but it\u2019s more the unknown that I\u2019m really looking forward to. My most gratifying moments have been in shows that were original and took years to develop, and that I was fortunate enough to be involved in from the early stages. It\u2019s just a process that I really, really enjoy, being in a room with the composer and director for a couple of years and really nurturing the character. So it\u2019s more about finding that new, original show that I can bring something to and being a part of that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whatever type of music or theatre you\u2019re into, chances are you\u2019ve heard Idina Menzel\u2018s voice. She was part of the Broadway revolution that was Rent in 1996, was the first to immerse herself in green make-up and iconic Stephen Schwartz melodies in global hit Wicked, and more recently […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[33,17,12,7,18,4,19],"class_list":["post-115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-33","tag-a-broader-way","tag-barefoot-at-the-symphony","tag-career","tag-glee","tag-rent","tag-wicked-west-end"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/2011_09_27_a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Srnq-1R","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions\/314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}