Phoenix is the last city on Idina Menzel\u2019s list\u2014and that\u2019s a good thing. It means that a 56-city, three-continent tour by the vocal artist some have called \u201ca contemporary Barbra Streisand\u201d will culminate here, September 3, at Comerica Theatre.<\/p>\n
What will she be doing after September 3?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ll need a little rest,\u201d says Menzel over the phone, laughing lightly.<\/p>\n
Rest has never been a high priority for the star of Broadway\u2019s Wicked<\/em> and the voice of Queen Elsa in Disney\u2019s Frozen<\/em>. After all, this is the second 50-plus city world tour she\u2019s done. The first one, in 2015, came on the heels of Frozen<\/em> and the mega-hit Menzel made of its Oscar-winning song, \u201cLet It Go.\u201d This one promotes her new studio album, titled simply, idina<\/em> (without the initial capital \u201cI\u201d.)<\/p>\n Menzel considers this, her fifth album, her \u201cmost personal.\u201d Why is that?<\/p>\n \u201cAll my music is personal, because that\u2019s the only way I know to make music,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n This one is especially so, because\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cTwo really big opposing forces were going on while the album was being made. I was going through my divorce and dealing with all the sadness and guilt that that entails, the regret of letting down my little boy and not giving him the perfect family unit. At the same time, my career was catapulted to a new level with Frozen<\/em> taking off. So many emotions combusting at once made for a really rich studio recording environment.\u201d<\/p>\n Menzel co-wrote nine of the 12 tracks on idina<\/em>, and their links to her life experiences are palpable. Take \u201cQueen of Swords,\u201d for example:<\/p>\n \u201cThe queen of swords is a tarot card often pulled when someone is experiencing a break-up or divorce. It\u2019s very powerful, honest and direct. We were in the studio, talking about that one day and the song happened. It\u2019s about being a warrior.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPerfect Story\u201d addresses another aspect of Menzel\u2019s divorce: the disappoint it handed to her son, Walker, now age 8. The beautifully crafted song addresses a child whose parents are breaking up in terms of a fairy tale that didn\u2019t end as imagined.<\/p>\n And then there\u2019s the ironically titled, \u201cI Do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s rare that I get to write an angry song,\u201d Menzel says. \u201cSo often I try, and the song ends up with an optimistic ending, and I hate that!\u201d<\/p>\n But \u201cI Do\u201d stays angry, lambasting the hypocrisy of betrayal.<\/p>\n \u201cThat song really worked through the anger I had with my past relationship, and allowed me to say goodbye, really.\u201d<\/p>\n In short, the album is, in a way, Menzel\u2019s way of saying to herself\u2026 \u201cLet It Go.\u201d<\/p>\n If you\u2019re concerned that a tour promoting Menzel\u2019s album will not include that iconic song, relax. In addition to songs from idina<\/em>, the concert will feature it, alongside songs from the show that landed Menzel on Broadway, Rent<\/em>, and the show that made her a superstar, Wicked<\/em>.<\/p>\n The terms \u201cBroadway\u201d and \u201cpop\u201d don\u2019t generally go together these days, but in Menzel\u2019s case they have made a connection.<\/p>\n \u201cFrozen <\/em>really knocked down a bunch of doors for me,\u201d she says. \u201cFor so long, I was told that theater people can\u2019t have a hit song on the radio. And suddenly there it (\u2018Let It Go\u2019) was, on the radio. You can\u2019t really listen to what people tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s also not been usual for theater people to write their own songs, though that is changing with the likes of Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton<\/em>). Menzel sticks to co-writing, so she can bring her ideas to a project while gaining the insights of collaborators:<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t consider myself a great songwriter. I put myself in the same room with really successful songwriters and I give them ideas. I love sitting with people and letting the creative process happen. And I\u2019m good with melodies.\u201d<\/p>\n At age 46, Menzel is at the top of her game. It\u2019s not an easy game to play.<\/p>\n \u201cIt can be exhilarating, or it can be scary. It\u2019s work. The life of a singer is not easy. We identify ourselves with the notes we sing, and with our voices. I\u2019ve finally come to realize that that\u2019s not my only identity. I\u2019m not only a singer. But that\u2019s what people come to see.\u201d<\/p>\n She says she doesn\u2019t get bored by the repetition of material\u2014something for which she credits the eight-shows-a-week schedule of Broadway shows.<\/p>\n It helps that her son is along on the tour.<\/p>\n \u201cHe just started really watching the show. For a long time, he didn\u2019t have any interest. He associated the show with work and that took away mommy. But the other day, he said the sweetest thing. I asked him if he was getting bored watching the show every night, and he said, \u2018Yeah, but it makes me feel closer to you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Phoenix is the last city on Idina Menzel\u2019s list\u2014and that\u2019s a good thing. It means that a 56-city, three-continent tour by the vocal artist some have called \u201ca contemporary Barbra Streisand\u201d will culminate here, September 3, at Comerica Theatre. What will she be doing after September 3? \u201cI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[45],"class_list":["post-631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","tag-45"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Srnq-ab","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":632,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631\/revisions\/632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}