Indulge me for a moment: I want to call attention to the fact that a visit to Kleinhans for a buzzworthy show is an awesome experience. I\u2019m not even referring to the actual performance by Idina Menzel on Saturday night with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (which was great\u2014more on that in a second)\u2014I mean the whole set-up.<\/p>\n
Getting dressed up for a night out. The heavy traffic on Porter Street around Symphony Circle. Walking through those West Side streets, women\u2019s heels clicking on the sidewalk. Joining the flow of people into the Saarinen-designed concert hall. Feeling like you\u2019re stepping back into the 1940s.<\/p>\n
A drink in the foyer, quick to finish when the seating bell rings. Find your seat with directions from a dapper usher. All so pleasantly retro. Delightful.<\/p>\n
Idina Menzel is a Broadway actress whose celebrity bona fides were established in such high-profile shows as Rent and Wicked. She\u2019s also a legitimate TV star based on her supporting role in Glee. Her appearance as the opening act in the BPO\u2019s 2011-2012 Blue Cross\/Blue Shield of Western New York Pops Series drew a house that appeared to be within a few dozen seats of a sellout, and that crowd\u2014bolstered by a heavy teenage and young adult presence\u2014was loud, proud and without reservation in their appreciation.<\/p>\n
Menzel burst onstage like a ray of sunshine in her flowing canary-yellow, shoulder-less frock. She opened with \u201cThe Life of the Party\u201d from The Wild Party, a production that earned her a Drama Desk nomination in 2000. Following some banter with the audience (including a winning moment in which she hustled to stage left, announcing \u201cI\u2019m going to stand over here, where all these boys are,\u201d drawing a raucous ovation from that group of admirers), she transitioned into \u201cI\u2019m Not That Girl\u201d from Wicked.<\/p>\n
Menzel, the original Elphaba in the Broadway and West End productions of the show, was playfully modest.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, you saw it?\u201d she asked. \u201cI was the green one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Menzel then offered a unique medley of Cole Porter\u2019s \u201cLove For Sale\u201d and \u201cRoxanne\u201d by The Police, using the selections to frame her soulful vocal phrasing and range. She took advantage of the next piece\u2014\u201cDon\u2019t Rain On My Parade\u201d a tune made famous by Barbara Streisand\u2014to comically frame her native Long Island accent. When she reached the lyric, \u201cHey Mr. Arnstein, here I am,\u201d she instead sang, \u201cHey Buffalo, here I am,\u201d and struck a comically triumphant pose. The crowd roared.<\/p>\n
Menzel then rolled into \u201cNo Day But Today\u201d from Rent. Menzel was part of the original cast of that legendary show and she shared anecdotes from those heady days\u2014meeting her husband (actor Taye Diggs\u2014who is from Rochester, by the way. I did not know that) in the production, backstage shenanigans with Diggs and other cast mates and, on a more somber note, dealing with the death of Rent\u2019s writer \/ composer Jonathan Larson just before the show was set to open. Her performance of \u201cNo Day But Today\u201d was real and raw. The audience exploded when she was through.
\nAnd then there was Glee. The mood lightened considerably as Menzel, who plays vocal coach Shelley Corcoran on the hit show, discussed her first duet with co-star Lea Michele and then led the BPO through that particular song: Lady Gaga\u2019s \u201cPoker Face.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so sorry,\u201d she told the orchestra. \u201cYou probably went to Julliard, and here you are, playing this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The crowd loved the restructured version of the song, of course, and was equally pleased when Menzel offered examples of lullabies she and Diggs had created for their infant son\u2014a hip-hop number about poop and a swinging wake-up song were particularly well-received. Menzel burst into a Louis Prima number, \u201cI Feel So Smootchie,\u201d that ended with such a flourish that pockets of the audience gave Menzel a standing ovation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you so much,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not even from Buffalo, and you all came here to see me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Menzel then closed her performance a powerful a capella version of \u201cFor Good\u201d from Wicked\u2014you could have heard a pin drop in the hall\u2014and when she finished, Kleinhans went bananas. The young men next to me kept gasping \u201cOh my God. Oh my God.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was going to ask them if they were OK,\u201d my wife told me after the show.<\/p>\n
Menzel left stage to a roaring standing ovation, then popped back out for a quick version of \u201cTomorrow\u201d that she dedicated to her mother. She disappeared, finally, to another round of wild applause. Menzel had won the evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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