Broadway star Idina Menzel is known for creating roles in two of the biggest musical-theater phenomena of recent decades, playing fiery performance artist Maureen in Rent and misunderstood, green-skinned Elphaba in Wicked, winning a Tony Award for the latter. She\u2019s also recognizable to Glee fans as recurring character Shelby Corcoran, the biological mother of Lea Michele\u2019s character. The Ravinia Festival announced last week that Menzel will perform in concert there on July 8, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by another Tony winner\u2014actually, an EGOT winner\u2014Marvin Hamlisch.<\/p>\n
Chicago audiences can get a preview tonight of what that July bill might look like, as WTTW airs the exclusive premiere of Menzel\u2019s new PBS special, Idina Menzel Live: Barefoot at the Symphony, which also features Hamlisch along with an appearance by Menzel\u2019s husband, Taye Diggs. Menzel will be live in-studio to introduce the special, which airs at 9pm; she\u2019ll also appear on Chicago Tonight at 7pm. She called me this morning, just after guesting on Windy City Live, to talk about the special, which will hit PBS affiliates in other markets beginning March 3, followed by a DVD release.<\/p>\n
How did the concert special come about?<\/strong> What kind of material can viewers expect to see?<\/strong> Is there anything that might be unexpected to audiences that are familiar with your work?<\/strong> I understand your husband makes an appearance as well?<\/strong> The orchestra for the special [Ontario\u2019s Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony] is conducted by Marvin Hamlisch\u2014<\/strong> He\u2019ll also be appearing with you at Ravinia this summer, conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.<\/strong> Do you two have a longstanding relationship?<\/strong> Aside from the Ravinia concert, what else is coming up for you? <\/strong> Broadway star Idina Menzel is known for creating roles in two of the biggest musical-theater phenomena of recent decades, playing fiery performance artist Maureen in Rent and misunderstood, green-skinned Elphaba in Wicked, winning a Tony Award for the latter. She\u2019s also recognizable to Glee fans as recurring character […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71,"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":[28,12,8],"class_list":["post-88","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-28","tag-barefoot-at-the-symphony","tag-family-life"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/2012_04_barefoot.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Srnq-1q","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88","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=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":323,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions\/323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIt\u2019s my first TV special that\u2019s sort of all by myself. It\u2019s my baby. We filmed it in Toronto; it\u2019s the culmination of about a year and a half of touring, with orchestras and symphonies all over the country and international\u2014we had a big concert at Royal Albert Hall in London. I felt really proud of the show, and when PBS came and wanted to film it, it\u2019s so rewarding for me to be able to have it and look back on it, have something documented.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s somewhat eclectic. I do songs from the shows that I\u2019ve been in; I do some standards.<\/p>\n
\nYeah, I think. What I\u2019m told, anyway, that\u2019s most unexpected is that I think people having seen me in the green makeup or something and this big, big voice expect everything to feel very theatrical and dramatic. [The special] has that, but everything is grounded in a very intimate place. No matter how big the symphony is behind me, I try to maintain an intimacy with the audience. I really share a lot of personal stories.<\/p>\n
\nHe does. We love to sing together but don\u2019t get to do it very often. It\u2019s how we met, in Rent. He does a wonderful job; we have a little fun with each other.<\/p>\n
\nThe legendary Marvin Hamlisch.<\/p>\n
\nExactly. Because he\u2019s the love of my life. We\u2019re having an affair. [Laughs]<\/p>\n
\nWe\u2019re relatively new. We met in this process, over the last year and a half. We\u2019ve done\u2014I don\u2019t know how many shows, ten, 15 shows together? After the very first show, which was down in Wolf Trap in D.C., it was just sort of love at first sight. When I\u2019m onstage and he\u2019s conducting, I have to pinch myself. It\u2019s such an honor. But then when you get to know him in person, he\u2019s the sweetest, most authentic, generous man, with the greatest stories.<\/p>\n
\nWell, this has sort of monopolized my time all through the holidays, getting this PBS special in the can as they say, because what goes along with it is a live DVD and a live CD. So that\u2019s been actually really exciting\u2014it\u2019s the easiest album I\u2019ve ever had to make because it came out organically: It\u2019s live, it\u2019s there, once you do it you can\u2019t overthink it too much. It\u2019s been fun to work on a live album and keep the imperfections that are perfections, you know?
\nOn top of that, I\u2019m a mother of a two-year-old. I took him to Disneyland with my husband over the holidays. And I\u2019m in and out of Glee, and working on other possible Broadway or theater endeavors in New York City that wouldn\u2019t be ready for a little while. But mostly I\u2019m just a mom of a two-year-old, with an album coming out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"