Thanks in part to her creation of two iconic and much-loved roles \u2014 Maureen in Rent and Elphaba in Wicked \u2014 Tony Award\u2013winner Idina Menzel is a gay fan favorite whose powerful voice is always in demand on Broadway and the concert stage. In the new Idina Menzel Live: Barefoot at the Symphony \u2014 filmed at Toronto\u2019s historic Royal Conservatory of Music and airing on PBS Saturday, followed by an album, DVD, and digital download available Tuesday \u2014 the fabulously chatty belter (and wife of Private Practice star Taye Diggs) reaches back into the amazing musical repertoire that she\u2019s spent over 20 years putting together.<\/p>\n
The Advocate: Idina Menzel Live: Barefoot at the Symphony features lots of songs that fans would expect you to perform as well as some surprises. How did you choose the material?<\/strong> When doing a concert like this, how involved are you in the musical arrangements?<\/strong> For your signature songs, is it important to rework them?<\/strong> Speaking of \u201cDefying Gravity,\u201d why do you think so many people respond to that song?<\/strong> Was it intimidating singing \u201cThe Way We Were\u201d accompanied by its composer, Marvin Hamlisch?<\/strong> Why exactly were you barefoot at the symphony? Were your shoes confiscated while going through Canadian customs?<\/strong> Your song \u201cGorgeous\u201d from your last pop record [I Stand] is a perfect anthem for marriage equality. Was that in your mind when you were writing it?<\/strong> When did you first become aware of the battle for gay rights?<\/strong> What it was like to be a big, bad lesbian?<\/strong> You\u2019ve talked a lot about your time as a wedding singer. Other than plenty of hilarious anecdotes, what did those years give you?<\/strong> And now you\u2019re giving back. The A BroaderWay Foundation, which you and your husband established, has generated some positive buzz in the theater community. Where did the idea come from?<\/strong> Here\u2019s my super-dorky question: I loved Ask the Dust\u2026<\/strong> \u2026And I have to know: What\u2019s it like to kiss Colin Farrell?<\/strong> Will we get to see you in new stage musical soon?<\/strong> Thanks in part to her creation of two iconic and much-loved roles \u2014 Maureen in Rent and Elphaba in Wicked \u2014 Tony Award\u2013winner Idina Menzel is a gay fan favorite whose powerful voice is always in demand on Broadway and the concert stage. In the new Idina Menzel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87,"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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[28,17,16,12,4],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-28","tag-a-broader-way","tag-ask-the-dust","tag-barefoot-at-the-symphony","tag-rent"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/2012_03_12_symphonic.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Srnq-1n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":324,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions\/324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIdina Menzel: The idea of having this magnificent, thrilling orchestra behind you is incredible, and yet it can be daunting, so I wanted music that would live and breathe but also strike a balance and maintain an intimacy. It\u2019s an eclectic mix. There\u2019s a lot of theatricality, but then there are moments when I talk to the audience and get personal, so it sort of came from that. I knew I wanted to share certain aspects of my life, so I figured out which songs would chronicle that.<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019m very involved. I sit with Rob Mounsey, my MD [musical director], at the piano and we strip things down to just piano and vocal and talk about where we want to be adventurous.<\/p>\n
\nYes, but I have to be careful. A song like \u201cDefying Gravity,\u201d which I\u2019ve sung so many times, in the past I\u2019ve tried to mess with it too much. This time around, with the orchestra behind me, I decided to just sing it. My goal was to evoke that amazing moment in the show [Wicked], so I went back in that respect and really didn\u2019t shy away from the drama and the theatricality of that moment.<\/p>\n
\nAt some point in our lives, I think all of us feel that we\u2019re weird or different. I know I can be very self-conscious about who I am and how I\u2019m perceived. And it\u2019s at that moment in the show that [Elphaba] decides, \u201cI\u2019m going to do this differently now. I\u2019m gonna stop caring about what people think and just embrace who I am. Fuck what anybody else thinks.\u201d She\u2019s our hero because she stands up and does it. There\u2019s also the other aspect that as a woman, it\u2019s sometimes hard to be really fierce and strong. You want to be kick-ass, and yet as women we\u2019re sometimes afraid we\u2019ll be perceived as a bitch. The song is that character\u2019s way of harnessing her incredible power and using it to change the world and influence people while not fearing her strength. I\u2019m so thankful that I had that show because I could live in her world and be as powerful as I wanted.<\/p>\n
\nIt wasn\u2019t. But that\u2019s a testament to him. He has that kind of personality where he\u2019s so happy to just be playing the song and sitting at the piano and making music with someone he cares about. He\u2019s not intimidating in that way.<\/p>\n
\n[Laughs] Yeah, right! The truth is, I\u2019m more comfortable singing barefoot. When I dress up and put on heels, it\u2019s one aspect of my personality, but I\u2019m more comfortable being a bit more bohemian-like. And because I was playing with these huge orchestras all over the place, I thought OK, I have to wear the gown and the heels and get rid of my truck driver mouth and rise to the occasion and make people proud. [Laughs] And I was doing it. But I was also bringing my 2-year-old with me. And one day I woke up and my back was killing me from moving all the luggage and the stroller and him, and there was no way I could put on those four-inch platform heels. So I took a Motrin and went onstage without them. It was the best show I\u2019d ever done. I felt completely grounded and my physicality was different. Even my notes came out better. From then on I said, \u201cI\u2019ll wear the gown. But not the shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nIt totally was. It\u2019s inspired by one of my best friends in the whole world, who moved to Rotterdam, Holland, to be with his boyfriend. It also fed into my own marriage \u2014 an interracial marriage \u2014 and the idea that it drives me up the wall when people don\u2019t just mind their own business. We should be able to be who we are and live our lives \u2014 and the song was my response to feeling frustrated about that.<\/p>\n
\nProbably when I was cast in Rent. By playing Maureen I was educating myself on \u2026<\/p>\n
\nYes! [Laughs] No, more about the experiences of the gay community. After seeing the show, young kids would write me letters saying they saw themselves in these characters and how grateful they were that we were celebrating them. This show gave many of them permission to be who they were. Wicked sort of carries on in that same tradition. It\u2019s not necessarily about whether or not you\u2019re gay, but it\u2019s about finding who you are and celebrating that. So, while it wasn\u2019t something I was necessarily planning on, I really took notice and understood that these people confiding in me was a gift, so I want to be as vocal as I can be for all of those who sat in the audience and made me feel so good.<\/p>\n
\nAn education, really. People always ask, \u201cWhat are your influences?\u201d I didn\u2019t have an older brother or sister that introduced me to cool songs when I was little. I was introduced to them because I had to learn all kinds of music for these gigs. To be a good wedding singer, you need a good repertoire. And when I started these jobs at 15, I had one song in each category: I knew a bossa nova, a song from Flashdance, I knew \u201cEvergreen,\u201d and \u201cStormy Weather\u201d was my jazz. I had to act quickly and learn hundreds of songs so people could rely on me. Plus I was working with great musicians who would say, \u201cYour voice is amazing \u2014 you should listen to Chaka Khan and Aretha Franklin.\u201d Or \u201cGo listen to Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday.\u201d I feel so grateful for that shotgun kind of education because it made me so versatile and gave me such a spectrum of interpretation, which I think it made me a richer, more interesting singer.<\/p>\n
\nIt was a dream of mine. I was fortunate enough to go away to camp every summer when I was a kid. And because I struggled with where I fit in in school, the summers were where I came alive and felt the most comfortable. I didn\u2019t realize until I was an adult that every kid doesn\u2019t get that experience, so it wasn\u2019t enough just to create a terrific camp for kids, it had to be for those who wouldn\u2019t necessarily get that opportunity. It\u2019s a huge endeavor and we\u2019re taking it slow. Last summer we took about 30 girls to the Berkshires, and Jeanine Tesori and I helped them create a show inspired by their lyrical ideas, their poems, their choreography, and their stories. It\u2019s much more than I ever dreamt it was going to be. I love the name A BroaderWay because it\u2019s not just about extending the opportunity to people who wouldn\u2019t necessarily have the chance, I actually believe it\u2019s taught us \u2014 the counselors and some friends who helped out \u2014 more than we\u2019ve taught the girls. We\u2019re excited to do it again this year. I get passionate about it. I want kids to feel they have a sanctuary where they can be themselves and discover who they are. And the arts are the greatest instrument for that.<\/p>\n
\nThank you!<\/p>\n
\nSo funny you asked that. I hadn\u2019t seen him in years \u2014 since I disrobed for him in that movie. [Laughs] And I just ran into him at an Oscar party. My husband brought him over to me and he was as sweet as could be. But the kiss was actually very nerve-racking. First of all, the context [is that I play] this crazy alcoholic woman with burns on her legs. She just takes her clothes off and stands there, asking him to kiss her. It wasn\u2019t the most sexy of moments. Second, it was really early in the morning when we filmed it. The camera goes down my back, and then all of a sudden it hits my tush and the wounds on my legs. They told everyone to leave the set so I could feel comfortable, but Colin just walked on without thinking. When everyone went \u201cColin! Get out! Idina needs her privacy!\u201d he was like, \u201cOh, come on, the last thing I need right now is to see some prosthetics on an ass.\u201d [Laughs] I was just like, \u201cWhy don\u2019t we roll right now since the humiliation factor will be perfect.\u201d It was so not glamorous at all.<\/p>\n
\nI hope so. I have a couple things percolating that I\u2019m really excited about. Unfortunately, I\u2019ve decided that I really want to put my energy into originating roles in new musicals, and those things take time. Wicked took years. You have to put in the time to develop them and do readings. But yes, I\u2019m desperately trying to get back there. My husband and I are trying to put our energy into \u2014 once Private Practice is over \u2014 maybe migrating back to New York City. So much has to do with the fact that we have a child, and we\u2019ve learned that the success of our marriage relies on us being in the same city. Whenever we\u2019ve split ourselves up for too long we\u2019ve had our hiccups, so we know now that we have to stay as a unit. As soon as there\u2019s a window when we can all get back to New York and I can dedicate that time, I will. In the meantime I\u2019m working with composers and hopefully acting as some sort of muse so that something special comes out of that.comes out of that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"