Frozen’s Elsa gets to be herself on concert tour
You’ve probably heard Idina Menzel’s voice somewhere. It’s also likely, however, that you’ve only ever heard Menzel’s voice in character.
As the voice behind Elsa in Disney’s Frozen, the actor who played Elphaba in the musical sensation Wicked and Maureen Johnson in the original Broadway staging of Rent, Menzel has enjoyed decades of success on the stage and screen.
But this summer, the vocal powerhouse is stepping out of character for her official concert tour.
A prolific singer-songwriter, Menzel has, to date, released five studio albums, the latest of which she’s in the midst of promoting.
Asked to describe the sound of her most recent record, the self-titled idina., Menzel says it’s difficult to articulate. “Some songs are more piano-based, some are more acoustic guitar,” says Menzel during a recent telephone conversation. “But it’s all, you know — Oh God! It’s hard to describe your own music!”
Thematically, though, Menzel says idina. focuses a lot on relationships and starting over, an unintentional by-product of her 2014 split from Rent co-star Taye Diggs.
“There’s a lot of music about relationships and trying to, you know, overcome, sort of to empower myself to find a better day and to start again, to start new, because I was … going through a divorce at the time,” she says.
With her original music, Menzel says she hopes to reach a bigger audience. “And if not, I just do it because I love to do it, and I learn more about myself. And it’s just another part of my artistic expression,” she says.
Menzel expresses a similar self-effacement when explaining why, over the years, she hasn’t been a consistent presence on film or television despite meaty roles in movies such as Enchanted and a recurring gig on TV’s Glee.
“Oh no, I just take what I can get, man,” Menzel laughs. “People always think you can pick and choose every job.
“I still go and audition for TV pilots or films and that’s OK. It keeps me humble,” she adds. “If there’s anything that’s eluded me it’s just that I’d like to do more of that work, with some incredible actors that I could learn even more from … I still feel like a rookie in that sense.”
After Menzel’s tour comes to an end in September, she’ll head back into the studio, this time to record dialogue and music for 2018’s Frozen 2. Recording commenced a few weeks back, according to co-star Jonathan Groff, so details are scarce.
Can we at least expect another earthshaking showstopper like Let It Go from Menzel?
“I hope so,” Menzel says.