Her Tony-winning turn as the misunderstood Elphaba in \u201cWicked\u201d in 2003 transformed her into a hero to scores of teenage girls. She continued her active theater career, including her 2013 Tony-nominated performance in Broadway\u2019s \u201cIf\/Then,\u201d but playing Elsa in the animated \u201cFrozen\u201d in 2013 catapulted her to a new level of fame.<\/p>\n
That the movie\u2019s signature song, the numerously awarded \u201cLet It But the New York-bred singer, 46, has always maintained a steady music career \u2013 going back to 1998\u2019s Lilith Fair \u2013 and last fall released her fifth solo album, simply called, \u201cIdina.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s been touring the globe since March to support the release and will visit Atlanta Saturday with a performance at the Fox Theatre.<\/p>\n Next year, Menzel will return to New York for the off-Broadway play, \u201cSkintight.\u201d But after this tour wraps in September, she plans to \u201cfocus on my fianc\u00e9 (Aaron Lohr) and my son (Walker, 7) and be in this new home that we built together and be a mom and chill out.\u201d<\/p>\n Menzel, always frank and funny, called recently from that new home in Encino, Calif., to discuss life on the road, what to expect from her show and being a role model.<\/p>\n Q: You started this tour in March in Japan. Considering how much of your career has been spent performing in one place over an extended amount of time, do you enjoy the road?<\/strong><\/p>\n A:<\/strong> I used to think wow, it would be amazing to travel and see the world through your music. I feel like I don\u2019t see enough, and I have to take care of myself and sleep. I see a lot of zoos and children\u2019s musicians, and even when I don\u2019t have (my son with me), I sleep away the day at the hotel. I do a two-hour show and I sing every note, so you don\u2019t have a lot of a life. The life is those two hours onstage that reinvigorates and refuels me for the next one. All of the stuff around it has diminished for me.<\/p>\n Now, when you get to be a big shot (laughs) you get your own bus. But I want to be with my guys in the band, so sometimes if my son is sleeping, I\u2019ll get on the band bus for a couple of hours and do pizza and wine with them. I wouldn\u2019t change a thing. I love it all, but it\u2019s hard work. Just being a singer is hard; Q: How big is the band?<\/strong><\/p>\n A:<\/strong> Nine pieces. Instead of picking up local players, I added three women. We needed more female energy. They have beautiful voices, and it\u2019s brought a dynamic that\u2019s been really exciting for my guys, too. It\u2019s just different than an orchestra; we all travel together.<\/p>\n Q: Last time you were here, you played Chastain. This time you\u2019re going indoors at the Fox. Do you feel as if you can keep the audience\u2019s attention better in a theater A:<\/strong> I used to be afraid of the outdoor shows and felt that the energy dispersed. Q: You have some great covers in your set list, and it\u2019s cool that you\u2019re pairing your own \u201cCake\u201d with \u201cBlack Dog.\u201d Did Led Zeppelin inspire the guitar in that song?<\/strong><\/p>\n A:<\/strong> When we were writing \u201cCake,\u201d my producer was messing around with the track and we felt like it was a Zeppelin vibe, so I kept that in mind for when I did the live show and I tried to find that right Zeppelin song. Me being a storyteller from the theater, I need to connect and \u201cBlack Dog\u201d is a really sexy tune.<\/p>\n Q: You\u2019ve talked about how \u201cLet It A:<\/strong> It\u2019s a wide variety of people. What I\u2019m most proud of in my career is there are lots of young people and their moms, as well as a big gay following. I try to not throw the f-bombs around as much, or I\u2019ll say, \u201cIt\u2019s time to put on the earmuffs (on the kids in the audience),\u201d because I\u2019m going to tell a story that it\u2019s a little inappropriate. I just want to do right by everybody. I know I\u2019m a role model; In the span of a decade, Idina Menzel soared from vaunted Broadway player to international superstar. Her Tony-winning turn as the misunderstood Elphaba in \u201cWicked\u201d in 2003 transformed her into a hero to scores of teenage girls. She continued her active theater career, including her 2013 Tony-nominated performance […]<\/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-679","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-aX","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679","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=679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":680,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679\/revisions\/680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/del> Go,\u201d because the ubiquitous empowerment anthem of that year only added to Menzel-mania.<\/p>\n<\/del> it\u2019s psychological. You wake up and test your voice. Is it going to be a fun show, or am I going to hit a bad note?<\/p>\n<\/del>than outdoor shows where eating and socializing is the priority?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/del> There are lawns and people are eating, and it\u2019s a different summer hang as opposed to being in a theater and it\u2019s dark. Maybe I can pat myself on the back a little, but I feel like I\u2019ve had some amazing outdoor performances where the wind was blowing and people are engaged and they\u2019re listening and you can hear everything. As long as I can\u2019t hear the drunk people on the lawn all the way in the back (laughs).<\/p>\n<\/del> Go\u201d made you a role model \u2013 whether you wanted it or not \u2013 to a lot of little girls. But do you think with a song like \u201cQueen of Swords\u201d you\u2019ve been able to become that empowered female symbol for an older demographic?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/del> I take it seriously. But I\u2019m me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"