{"id":651,"date":"2018-07-04T17:15:03","date_gmt":"2018-07-04T17:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/?p=651"},"modified":"2018-07-04T17:56:16","modified_gmt":"2018-07-04T17:56:16","slug":"idina-menzel-has-encouraged-women-girls-to-defy-gravity-for-20-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/idina-menzel-has-encouraged-women-girls-to-defy-gravity-for-20-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Idina Menzel has encouraged women, girls to defy gravity for 20 years"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Every artist strives to make an impact on the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Idina Menzel has done that in every decade since she first stepped foot on the Broadway stage with \u201cRent.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The 1996 Broadway musical about life in Alphabet City and the AIDS epidemic resonated with theatergoers who quickly became Rent-heads. Her character, Maureen Johnson, was a bisexual woman who tackled issues from homelessness to sexuality to social justice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In 2003, Menzel turned the \u201cWicked\u201d Witch of the West into the misunderstood, deeply empathetic and incredibly powerful Elphaba. Her song \u201cDefying Gravity\u201d became an anthem for embracing the truest version of yourself and not being afraid of your power. She won a Tony for her performance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A decade later, she belted out the self-empowerment ballad \u201cLet It Go\u201d as Elsa in Disney\u2019s \u201cFrozen.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThose songs were real callings to powerful women to not hide that very thing that makes them strong for fear they are going to be ostracized in some way,\u201d the 46-year-old performer said. \u201cOur true beauty will be reflected in this amazing power we have. These characters had to realize they just needed to surrender to be their greatest self. That is what ends up having the power to change things.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Menzel loves connecting with her multigenerational audiences as she performs on a world tour that stops in Layton on Saturday, Aug. 19, as part of the Davis Arts Council\u2019s Summer Nights With the Stars lineup.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Singing songs from \u201cRent\u201d is a good reminder of where she came from, while \u201cLet It Go\u201d lets her see the impact she\u2019s had on children\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe songs I select to sing usually represent a milestone in some way; they are a memory or they tell a story of a time in my life \u2014 they are not just a bunch of songs thrown together,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are a story, if you will, that I\u2019m telling through the music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of the musicality of the show and the arrangements, and I think that people will pick up on that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In addition to her musical family, Menzel has been able to tour with Walker Nathaniel Diggs, her nearly 8-year-old son from her marriage to fellow \u201cRent\u201d actor Taye Diggs. She scheduled her tour around Walker\u2019s school schedule and has been able to invite his friends and their moms to join them at shows.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThis age has been really good. He\u2019s getting a feeling for how cool his mom might be,\u201d she said, with a laugh. \u201cHe walks me to stage every day and gives me a kiss and hug. He\u2019s my little travel buddy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She and Diggs divorced in December 2013 after a decade of marriage. It was a strange time for Menzel, she said, because while she was going through the complicated and tumultuous emotions of a divorce, she was also enjoying a huge career high as \u201cFrozen\u201d fever swept the nation. It was during this time she wrote her most recent album, \u201cIdina.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe two very polar opposite experiences going on at the same time provided a very rich writing environment for me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When she wraps up her tour in September, she will begin rehearsing for the off-Broadway play \u201cSkintight,\u201d which will begin previews in late May, and start work on \u201cFrozen 2.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201c \u2018Frozen\u2019 definitely changed my life in a lot of ways,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s such a gift to see how it resonates with people. I love watching the kids sing [\u2018Let It Go\u2019] \u2014 I know that it\u2019s not just a hit song but is also so impactful and has a great message.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every artist strives to make an impact on the world. Idina Menzel has done that in every decade since she first stepped foot on the Broadway stage with \u201cRent.\u201d The 1996 Broadway musical about life in Alphabet City and the AIDS epidemic resonated with theatergoers who quickly became […]<\/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-651","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-av","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651","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=651"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":652,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651\/revisions\/652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}