![\"2015_07_25_b\"](\"http:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/2015_07_25_b.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAlmost exactly four years ago, Idina Menzel played Chastain Park Amphitheatre.<\/p>\n
At the time, she was already rooted in the hearts of teens for her Tony turns in \u201cRent\u201d (nominated) and \u201cWicked\u201d (won) and occasional appearances on \u201cGlee.\u201d<\/p>\n
But since Menzel\u2019s last performance at the church of chatter known as Chastain, she\u2019s reached a stratospheric level of stardom far beyond the theater nerds. Part of it is thanks to John Travolta mangling her name on the most prominent of awards shows and her gracious recovery. But most of it is because of another high-profile, Tony-nominated role in \u201cIf\/Then\u201d and a little Disney ballad that implores us to \u201cLet it Go.\u201d<\/p>\n
This newfound mainstream fame prompted Menzel\u2019s first world tour, which traveled Asia and Europe in May and June and kicked off in the U.S. a couple of weeks ago.<\/p>\n
At Friday\u2019s nearly sold-out Chastain return, Menzel demonstrated early and often that she is not only one of the most commanding vocalists in modern music, but one of our most refreshingly candid and likeable stars.<\/p>\n
Opening her 100-minute set with one of her most treasured songs, \u201cDefying Gravity,\u201d Menzel boldly navigated the cascading key changes and huge notes that punctuate the \u201cWicked\u201d staple.<\/p>\n
She quickly found her sweet spot \u2013 more Broadway, of course \u2013 with a rendition of \u201cDon\u2019t Rain on My Parade\u201d that glided rather than punched, except for that soaring, forever-held end note. Who among Menzel\u2019s peers (so yes, taking Streisand out of the running) could handle the booming song so adroitly?<\/p>\n
But we all know that Menzel\u2019s warm, husky voice, which sometimes veers toward shrieking until she effortlessly reins herself in or, amazingly, kicks it up another notch, is a superior instrument. You can hear it on record or on a Broadway stage.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What makes her live show so appealing is Menzel herself.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s funny. Within the first 10 minutes, she teased latecomers by re-creating her opening moves to inform them of what they missed, looked forlornly at the never-ending daylight and asked, \u201cWhat time does it get dark here?\u201d and joked with and posed for the press photographers stationed at the soundboard.<\/p>\n
A bit later, sitting on a stool and preparing to introduce Joni Mitchell\u2019s poignant \u201cRiver,\u201d Menzel laughed that she didn\u2019t know how she was going to sing a song with so many winter overtones in the oppressive Atlanta heat.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so f****** hot!\u201d she exclaimed.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the thing about Menzel. Yes, the spotlight that comes with singing songs associated with \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d (no matter how loosely) and Disney cartoons attracts munchkin-sized fans \u2013 and many adorable little girls in Elsa dresses and other \u201cFrozen\u201d-wear were spotted scooting around the Chastain tables.<\/p>\n
But Menzel, 44, is an adult. And she sings about adult things, like self-empowerment (her own ballad, \u201cBrave\u201d), the fleeting nature of time (\u201cRent\u201d\u2019s lovely \u201cNo Day But Today,\u201d which she dedicated to show creator Jonathan Larson) and the kind of dark, sad longing nestled in Cole Porter\u2019s \u201cLove for Sale\u201d and The Police\u2019s \u201cRoxanne,\u201d which she folded together for a visceral double punch.<\/p>\n
While any Menzel fan would gladly sit for days and listen to her belt show tunes \u2013 especially her renditions of the great Ethel Merman favorites \u201cThere\u2019s No Business Like Show Business\u201d (redrawn with a jazzy bent and spicy horns), \u201cAnything Goes\u201d and \u201cEverything\u2019s Coming Up Roses\u201d \u2013 there is no doubt that Menzel\u2019s cover of \u201cCreep\u201d deserves song MVP honors.<\/p>\n
![\"2015_07_25_c\"](\"http:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/2015_07_25_c.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cSome mornings I wake up and just don\u2019t feel like singing a song like \u2018Let it Go,\u2019\u201d Menzel said, sitting on the stage in bare feet.<\/p>\n
It was a fitting preface to a gorgeously slinky version of the Radiohead song, infused with horn bleats, more gut-wrenching vocals and yes, the original lyrics (see: Menzel is an adult).<\/p>\n
The performance earned her a deserved ovation.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to see why Menzel has been so readily embraced by the mainstream once they became aware of her. Women are drawn to her realistic image of strength and vulnerability and men, well\u2026just look at her.<\/p>\n
But while Menzel, backed by her five-piece band and local musicians comprising a six-piece horn section and orchestral quartet, always charmed, there were a few moments that didn\u2019t wow.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s better than the generic pop anthem \u201cI Stand,\u201d and the song \u201cStill I Can\u2019t Be Still\u201d from her first album (\u201cAbout three people bought it,\u201d Menzel joked) isn\u2019t great, but it clearly means something to her. And frankly, she\u2019s earned the right to some artistic indulgence.<\/p>\n
Likewise, \u201cTake Me or Leave Me\u201d from \u201cRent\u201d found Menzel donning slippers to head into the crowd to find some duet partners. She no doubt thrilled the five people who joined her on the summery stroll of a song, but it was a bit that went on several minutes too long.<\/p>\n
![\"2015_07_25_d\"](\"http:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/2015_07_25_d.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
It would have been preferred if she used some of that time to instead sing \u201cFor Good,\u201d the most stirring song from \u201cWicked,\u201d in its entirety. What Menzel performed of the heart-tugging ballad was a capella, leading to a chill-inducing moment and a worthy intro to the colossal \u201cLet it Go,\u201d which burst with theatricality and Hulk-sized notes.<\/p>\n
Menzel talked often during the show about how she\u2019s living her dream of a singing career \u2013 and now beyond the Broadway stage \u2013 and how she tries to live her life in the moment.<\/p>\n
No doubt that she created some moments for many in the crowd to tuck away in the memory bank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Almost exactly four years ago, Idina Menzel played Chastain Park Amphitheatre. At the time, she was already rooted in the hearts of teens for her Tony turns in \u201cRent\u201d (nominated) and \u201cWicked\u201d (won) and occasional appearances on \u201cGlee.\u201d But since Menzel\u2019s last performance at the church of chatter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[36,11],"class_list":["post-47","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-36","tag-world-tour-2015"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/2015_07_25_a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Srnq-L","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47","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=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":688,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions\/688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}