Idina Menzel made her Texas debut Thursday night at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, and impressed the 2000+ people in attendance so much that she was called out for two encores.<\/p>\n
Menzel\u2019s Dallas stop is just the third city of a year-long symphony tour that will criss-cross the United States, hitting 17 different cities. Backed by local symphonies \u2013 in this case, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rei Hotoda \u2013 Menzel is covering a spectrum of songs from her career and beyond in a setlist that evolves with each performance.<\/p>\n
The show opened with a Broadway-themed journey of show tunes from some of Menzel\u2019s favorite musicals \u2013 West Side Story, A Chorus Line, and Porgy & Bess.<\/p>\n
Following an intermission that had the concert hall filled with tangible excitement, Menzel made her way on stage to thunderous applause and the opening chords of Andrew Lippa\u2019s \u201cThe Life of the Party,\u201d Menzel\u2019s show-stopping number from the 2000 Off-Broadway musical, The Wild Party. Despite the song\u2019s message, however, Menzel explained that she\u2019s really just a couch potato, not one for going out to parties. She followed with a sultry combination of Cole Porter\u2019s \u201cLove for Sale\u201d and Sting\u2019s \u201cRoxanne\u201d before sharing with the audience her experience of singing \u201cDon\u2019t Rain on My Parade\u201d at the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors in front of Ms. Streisand herself. \u201cYou did good,\u201d was Streisand\u2019s comment to Menzel after her performance.<\/p>\n
If you are a fan of Menzel, or if you watch Fox\u2019s hit show Glee, then you know that Menzel performed one of Streisand\u2019s penultimate songs, \u201cFunny Girl\u201d in an episode. Lucky for that audience, she decided to premiere a live rendition of it, which was, by many accounts, better than the televised version, and she flexed a bit of her acting muscle with it, delivering with the emotion the song called for. She pulled another song from her Glee repertoire with admitted trepidation \u2013 Lady Gaga\u2019s \u201cPoker Face\u201d (originally performed on the show as a duet with Lea Michele). Despite it being a bit shaky due to lack of rehearsal time, it was a crowd favorite, especially as Menzel encouraged everyone to sing along. It was certainly a highlight of the night.<\/p>\n
She also touched on her time with the cast of RENT, singing a bittersweet solo arrangement of \u201cFinale B,\u201d known as \u201cNo Day But Today\u201d for her setlist.<\/p>\n
The only self-penned song Menzel performed was off her 2008 album I Stand \u2013 \u201cGorgeous\u201d \u2013 was a significantly darker, moodier version than what you will hear on her album. She quickly lightened the mood by bringing up 9-month-old son Walker, sharing some kooky mommy songs she\u2019s made up to sing to him, including a fully orchestrated swing tune named \u201cGood Morning, Walker,\u201d which was combined with Kurt Elling\u2019s \u201cI Feel So Smoochie.\u201d She also premiered a melancholy \u201cLook to the Rainbow\u201d (from Finian\u2019s Rainbow).<\/p>\n
Menzel drew her setlist to a close with a nod to her days in Wicked. She began with \u201cFor Good,\u201d lowering her microphone after singing the first line, and performing it a cappella and without amplification, her voice resonating throughout the music hall\u2019s stunned silence. It felt as though not a drop of air was available, the crowd holding their collective breath so as to not interrupt the purity of the moment. Even upon the last note drawing to an end, silence lingered until Menzel gave a slight nod of completion, leading to an explosion of applause and a standing ovation. She launched into her personal arrangement of \u201cDefying Gravity\u201d before people had returned to their seats, and at the climax of the song, it jumped up to its original key, showing off the range of her voice, hitting the final big note dead-on.<\/p>\n
She returned for an encore, performing \u201cTomorrow\u201d from Annie, a soft, heartfelt take on the classic. The audience demanded more still, after she said goodnight, and she returned a second time, visibly surprised by her reception and not knowing what to do, having not planned a second encore. After making a little small talk, she decided to perform a staple from her days as a Long Island wedding singer, Billie Holiday\u2019s \u201cEmbraceable You.\u201d<\/p>\n
She finally shooed the Texas audience away, telling everyone to go home. And, eventually, they did, with their lives changed for the better.<\/p>\n
Her complete tour schedule is as follows:
\nJune 24, Philadelphia, PA
\nThe Mann Center w\/ The Philadelphia Orchestra
\nJune 29, Pittsburgh, PA
\nHeinz Hall w\/ The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
\nJuly 2, Lenox, MA
\nTanglewood Music Center w\/ The Boston Pops
\nJuly 9, San Francisco, CA
\nDavies Symphony Hall w\/ The San Francisco Symphony
\nJuly 17, Washington, DC
\nWolf Trap w\/ The National Symphony Orchestra
\nJuly 31, Bethel, NY
\nBethel Woods Center for the Arts w\/ The Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra
\nAugust 1, Hyannis, MA
\nVillage Green w\/ The Boston Pops
\nSeptember 24, Cincinnati, OH
\nCincinnati Music Hall w\/ The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
\nSeptember 25, Cincinnati, OH
\nCincinnati Music Hall w\/ The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
\nSeptember 26, Cincinnati, OH
\nCincinnati Music Hall w\/ The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
\nOctober 2, Brookville, NY
\nTilles Center Concert Hall w\/ The Long Island Philharmonic
\nOctober 12, Red Bank, NJ
\nCount Basie Theatre w\/ The New Jersey Symphony
\nNovember 5, Denver, CO
\nBoettcher Concert Hall w\/ The Colorado Symphony
\nNovember 7, Costa Mesa, CA
\nOrange County Performing Arts Center w\/ The Pacific Symphony
\nNovember 19, Minneapolis, MN
\nOrchestra Hall w\/ The Minnesota Orchestra
\nDecember 17, West Palm Beach, FL
\nKravis Center for the Performing Arts w\/ The Palm Beach Pops<\/p>\n
Visit IdinaMenzel.com and Idina-Here.com to learn more about Idina and purchase tickets to an upcoming concert.<\/p>\n
By Erin Privratksy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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