NEW YORK \u2014 \u201cIt\u2019s a baby zone,\u201d Idina Menzel murmurs when you enter her fifth-floor Chelsea apartment.<\/p>\n
Indeed, a stroller is parked by the front door. And in the dining area, across from the family-size wood table, her 8-month-old son, Walker, plays on the floor with his nanny, happily chewing on a toy. The child, a spitting image of dad Taye Diggs but with his mom\u2019s almond-shaped orbs, greets entrants with a wide, gummy grin.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople say he mostly looks like Taye. He has his nose and the shape of my eyes. We think he\u2019s one of those blends that ends up being neither of us,\u201d Menzel says. \u201cHe\u2019s just so yummy. My favorite thing is to feed him and rock him and put him down to sleep. My husband and I, we\u2019re connected in a totally different way.\u201d<\/p>\n
On cue, a sleepy Diggs emerges from their bedroom, clad in a baggy sweater, pants and Uggs.<\/p>\n
\u201cHi, how ya doing?\u201d says Diggs, heading over to play with his son.<\/p>\n
Menzel and Diggs love their \u201ceclectic, like our style\u201d Manhattan apartment, a former sewing factory that the couple bought seven years ago, even though they just closed on a house in Los Angeles. There, he\u2019s shooting ABC\u2019s Private Practice, and she has a recurring guest role on Fox\u2019s smash Glee (Tuesdays, 9 p.m. ET\/PT). Menzel plays a rival choir coach who hooks up with New Directions instructor Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison).<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s very ambitious and driven and calculating, but she\u2019s going to have a really big heart. There\u2019s more to her,\u201d says Menzel, 38. \u201cI get to sing some great music, some old Broadway kind of stuff and some new takes on a contemporary song. And there\u2019s definitely some surprises and a twist.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, does she end up being high school singing diva Rachel Berry\u2019s mother, as countless blogs have speculated?
\n\u201cNo,\u201d Menzel says.<\/p>\n
Glee creator Ryan Murphy cast Menzel for one reason: \u201cShe has a huge, huge talent. I really wanted her to sing. When she opens her mouth and out come the lyrics, it\u2019s incredible. She has one of those big voices. And she acts when she sings, which is rare.\u201d<\/p>\n
Menzel, a Broadway veteran who starred in Rent and Aida and won a Tony for playing green witch Elphaba in Wicked, relished working again because Glee has similar \u201ccamaraderie and energy\u201d to the theater world and \u201cfeels a little like home,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Yet most fans of the show won\u2019t exactly sympathize with her when she recounts how frazzled she was on her first day of work. Her very first day on set involved \u201cmaking out like crazy\u201d with heartthrob choral coach Morrison, whom Menzel knew from their New York theater days.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so intimidating. It\u2019s tough because I\u2019m still nursing. In the trailer, I have my pump, and on breaks I had go in and set up my human-cow situation and they\u2019d call me back,\u201d she says. \u201cBut it\u2019s perfect because I wasn\u2019t ready to leave home. I can come once a week and do my job and go home and be with the baby. For that, it\u2019s been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
This summer and fall, Menzel is performing with local symphonies across the country, including in Washington, D.C., in July and Denver in November. \u201cI\u2019ve taken a lot of my older material and some new stuff and had it orchestrated for a huge orchestra. It\u2019s glammed up a little bit more,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to keep my intimate connection with the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is theater in her future? \u201cI\u2019m really jonesing to go back. I need to find the right project,\u201d she says, but family life isn\u2019t currently conducive to grueling stage schedules. \u201cI like putting Walker down to sleep every night. That\u2019s the thing that would bother me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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