When she takes various stages to present both timeless Broadway classics and modern pop hits backed by orchestras, an evening-gown-clad Idina Menzel is absent one typical accessory.
\nThe Tony award-winning singer goes shoeless, the result of kicking aside a pair of high heels moments before a Toronto performance last spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy back was killing me from carrying my baby on the plane,\u201d said Menzel, who spoke recently while on the road. \u201cI got rid of them out of necessity and had the greatest show.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so comfortable in my body, I never went back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The impromptu choice begat her recent album, fittingly titled Live: Barefoot at the Symphony. The recorded set list, which ranges from Cole Porter and Funny Girl tunes to the Police song Roxanne, has endured throughout Menzel\u2019s ongoing footwear-free tour \u2014 which will include a Picnic With the Pops stop on Saturday with the Columbus Symphony.<\/p>\n
Given the arrangement, does the diva demand daily pedicures?
\nNot so much.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m horrible at the upkeep,\u201d said Menzel, 41, adding that she is more likely to spend downtime with her 4-year-old son than at the salon.<\/p>\n
Best-known for her Broadway roles, she got her first professional theater job in 1996 playing Maureen Johnson in Rent, a rock-musical adaptation of La Boheme that centered on a group of struggling New York artists amid the AIDS epidemic. She nabbed a Tony in 2004 as the original Elphaba in Wicked.<\/p>\n
Still, Menzel was unaware that both productions would flourish.
\n\u201cI know I\u2019m part of something special but not a phenomenon,\u201d she said. \u201cUsually, I\u2019m just moved by the music and excited to have a job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others might recall her guest stint as Shelby Corcoran, a rival choir coach and estranged mother of ambitious teenager Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) on the Fox musical series Glee.<\/p>\n
The role and program appealed to Menzel because of \u201cthe issues and themes it explores\u201d and, as a result, has \u201cchanged the culture, the conversation that young people can have about themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bitten by the theater bug as a child after trips to see Annie and Dreamgirls in New York, the Long Island native wasn\u2019t permitted to pursue acting jobs as a child.
\nHer first real stage time came as a teenager while singing for a band that did mostly weddings and bar mitzvahs \u2014 taxing performances that taught the nascent entertainer skills she continues to apply today.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe older I get, the more I call upon those days,\u201d said Menzel, who went on to study drama at New York University\u2019s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. \u201cJust the repertoire .\u2009.\u2009., having to learn so many different kinds of music. I was a sponge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was smart enough to use the actual gigs as a place to practice, learning how to emulate but not imitate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Likewise, the experiences of interpreting a diverse musical catalog helped Menzel choose selections for her present program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey kind of picked me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
When she isn\u2019t playing the parts of mother and wife \u2014 her husband is actor Taye Diggs, whom she met when both were performing in Rent \u2014 Menzel is at work on a starring voice-over role for the forthcoming Disney animated film Frozen as well as an original stage musical in New York.<\/p>\n
For the moment, she\u2019s glad to bridge the worlds of button-down classical types and pop lovers, even putting a high-low spin on Lady Gaga\u2019s Poker Face.<\/p>\n
Much like her cast-aside stilettos, a formal arrangement needn\u2019t be stuffy.<\/p>\n
\u201cMusic is music,\u201d Menzel said. \u201cThe orchestra is just a beautiful addition to any kind of song.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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