Gig was weddings before Rent called
Menzel’s big voice ‘ discovered’ at age 5 Witch role in Wicked made her a star
NEW YORK—
Idina Menzel shows that you can go home again, but it helps if you visit Oz along the way. The 34- year- old performer is currently on screen as Maureen, the flirtatiously bisexual performance artist in the film Rent, a part she originated onstage back in 1996. But what really made her a star was her 2003 Tony Award- winning turn as the green- skinned witch Elphaba in the smash Broadway musical Wicked. On stage, Menzel is all brash confidence, with a voice that can bring the rafters down and an underlying sexuality that brings heat to all her performances. But in person, she’s quite shy, hiding behind her mass of flowing dark hair and looking at the floor when the conversation gets too “ starry” for her taste.
“ I actually have a harder time dealing with my success than my failures,” she confides. “When something doesn’t work, I always say, ‘ Fine, let’s learn what we can and go on to the next step.’ But when people call me a star, I really don’t think I deserve any of it.” Born in 1971, she grew up on Long Island, the daughter of Stuart and Helene Mentzel. (“ I finally took the ‘ t’ out, because it made everyone pronounce my name wrong,” she explains.) Young Idina was a powerhouse singer from the age of 5. In high school, she kept getting cast as the older woman with the killer voice instead of the ingénue she felt she was inside.
“ When I played Elphaba, I never realized it at first, but I was tapping into a lot of stuff from my teenage years,” she says. “ The one who tried too hard, the outsider, the oddball. Yeah, that was me.” While other kids were working as camp counsellors or pushing sandwiches at the local deli, Menzel tarted herself up in a black cocktail dress and sang for her supper.
“ I was a wedding singer. Honest. Weddings. Even once I started at NYU, I kept doing it, because you made pretty good money. Except during January and February. Those were the slowest months. Not many weddings.”
That was a good thing, as it turned out. Because in 1996, it meant she was fully available when a show called Rent was scheduled to start previews. Not only did the modern rock musical version of La Bohème
launch her career, but it introduced her to cast member Taye Diggs. They became romantically involved and got married in 2003. She thinks back to how it all began. “ A boyfriend at the time who worked for an agent submitted my name ( to the Rent producers) under the table. I was like ‘whatever,’ but I went in, sang “ When a Man Loves a Woman” and got the gig. But I never knew what it was going to be like.” She laughs, low and throaty. “ My favourite memory is taking a lunch break early in rehearsals and asking Anthony Rapp ( who played Mark Cohen), ‘ What are we doing? Is this going to be anything?’ And he looked at me and said ‘ I know for sure in my heart it’s going to be an event.’ ”
Jonathan Larson, the show’s author, knew that Menzel’s big Act II duet wasn’t right, but he kept saying, “ I want to get to know your voice better before I write something for you.” Menzel looks wistful. “ I realize now what a wonderful thing that was: to be with a composer when he starts to write a song with you in mind.” The end result “ Take Me or Leave Me” was inspired by the soulful side of Menzel she had shown at her audition. She knew that her character, Maureen, was inspired by someone Larson had dated. “ We all knew that everyone in the show was based on real- life characters, but I never actually met the real Maureen. I played her as someone with a heart of gold but just a little too selfabsorbed to see that she’s got to make some changes in her life.”
There would be changes in everyone’s life when Larson died following their final dress rehearsal. Menzel gets quiet recalling it, even after all these years.
“ It’s always been the strangest experience. Our lives were all transformed in so many wonderful ways, but Jonathan wasn’t around for any of it. That always grounded me and gave me a sense of perspective.
“ Whenever I’m too caught up in myself or in something superficial, I remind myself that it’s because of Jonathan Larson that I am where I am today.”