From the moment she stepped on stage, Idina Menzel had captured the unwavering attention of her adoring fans Friday night at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
The 45-year-old singer-songwriter, actress and Tony award-winning Broadway star offered a stunning set to kick off the 2017 Greek Theatre concert season. There was a chill in the air and the large, spectacularly bright yellowish moon peeked between the giant trees surrounding the outdoor concert venue as the crowd roared along to some of her biggest hits.<\/p>\n
Menzel pulled a lot from her eponymous fifth studio album, which was released last September, as well. She came out swinging with the more poppy and upbeat \u201cQueen of Swords\u201d and transitioned into the lighter, \u201cSmall World.\u201d As \u201cSeasons of Love,\u201d from her very first Broadway musical, \u201cRent,\u201d cued up, the fans cheered and Menzel cracked a smile, flawlessly delivering the cut while obviously enjoying the excited audience sing-a-long. She just nailed this seemingly impossible high note, one that patrons in my section failed at miserably. \u201cYou\u2019re good, you\u2019re very good,\u201d she told the crowd afterward, clearly just being polite.<\/p>\n
She strutted and joked her way through a cover of \u201cDon\u2019t Rain on My Parade\u201d from \u201cFunny Girl,\u201d offering just a little bit of \u201cThe Way We Were\u201d in the middle. Menzel was also very personable throughout the evening, feeling very comfortable on stage and sharing bits of her biting, self-deprecating sense of humor and occasionally dropping a hard f-bomb.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, I have all these little fans that are wearing blue dresses and sequins,\u201d she said, acknowledging the few dozen children in the house, undoubtedly fans of her work in the Disney film \u201cFrozen.\u201d \u201cBut there\u2019s an occasional 50-year-old gay man who I believe wants me to exercise my sassy diva self, who knows I\u2019m a Long Island girl from a Jewish family and I\u2019m in my 40s.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also wasn\u2019t afraid to get a little bit personal. Before one of the biggest, most fun moments in the set with her rockin\u2019 song, \u201cCake,\u201d Menzel said she wrote it because she was in love and she will soon be getting married to actor Aaron Lohr.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said to my guy, \u2018Are you sure you wanna marry me because I have a lot of issues,\u2019\u201d she shared with a laugh. \u00a0\u201cI\u2019m very sensitive, I\u2019m very emotional, I\u2019m an artist \u2026 I love him so much because he said \u2018I can handle you, honey. It\u2019s all good, you\u2019re cake.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The big bass and guitar sounds in \u201cCake\u201d lent itself right into a snippet of Led Zeppelin\u2019s \u201cBlack Dog,\u201d a huge song which Menzel tackled ferociously, at one point getting on her knees in front of her guitarist and whipping her hair back and forth, dancing until she was left breathless.<\/p>\n
Another big moment came as Menzel sang her version of \u201cWind Beneath My Wings,\u201d made famous by Bette Midller in the 1988 film \u201cBeaches.\u201d As the crowd sang along to the familiar track, it transitioned into \u201cDefying Gravity\u201d from \u201cWicked,\u201d a mighty number that earned Menzel a standing ovation.<\/p>\n