We always wonder how much a symphony enjoys being a backup band. Stuck literally playing second fiddle to Broadway star Idina Menzel\u2019s own band \u2014 which was center stage at the Woods at Fontanel \u2014 the Nashville Symphony\u2019s concertmaster broke into a smile halfway through a pretty brilliant mash-up of Cole Porter\u2019s \u201cLove for Sale\u201d and \u201cRoxanne.\u201d Maybe, during all of those violin lessons growing up, she never thought she was going to be in a Police cover band someday, but here she was enjoying it. It was going to be a good night.<\/p>\n
Menzel powered her way through an ambitious set list which started \u201cSomewhere Over the Rainbow\u201d and ended with West Side Story\u2018s \u201cSomewhere,\u201d sprinkling in a variety of pop tunes, new material and favorites from Tony-recognized performances. Most songs were preceded by extended, sometimes profane monologues from the funny Menzel, something an adoring crowd full of Rent and Wicked fans ate up, especially when she jokingly called Beyonce a bitch.<\/p>\n
Menzel\u2019s voice is one of the best of this generation, and when she steps into something made famous by Barbara Streisand, \u201cDon\u2019t Rain on My Parade\u201d for example, it\u2019s no stretch. She\u2019s got the power and presence to execute a really difficult piece. The only time the show clanged was during a cover of Peter Gabriel\u2019s \u201cIn Your Eyes.\u201d It\u2019s material more suited to John Cusack and a boom box than someone with a really dynamic range.<\/p>\n
We enjoyed the low-key evening, and the Fontanel folks were clearly delighted to have the symphony out there. Though the venue is a work in progress \u2014 the porta-johns and folding chairs don\u2019t scream \u201cworld-class\u201d just yet \u2014 there was something pretty magical about sitting in the woods at twilight, a performance backlit by the sunset and helped along by an orchestra of crickets in the trees. Bring some bug spray, though. You\u2019re in their house.<\/p>\n
Menzel, meanwhile, seemed to understand well the connection her two biggest Broadway hits have had among younger fans. As she waded into the crowd to looking for partners to sing the lesbian duet \u201cTake Me or Leave Me\u201d from Rent, she found no shortage of takers, including a 10-year-old girl named Scout who received a roar of approval as Menzel helped her belt it out. She made her way back, signing autographs and posing for pictures with excited fans as she tried out more duet partners. She finally pulled a group of teenage girls and a boy back up on stage to finish the song, something sure to set Tumblr pages ablaze, most likely before the show was even finished.<\/p>\n
As she closed the set with \u201cDefying Gravity,\u201d the Woods turned into a sing-along with a largely wide-eyed audience. We would have been much happier to just hear Menzel than the 30 people around us joining in on the girl-power anthem, but that was the trade-off for a largely successful show. Thank God for \u201cSomewhere,\u201d Bernstein and Sondheim\u2019s gorgeous ballad, which Menzel saved for the last encore. It was a reminder that, whatever popularity she\u2019s achieved, it\u2019s because of that voice. That beautiful voice.<\/p>\n
Set list:<\/strong> We always wonder how much a symphony enjoys being a backup band. Stuck literally playing second fiddle to Broadway star Idina Menzel\u2019s own band \u2014 which was center stage at the Woods at Fontanel \u2014 the Nashville Symphony\u2019s concertmaster broke into a smile halfway through a pretty brilliant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"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":[9],"tags":[28,6],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-28","tag-barefoot-summer-tour-2012"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Srnq-J","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45","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=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":337,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions\/337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201cSomewhere Over the Rainbow\u201d \/ \u201cThe Wizard and I\u201d
\n\u201cLove for Sale\u201d \/ \u201cRoxanne\u201d
\n\u201cBoth Sides Now
\n\u201cDon\u2019t Rain on My Parade
\n(new song co-written with Charlie Midnight)
\n\u201cStill Haven\u2019t Found What I\u2019m Looking For\u201d \/ \u201cIn Your Eyes\u201d
\n\u201cTake Me or Leave Me\u201d
\n\u201cNo Day but Today\u201d
\n\u201cFor Good\u201d
\n\u201cDefying Gravity\u201d
\n\u201cLearn to Live Without\u201d
\n\u201cSomewhere\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"