With credits like the hit TV show \u201cGlee,\u201d and Broadway hits such as \u201cWicked\u201d and \u201cRent,\u201d Idina Menzel is practically the musical queen of popular culture. But aside from that distinction, she is one of the most talented and engaging entertainers around, as demonstrated at her rollicking concert Sunday at Clowes Memorial Hall on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n
Menzel reached superstardom with her Tony Award-winning performance as Elphaba, the misunderstood green girl in \u201cWicked,\u201d and in her Tony-nominated role as Maureen in \u201cRent.\u201d She further widened her fan base by reprising her role this season as Rachel\u2019s biological mother, Shelby Corcoran, on FOX\u2019s television series, \u201cGlee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Playing to a sold-out audience, it was clear that many present were die-hard fans who loved it when the free-wheeling performer with the potent voice told them how \u201crowdy\u201d they were \u2014 egging them on further with bawdy jokes and unfiltered language that might have been offensive to an older, more conservative crowd, but not this one consisting of her main demographic: young people.<\/p>\n
Appearing in Indianapolis as part of a North American tour, Menzel was accompanied by her own band of five musicians and an orchestra made up of 20 local musicians. Much of her 90-minute program, without intermission, consisted of Broadway tunes and classic pop.<\/p>\n
Much of the program was also the same \u2014 including patter and jokes \u2014 as that performed during her concert with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra at Hilbert Circle Theatre on March 3, 2011, and on her current CD, \u201cIdina Menzel Live: Barefoot at the Symphony.\u201d Further reinforcing her unconventional brand, Menzel was shoeless in this concert as well.<\/p>\n
Silhouetted behind a lighted scrim and looking like \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u2019s\u201d little Dorothy in profile, Menzel opened her concert with \u201cOver the Rainbow.\u201d After which, she appeared and strode center stage to sing \u201cThe Wizard and I\u201d from \u201cWicked.\u201d It was followed by a mash-up of Cole Porter\u2019s \u201cLove for Sale \u201cand Sting\u2019s \u201cRoxanne.\u201d<\/p>\n
Favorite moments included her rendition of Bono\u2019s \u201cAll I Want Is You\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t Rain on My Parade,\u201d made famous by her idol, Barbra Streisand, in \u201cFunny Girl.\u201d<\/p>\n
A concert highlight took place when, to the delight of the feverishly excited crowd, Menzel went out into the audience to select individuals from amongst numerous upraised hands to join her on stage to sing the chorus to \u201cTake Me or Leave Me,\u201d from \u201cRent.\u201d They included two young ladies named Sandy and Mary, who more than held their own, and a young man named David, who sang like a pro \u2014 after which he received a standing ovation.<\/p>\n
So talented and at ease were these \u201crandomly\u201d selected performers, one could not help but speculate as to whether they were \u201cplants\u201d or not. Nevertheless, it was an interlude that will long be remembered for its supposed spontaneity.<\/p>\n
Menzel\u2019s superb talent as an actress shone through in the delivery of her scripted material, but her touching sincerity and ability to deeply connect with the audience was also evident when she spoke about her experience playing Maureen in \u201cRent,\u201d and the untimely death of its creator, Jonathan Larson. Relating how the experience taught her and the cast about living in the moment, she sang \u201cNo Day But Today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Further displaying her ability to emotionally reach deep, Menzel dispensed with her mic near the conclusion of her set to sing a moving a cappella version of \u201cFor Good\u201d from \u201cWicked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leaving the stage to a sustained standing ovation, she returned to sing \u201cDefying Gravity\u201d (\u201cWicked\u201d), a resounding anthem she originated and will no doubt forever be associated with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With credits like the hit TV show \u201cGlee,\u201d and Broadway hits such as \u201cWicked\u201d and \u201cRent,\u201d Idina Menzel is practically the musical queen of popular culture. But aside from that distinction, she is one of the most talented and engaging entertainers around, as demonstrated at her rollicking concert […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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":[10],"tags":[28,12],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-28","tag-barefoot-at-the-symphony"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Srnq-5L","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":358,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions\/358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}