Idina Menzel is trying to enjoy her moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always afraid to hope for something because I don\u2019t want to be disappointed,\u201d she says in her dressing room at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, home of her current Broadway musical \u201cIf\/Then.\u201d \u201cAnd my mom said something once: \u2018Instead of worrying, why not enjoy the idea of the positive outcome, and if it doesn\u2019t happen, you get over it.\u2019 That\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to live by. I\u2019m always afraid to feel foolish, just put it out there. But right now, it feels good\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
Menzel is referring to her first return to Broadway since winning a Tony for \u201cWicked,\u201d in a role that was specifically written for her and exploits her acting and vocal talents. It\u2019s clear, however, she\u2019s also referring to the reality that, after nearly 20 years in the spotlight that began with her star turn as Maureen in \u201cRent,\u201d it\u2019s her part as Disney \u201cprincess\u201d Elsa in \u201cFrozen\u201d\u2014and the Oscar-winning power ballad \u201cLet It Go\u201d\u2014that\u2019s exposed her to the worldwide fame she\u2019s always coveted.<\/p>\n
When we finally meet, after weeks of failed attempts to find a bit of time in her very busy schedule, Menzel is sitting on a cozy sofa in her dressing room, one she had painted gray to reflect her character Elizabeth\u2019s sophistication as an urban planner, a far cry from the flaming red of its former tenant, Orlando Bloom. \u201cIt was all red for Romeo and romance,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was a different vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019s just left a strenuous day of rehearsal in which they continued to tinker with a pesky second-act scene involving an airplane crash that wasn\u2019t quite landing emotionally\u2014not your typical Broadway blockbuster.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf\/Then\u201d is a strange musical, but maybe that\u2019s to be expected from the creative team\u2014director Michael Greif, librettist Brian Yorkey, and composer Tom Kitt\u2014whose last outing together on Broadway was the Pulitzer Prize\u2013winning mental illness musical \u201cNext to Normal.\u201d The show centers on salty-tongued Elizabeth, a 39-year-old single lady looking for a fresh start when she moves to New York. After she bumps into her old college pal, bisexual Lucas (Anthony Rapp), and has the potential for making friends with her lesbian neighbor Kate (LaChanze), she has to make a choice of whom she will follow.<\/p>\n
This seemingly minor decision makes all the difference in what her life will become, and from that point, the show splits into two overlapping fulfillment narratives: On one path, \u201cLiz\u201d finds love with an Army doctor returning from a tour of duty, while on the other, the more pragmatic \u201cBeth\u201d finds career success in big city government.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to start thinking that this mirrors Menzel\u2019s own career path\u2014how she\u2019s progressed from Maureen to Elphaba to Elsa\u2014and her triumphant return to Broadway. Then again, it\u2019s the same existential quandary all people face: Is there a better life I should be living right now?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a particularly cosmic, spiritual person,\u201d Menzel explains. \u201cThe projects that I\u2019ve loved the most have also been huge teaching moments for me. With \u2018Wicked,\u2019 and then, with \u2018Frozen,\u2019 it\u2019s a reminder in my 40s to reiterate: Embrace your power and your strength as a woman, and celebrate what makes you different and extraordinary, and don\u2019t be afraid of your power. It\u2019s kind of the thing I have to wrestle with a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
That strength certainly comes across in her second-act showstopper, \u201cAlways Starting Over.\u201d During a preview performance, audience members gasped as she belted out the notes and sustained effusive applause for several gushy minutes. That ballad, which encapsulates the pain of losing a loved one, came late in the process, according to Yorkey, but when they heard Menzel sing it, they knew they had a hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this point in the show, Elizabeth figures out what this loss means to her and, without turning away from the pain of it, she figures out how to move on with her life,\u201d he explains. \u201cI don\u2019t know if anyone can sing determination and anger and sadness and optimism and boldness, all in the same song, the way Idina can. The first time we heard her sing it, we all sort of looked at each other and had tears in our eyes. That\u2019s why you work with Idina Menzel\u2014because that happens. I\u2019ll never forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anthony Rapp, who is being reunited with Menzel after \u201cRent,\u201d agrees that she\u2019s always had the chops. \u201cWe knew how fantastic she was,\u201d he says. \u201cNow the rest of the world has caught up. She\u2019s as successful as she\u2019s always deserved to be.\u201d In this show, however, people will see more than a belting diva. \u201cShe\u2019s always been so authentic in her work,\u201d Rapp says. \u201cShe can bring truth of the moment out. Sure, she has this voice that can blast the roof off of a theater. And that\u2019s what needs to happen for those moments. But in this show, she has a tremendous amount of nuance and different colors than what people are expecting.\u201d<\/p>\n
With all the praise and accolades heaped on her, it may be refreshing for outsiders to know that Menzel is not always in tune with the superconfident exterior that she projects. \u201cI\u2019m so different from day to day, depending on the people surrounding me,\u201d she admits. \u201cSometimes I\u2019m more shy, introverted. Depending on my comfort with other people, I can be louder, very confident. Then others, I roll up into a ball of insecurity. It\u2019s all part of me.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, with the potential for gut-wrenching doubt, how did Menzel deal with that Oscar gaffe heard round the world, when her name was butchered by a clueless John Travolta at the Academy Awards seconds before she took the stage to sing the Oscar-winning \u201cLet It Go\u201d?<\/p>\n
She explains that she flew out to L.A. for the awards while \u201cIf\/Then\u201d was in final tech rehearsal, preparing for the first preview audience that following Tuesday. She brought her younger sister to the awards show (\u201cshe\u2019s very calming\u201d), and while backstage, she began going through her process to prepare to sing \u201cLet It Go.\u201d Then she heard it. \u201cI had taken myself through so many meditations, mantras for myself. Not even true. Not mantras. Some tricks I came up with before I performed; certain things I wanted to do to center myself when I got out there and not feel rushed by the moment,\u201d she says. \u201cI wanted to breathe. I wanted to sing the song to my son, picture his face. Then it happened. I heard that. I quickly said, \u2018Get out of your ego and do your thing.\u2019 I only took eight beats, that\u2019s all it took me off my focus, and then I got back on track. I did a good job that night. That was all that mattered to me. I did my thing. I didn\u2019t let my nerves get to me so much. It wasn\u2019t, to me, 100 percent perfect. But I gave the song that I wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Afterward, when the flub snowballed into a worldwide sensation, Menzel avoided the limelight. Travolta sent flowers and an email apology; \u201cHe\u2019s really sweet,\u201d she says. But although it might have been the biggest, most unexpected boon for her career and for the show, she doesn\u2019t want people to buy tickets to \u201cIf\/Then\u201d for the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just really hope that some of this attention that\u2019s being paid to me, because of \u2018Frozen\u2019 and the Oscars, doesn\u2019t detract from my complete love and admiration for this project and how good I think it is,\u201d she says. \u201cI know it can help with ticket sales, but I want people to really\u2014I don\u2019t know, there are naysayers out there who will assume we\u2019re filling seats for a certain thing and, you know, it\u2019s worthy of being successful for what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s a hint of what she might really be thinking in another great song in the first act of \u201cIf\/Then\u201d\u2014which Yorkey describes as \u201ca bit profane and a little bit clever.\u201d After she wakes up with a man in her bed and begins to sing \u201cWhat the Fuck?,\u201d it may be the one thing Idina Menzel could never say but may really feel. Thankfully, she gets to sing it eight times a week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Idina Menzel is trying to enjoy her moment. \u201cI\u2019m always afraid to hope for something because I don\u2019t want to be disappointed,\u201d she says in her dressing room at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, home of her current Broadway musical \u201cIf\/Then.\u201d \u201cAnd my mom said something once: \u2018Instead of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":423,"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":[42,40],"class_list":["post-421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-42","tag-ifthen"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/backstaeg.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Srnq-6N","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421","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=421"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":424,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421\/revisions\/424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}