{"id":1178,"date":"2023-08-20T11:03:31","date_gmt":"2023-08-20T15:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/?p=1178"},"modified":"2023-08-20T11:03:31","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T15:03:31","slug":"idina-menzel-crying-at-et-driving-illegally-and-voicing-frozens-elsa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/idina-menzel-crying-at-et-driving-illegally-and-voicing-frozens-elsa\/","title":{"rendered":"Idina Menzel: crying at ET, driving illegally and voicing Frozen\u2019s Elsa"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The actress and musician on the culture that made her<\/h2>\n

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First paid gig<\/b>
\nFor a wedding when I was 15. I drove illegally to the catering hall in my parents\u2019 1985 silver Cordoba. The band leader gave me a chance and I remember singing the theme song from the movie Ice Castles<\/b>. I got paid $100 \u2014 I couldn\u2019t believe I was earning my own money from singing.<\/div>\n
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First \u2018wake-up call\u2019<\/b>
\nThere was a young girl who never liked me. She liked to sing as well but wasn\u2019t getting the same attention as me. The more compliments I received the more she hated me. I was always torn between my love for singing and the bullying I would endure when I chose to be seen.<\/div>\n
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First book I read
\nThe Diary of Anne Frank<\/b> was the first book that made an impact on me. At an early age my parents would talk about the Holocaust, wanting me to have an understanding of the Jewish experience. As a parent I often wrestle with what age is appropriate for children to be exposed to the hatred in the world. When do I protect my son\u2019s innocence? When do I have the real conversations?<\/div>\n
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First album I bought<\/b>
\nThe soundtrack to A Star Is Born<\/b> from the 1976 movie starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. I was eight and my grandmother took me to see it. I remember holding the album cover in my hands while sitting on my living-room floor. I played it over and over in awe of Streisand\u2019s voice, how effortless it was.<\/div>\n
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First concert I went to<\/b>
\nMy parents took me to see Diana Ross<\/b> at Westbury Music Fair on Long Island, where I grew up. It was an intimate venue; I was so close to her and she was so beautiful. She changed her outfit at least 15 times.<\/div>\n
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First pop-inspired fashion trend I adopted<\/b>
\nA Molly Ringwald<\/b>-inspired asymmetric haircut when I was 13. That was a bad year because I was so awkward. I made up for it a year later when I grew my hair out long and curly and parted it by my ear so it swept 6in above my forehead using a hairspray called Stiff Stuff.<\/div>\n
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First time I cried at the cinema
\nET<\/b>. When Elliott and ET were in that plastic tent being prodded and experimented on. ET was growing greyer and greyer by the minute.<\/div>\n
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First moment I knew I loved singing<\/b>
\nI\u2019ve been singing for as long as I can remember. I do recall the first time I sang in front of a group of people. It was a talent show at a resort in the Catskills, upstate New York, when I was six. I sang The Way We Were<\/b>. I remember feeling transported. I had this sense, this realisation that I had something special and maybe one day I would share it with the world. That\u2019s what happened with Frozen<\/i> and Let It Go<\/i>.<\/div>\n
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First time I felt overwhelmed by fame<\/b>
\nThere are days when I\u2019ve been sick \u2014 laryngitis, sinus infection \u2014 with high-pressure concerts to perform, holding my infant son and heading to the doctor. One time I had no make-up on, my hair was matted and, unbeknown to me, my shirt was on inside out, and I walked into a swarm of paparazzi. Those are days when I\u2019ve been overwhelmed. The rest of the time I would say I\u2019m overwhelmed with gratitude. I remind myself that my dreams have come true.<\/div>\n
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First time I realised that I\u2019d made it<\/b>
\nThe days of Rent<\/b> on Broadway, for which I was nominated for a Tony. Every night after the show we would walk out of the stage door to a sea of adoring fans, who would descend on us for pictures and autographs. I landed a record deal for more money than I had ever seen in my life. I was able to pay my rent.<\/div>\n
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Idina Menzel\u2019s album Drama Queen is out now<\/i><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The actress and musician on the culture that made her   First paid gig For a wedding when I was 15. I drove illegally to the catering hall in my parents\u2019 1985 silver Cordoba. The band leader gave me a chance and I remember singing the theme song […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1179,"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":[77,76],"class_list":["post-1178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-77","tag-drama-queen"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/e51c60992566464ba17a61293a72204470dcfac0.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Srnq-j0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1178","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=1178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1180,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1178\/revisions\/1180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}