Idina Menzel to be herself on 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 actress behind Elsa in Disney’s “Frozen,” 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 singersongwriter, Menzel has released five studio albums, the latest of which she is promoting nationwide.
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,” Menzel said.
“But it’s all, you know — Oh God! It’s hard to describe your own music!” Thematically, though, Menzel said “idina.” focuses a lot on relationships and starting over, an unintentional byproduct 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 said. With her original music, Menzel said 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 said. Menzel expressed 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 said with a laughed. “People always think you can pick and choose every job.