Tony Award-winning actress Idina Menzel is performing at famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on July 17, backed by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Marvin Hamlisch. It\u2019s part of an 18-month concert tour that has zig-zagged the singer across the United States from Los Angeles to New York (and soon overseas to the United Kingdom), placing her in front of the nation\u2019s best symphony orchestras. Idina recently took some time to speak to me about her upcoming concert and her approach to performing.<\/p>\n
BroadwayWorld: You have a concert coming up with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, conducted by EGOT & Pulitzer-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch at legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre. How do you feel when you hear that statement?<\/strong> BWW: What can the audience expect to hear at your concert?<\/strong> BWW: Marvin Hamlisch has been conducting on and off for you over the past year, including your Lincoln Center debut with the New York Philharmonic in February. How did your ongoing partnership come to be, and will we see him at the podium at future performances?<\/strong> BWW: Have you convinced him to write an original musical starring you yet?<\/strong> BWW: Is there anything you can share about the new musical projects you are working on?<\/strong> BWW: The altitude at Red Rocks is 6,450\u2032 above sea level. How do you prepare for singing in such thin air?<\/strong> BWW: Are there pre-show rituals that you must do in order to feel prepared to perform?<\/strong> BWW: What\u2019s your favorite aspect of performing live, as Idina, opposed to a character?<\/strong> BWW: Do you still experience stage fright before a performance?<\/strong> BWW: How do you overcome it?<\/strong> BWW: You\u2019ve been racking up an impressive roster of headliner venues \u2013 The Kennedy Center in DC, Lincoln Center in NY, Red Rocks in Colorado, Royal Albert Hall in London, and The Greek Theatre in LA. What\u2019s your personal dream venue?<\/strong> BWW: You recently appeared on The Glee Project as a guest mentor to the young performers. You\u2019ve also realized your dream of founding an organization dedicated to bringing underserved youth into the performing arts with A BroaderWay. What influenced your ongoing dedication to working with children in the arts?<\/strong> BWW: What advice do you have for young people hoping to make it to Broadway someday?<\/strong> Tony Award-winning actress Idina Menzel is performing at famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on July 17, backed by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Marvin Hamlisch. It\u2019s part of an 18-month concert tour that has zig-zagged the singer across the United States from Los Angeles to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177,"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],"class_list":["post-176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-33","tag-a-broader-way","tag-barefoot-at-the-symphony"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/2011_07_07_bww.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Srnq-2Q","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176","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=176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":300,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions\/300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIdina Menzel: I feel really proud, because I\u2019ve always wanted to play at Red Rocks. I\u2019ve heard it\u2019s the most spiritual and spectacular venue, and to have Marvin there as well is a great confluence of events.<\/p>\n
\nIM: They can expect to hear an eclectic setlist. They\u2019ll hear songs from shows that I\u2019ve been in, some old standards, originals. The orchestra ties it all together and it feels cohesive.<\/p>\n
\nIM: We were scheduled to work together last year at one of my shows [with the National Symphony Orchestra]. We hit it off, it was love at first sight. Ever since then, we jump at the chance \u2013 if we\u2019re both available. He\u2019s going to play at Royal Albert Hall [London, October 6] with me and at The Greek [Los Angeles, October 22]. We have a great relationship and a mutual respect for one another.<\/p>\n
\nIM: [laughs] No, I haven\u2019t convinced him to write an original musical with me in yet.<\/p>\n
\nIM: It\u2019s a little too early to talk about them and I don\u2019t really want to jinx them, but they are original stories and they\u2019re with creative teams that I\u2019m very excited about. I\u2019m excited to share them with everyone as soon as I can.<\/p>\n
\nIM: Well, my family lives there, so I\u2019ve visited Denver in the past and I often get a headache from the altitude. I\u2019m planning to go a couple days early so I can bring my son, he can see his grandma, and hopefully by then I\u2019ll be a little bit more used to it. I don\u2019t know! I\u2019m just going to have to take an oxygen mask with me.<\/p>\n
\nIM: I try to get some rest, some good sleep if I can. I vocalize to a CD that I have from my voice teacher, and that\u2019s about it.<\/p>\n
\nIM: I really enjoy the intimacy that I can develop with an audience. I actually look forward to revealing certain sides of myself that maybe the audience hasn\u2019t seen before. I like that I can be really spontaneous and change things when I feel like it.<\/p>\n
\nIM: Sometimes I experience stage fright, usually in a context that I\u2019m not used to being in, for instance, singing at the White House in front of the President. I can sing \u201cDefying Gravity\u201d millions of times, but because I had to sing it in that environment, it was terrifying.<\/p>\n
\nIM: I try to return to the lyrics and remember what I\u2019m singing about. Sometimes I try to imagine I\u2019m singing to my son. If it\u2019s appropriate, I can use the nerves in order to channel them into the emotion of the song.<\/p>\n
\nIM: I have to be honest that a lot of these are checking off my dream list. The Greek was one of them, The New York Phil [Lincoln Center], Red Rocks, Royal Albert Hall. It\u2019s just been a really significant year. I put out there in the universe that I wanted to play at those particular places and it\u2019s happening, so I feel really good about that. Radio City would be the next goal I would set for myself. It\u2019d be fun to play Jones Beach one day, just because I\u2019ve seen lots of shows there, having grown up in Long Island.<\/p>\n
\nIM: I feel that I was very fortunate as a child. I had parents and teachers that were very supportive of me. I had a school system where the arts were very supported and I want to help kids have the same opportunities that I had. Also, I feel like there\u2019s a strong connection for me that happened through the characters I\u2019ve played and how they resonate with young people. There\u2019s a responsibility that I feel, that I take very seriously, to try to connect with young kids because they\u2019ve been so generous in sharing their experiences with me.<\/p>\n
\nIM: Don\u2019t be afraid to be different.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"