The most memorable performances in any medium are being given by a remarkable group of industry veterans — Judith Light, Allison Janney and Audra McDonald, among them. For a long time, you could open a movie with a close-up on a woman’s face, as long as she presented […]

It can be hard to believe that it has been more than two decades since a then 24-year-old Long Island native named Idina Menzel shot to superstardom as the feisty bisexual Maureen in Jonathan Larson’s groundbreaking musical Rent. And what may be equally hard to believe is that, […]

For Gay Pride Month, Billboard asked numerous pop culture luminaries to write ‘love letters’ to the LGBTQ community. Below, singer and actress Idina Menzel — who originated the Broadway roles of Maureen in Rent and Elphaba in Wicked — shares hers. Happy Pride Month! To my LGBTQ friends […]

”IT’S good to see me, isn’t it?” Thus does Glinda the Good Witch introduce herself, suspended in midair and floating down into Munchkinland at the start of ”Wicked,” the new $14 million Broadway musical that takes place in the fictionally familiar land of Oz and opens at the […]

Everything was Rent 20 years ago, when the show opened at Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre April 29, 1996. The cast takes us back to what life was like then. After Rent made its debut at Off-Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop in January 1996, the musical quickly took off—garnering national […]

No matter what happens in Idina Menzel’s career, there will probably never be anything like what she went through last year when she was riding atop the pop culture wave. Professionally, “Frozen,” for which Menzel supplied the voice of Queen Elsa and sang the breakout song “Let It […]

Oscar and Tony award winner Idina Menzel is bringing her Broadway musical to Hollywood. In “If/Then,” Menzel plays a 40-year-old woman who moves back to New York City for a fresh start. The audience watches as her life splits into two parallel paths with both storylines playing out […]

Tony Award winner Idina Menzel, who was to play her final performance in Wicked Jan. 9, was injured during the Jan. 8 matinee of the hit Stephen Schwartz musical. Shoshana Bean, Menzel’s standby who was slated to officially take over the role of Elphaba beginning Jan. 11, played […]

Tony Award winner Idina Menzel, whose final weekend in the hit musical Wicked was marred by an onstage injury that left her with a broken rib, has posted a letter on her official website. Menzel writes, “So here I am, on my couch, propped up by 12 pillows, […]

A new generation of fans got to know Idina Menzel through her work on the blockbuster movie “Frozen” and the song “Let It Go,” which became a huge crossover hit. But as much as she appreciates what that song in particular did for her career, Menzel — appearing […]

In the opening number of “If/Then,” the newly liberated heroine ponders “what if?” It is not the only song in Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s heady and sincere musical to entertain that quandary. The repercussions and ripples of “what ifs” shape the story of Elizabeth who, on the […]

Idina Menzel has adopted a lot of identities during her nearly two decades on Broadway and beyond. She originated the roles of Maureen Johnson in “Rent” and Dorothy in “Summer of ’42,” Amneris in “Aida,” Elphaba in “Wicked” and Elizabeth Vaughan in “If/Then.” She’s been Shelby Corcoran in […]

For much of her Broadway and film career, Idina Menzel – who, amazingly, is on her first major solo tour – has been a star, but a star at a certain remove. Her first professional theater gig, the 1995 sensation Rent, was an era-defining, bare-bones musical with frank […]

Oscar presenter John Travolta may not have gotten Idina Menzel’s name right on the first try, but there are a lot of other names that come to mind when you think of the Tony Award-winning artist: Maureen from “Rent,” Elphaba from “Wicked,” Shelby on TV’s “Glee,” Elsa from […]

Idina Menzel is ready for a special evening on July 17 when she headlines Nikon at Jones Beach Theater for the first time. “Even just thinking about it gets me kind of emotional and excited,” the Syosset native says, remembering all the concerts she saw there growing up. […]