As part of this year\u2019s Tribeca Film Festival, Tony Award winner Idina Menzel sat down with Marc Platt, a producer on both Wicked <\/i>and If\/Then<\/i>, to talk about her life and career in the theatre. Here are the ten things we learned about Menzel in the hour-long conversation.<\/p>\n
1. An ex-boyfriend got Menzel her gig as Maureen in Rent<\/i>\u2026 sort of<\/b>: \u201cI had a boyfriend who was working at an acting agency,\u201d she explained. \u201cHe faxed my resume kind of secretly through to [casting director] Bernie Telsey. I got in; they were looking for unknowns, and there I am in this show in its early incarnation, and the composer wants to work with us and develop it around us.\u201d Platt asked her about being part of projects that became a phenomenon. She confessed, \u201c[With] Rent<\/i>, I needed a job. I didn\u2019t know Michael Greif, I didn\u2019t know Jonathan Larson. I just went in; I needed a gig.\u201d<\/p>\n
2. She wore green to her Wicked <\/i>audition and cried when she left<\/b>: \u201cI remember, actually, your audition for Wicked<\/i>,\u201d Platt said to Menzel. \u201cEvery wonderful actor\/actress on Broadway came in and auditioned, and Idina came in. I believe you were wearing green glitter [eye shadow], if I recall, and [it was decided] she\u2019s pretty much playing the role. It wasn\u2019t much conversation after she left the room.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike with Rent<\/i>, this time Menzel wanted to book the job because of the creative team involved. \u201cI just want to get into the audition,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI went in and auditioned and auditioned again, and I got out of there, and I cried [thinking], \u2018I hope they hire me.\u2019 It wasn\u2019t [just] like, \u2019I want to do this thing and work with Stephen Schwartz!\u2019 I kissed a lot of ass! \u2026 You do these workshops, and through each workshop they might say, \u2018Oh, let\u2019s get Alanis Morissette\u2019 or whatever. Each time you think, \u2018Well, maybe I\u2019m not going to keep the job.\u2019 So to actually see it come to fruition, to go through that process, to hang out with Stephen Schwartz in his apartment\u2014his work apartment here in Manhattan\u2014at his grand piano and have him say, \u2018I\u2019ve rewritten your opening song. Come here it. Let\u2019s listen to it.\u2019 The key\u2026 the this, the that\u2026 They sort of get inside you. They get to know you and your impulses and your inflections and the way you speak and the way you sing, and all of a sudden it makes my life easier because I don\u2019t have to work so hard. It\u2019s the chicken or the egg, like what came first? Yes, I\u2019m creating a character, but in such a nice, incremental way that before you know it, it\u2019s you, it\u2019s there. It feels organic\u2026. Like I said, I cried when I left because I think it was deeper than just being nervous and wanting the job. It was knowing that I was touching something that was special, and I didn\u2019t recognize it was going to be as big as it was, but I knew if it was touching me in that way that it would resonate with people on such a level like that, and I wanted to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
3. She must vocally map out a show and have a back-up plan in place in case she\u2019s tired or under the weather<\/b>: \u201cI had a voice teacher I\u2019ve been working with for over 20 years. We have a very ritualistic, disciplined approach to how I sing and how I prepare,\u201d she explained. \u201cIt\u2019s like a real project, like a map for me, so that I can technically approach it all and then be free to just be in my body and in the moment later on when it counts. I do that; a lot of people don\u2019t. They can smoke a joint and get up there and sing. I can\u2019t do that! I never could when I was young, and I don\u2019t even try now. You do not want to see that! But I\u2019m very jealous of those people who can go out and have a whiskey and then do eight shows a week. I can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Menzel worked as a wedding singer through college, she would test out different vocal stylings on jazz standards, which has helped her improvise in the moment. \u201cI find a lot of my friends say actually, \u2018How do you do that?\u2019 On a day that I have a cold and I\u2019m not feeling well, I can improvise. I can take the melody somewhere so that I don\u2019t have to hit the highest note, and I\u2019m comfortable with it. A lot of people have to practice a million times before they change anything, and I\u2019m comfortable finding a new melody or a new thing to do\u2014to keep myself sane and try new things\u2014but also if I have to\u2026. I give myself an A, a B and a C show, which means if I can\u2019t hit the highest, most acrobatic notes because it\u2019s that time of month or I have a cold or I had a big fight with my ex-husband [Taye Diggs]\u2014whatever it is\u2014I didn\u2019t get to sleep because my son was up all night, I have the B show, which is a really beautiful version of the show and maybe doesn’t hit the highest thing, but nobody would know. Usually because it\u2019s original musicals, they don\u2019t know what it is, and my teacher would always say, \u2018Don\u2019t feel like you failed. Do your best version of that<\/i> and feel good about that.\u2019 So it takes the pressure off me, and I always find something new because as soon as I change a little something in eight shows a week, it jars you, and you go into this new cool place emotionally or vocally. I really recommend that.\u201d<\/p>\n
4. She may have a new album come out in the fall<\/b>: When asked by a fan when her next album would come out, Menzel replied, \u201cI think soon. I think I\u2019m getting there. I don\u2019t know. Don\u2019t hold me to it, but I think in the fall.\u201d Platt asked her about being a songwriter in addition to being a performer, but it\u2019s not a title she\u2019d give herself. Instead, \u201cI like to collaborate,\u201d she said. \u201cI like to be in the room with another great songwriter or producer. I like to give them the kitchen sink. They start playing some music, and I like to sing\u2026 I can sing melodies, I come up with titles and lyrical ideas, but I\u2019m really not good at making decisions. I don\u2019t know, \u2018Was that a hokey thing? Will that sell tons of records?\u2019 I just want to be with someone who goes, \u2018That was awesome. Get rid of that.\u2019 I also don\u2019t like writing all by myself\u2014the idea of completing a song. It\u2019s just too much pressure for me. I never had a good song that I wrote, so to be up here and act like I\u2019m this great songwriter, I would be just a fraud. But, I\u2019m good at bringing myself to it\u2014being a good collaborator in the room. I\u2019m working on a new one now. I already did that. I got in the room with all of these wonderful producers and songwriters that extracted a lot of cool stuff out of me, and we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
5. She\u2019s not afraid to make mistakes, and a successful \u201cmistake\u201d was trying out Radiohead\u2019s \u201cCreep\u201d<\/b>: \u201cI\u2019m not afraid of making mistakes anymore in public because they\u2019re usually really helpful,\u201d she said. \u201cThey put the audience at ease, and they give me an opportunity to say something funny and try something new. I think that it all harkens back to the wedding [singing] thing because I used to drive to the gig, and they\u2019d say, \u2018The bride wants to hear some tune\u2019 that I [would] have to learn in three seconds when I\u2019m driving, and I go up there, and I just fake half of it. I phonetically sang some lyrics that didn\u2019t even make sense, but they\u2019re not listening anyway, so to be \u2018not perfect\u2019 became something that was okay, and I thought at first, \u2018Well, that\u2019s not good.\u2019 On Broadway a lot of times, it\u2019s: \u2018How perfect can you sing? How much vibrato? How long can you hit the note? How high?\u2019 And, I stopped worrying about that being what defines you and makes you great.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can just be authentic\u2014mistakes are authentic\u2014that\u2019s the people\u2019s way into you, and that\u2019s what gives people chills, not the most perfect note that you hold or the most perfect vibrato.\u201d One of the \u201cmistakes\u201d she\u2019s made that became a success? Covering Radiohead\u2019s \u201cCreep\u201d in concert. \u201cI took a chance with that,\u201d she said. \u201cHaving \u2018Let it Go\u2019 and \u2018Defying Gravity\u2019 and all of these empowerment songs, I was feeling a little bit like a fraud because it was telling everybody, \u2018Feel good about yourself. Be powerful. You\u2019re a woman. And get out there and fly! Own who you are! Be an individual!\u2019 Then I\u2019d have a bad day and be depressed in my own bed, and I couldn\u2019t get out of bed and felt like sh*t, so I was like, \u2018I need to do a song where it\u2019s also about feeling like sh*t….\u2019 I remember sitting with JT [Franchuk], my hairstylist at If\/Then<\/i>, and I was like, \u2018What song is about feeling really ugly?\u2019 And she was like, \u2018Do you know that song?\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Yeah.\u2019 You come up with an orchestration, make it a little bit more theatrical\u2026 I have a heavy metal guitar playing, but then you have strings\u2026and, all of a sudden, my worlds kind of collide. That, actually, has been a happy mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
6.<\/b> She bonded with Marvin Hamlisch over \u201cTits and Ass\u201d<\/b>: Menzel got to work with the late, great composer and conductor Marvin Hamlisch, best known for his Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning work on A Chorus Line<\/i>, and she said that they immediately fell in love. \u201cI was doing a lot of concerts with these big Pops Orchestras,\u201d she recalled, \u201cand they are very about being perfect\u2026 He was the only one who was cool with me being a little loose. We stopped in the middle of something. One time, there was [one of] those beautiful people who sign [American Sign Language] during performance, and I said something about tits and ass, and we were both like, \u2018We have to stop and see\u2014how does that get signed?!\u2019 We just had the same approach to things. He had great stories. I miss him.\u201d <\/b><\/p>\n
7.<\/b> She thinks she\u2019s too old for the Wicked <\/i>movie<\/b>: Platt asked Menzel to elaborate on her experience in film, and she says that she\u2019s still learning. \u201cIf you sing for real\u2014a big note, a belting note\u2014but the camera is this<\/i> close, they will most certainly tell you, \u2018I can see your cavities. You don\u2019t look attractive.\u2019 So fake it if you\u2019re usually lip-syncing to something. If I was in the Wicked<\/i> movie, which I probably won\u2019t be\u2026\u201d Platt interjected, asking the audience: \u201cHow many people would like Idina to be in the Wicked<\/i> movie?\u201d The crowd roared in approval, to which Menzel responded, \u201cI\u2019m going to be way too old by the time he gets it done, unless he CGIs [computer generated imagery] it, and he knows how I feel about that. I really want him to do that. But the point being that if it\u2019s, \u2018OH-OH-OH!,\u2019 I\u2019ll probably have to go, \u2018oh-oh-oh,\u2019 so I\u2019ll look pretty. It\u2019s really weird how it works out. On Glee<\/i>, I learned that a lot. Lea Michele taught me a lot. She didn\u2019t move her mouth that much, but it looks real on the camera. I\u2019m like, \u2018We\u2019re not singing!\u2019 And she\u2019s like, \u2018You don\u2019t want to do that, it\u2019s not going to look right!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
8. Being on Glee<\/i> actually bruised her ego a bit! <\/b>Speaking of Lea Michele, Menzel felt a bit bummed when the Glee <\/i>team asked her to play Michele\u2019s mom. \u201cIt was bittersweet,\u201d she said. \u201cOne: Because the gig came in three months after I popped a baby out, so I felt fat as all hell, and I was Lea Michele\u2019s mom<\/i>. I was like, \u2018I can\u2019t just be her older sister?\u2019 She wasn\u2019t as young as she was playing, you know, so it was like, \u2018Really? I\u2019m her mom?\u2019 It wasn\u2019t good for my ego, to be honest, but I was happy to be there and work with those people. It was cool, but I kind of had to get over myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
9. What did she really <\/i>think of being called Adele Dazeem by John Travolta? \u201c<\/b>It was the best thing that ever happened!\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cThe honest truth? Right when it was happening, I was like, \u2018What the f*ck did he just say?\u2019 The orchestra is playing live, so it was like, \u2018Oh my God, I finally made it this big. He just f*cked up. The song is coming\u2026! Get over yourself. You\u2019re so vain and conceited. Just go! Sing! Meryl Streep is there!\u2019<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the whole thing that went on in about eight seconds to get myself back in the zone because I had meditated about this moment. I wanted to enjoy it and breathe and sing to my son, make it about him. Not like, \u2018Oh, George Clooney is sitting there,\u2019 and then he f*cks up my name, so I had to get back my focus really fast.\u201d But, she said, Travolta was very \u201csweet\u201d to send her a nice email and flowers following the flub.<\/p>\n
10. She won\u2019t let her son Walker Diggs perform until he\u2019s older<\/b>: Menzel said that the birth of her son Walker made her less <\/i>neurotic. \u201cHaving a child gets you out of your own head,\u201d she explained. \u201cYou have somebody much more important that needs you, and so if he\u2019s up in the middle of the night and I can\u2019t sleep, but I have a big show to do the next day, \u2018Well, maybe I\u2019m not going to hit that note.\u2019 I\u2019m going to go out there and do the best I can, and I found that it actually took the pressure off me, and I ended up enjoying myself more for some reason. It has liberated me, totally.\u201d<\/p>\n