Idina Menzel faces new choices, challenges in ‘If/Then’
Idina Menzel has made a specialty of playing women who are not easily daunted.
The Tony Award-winning actress and singer, starring in the new musical If/Then, made her Broadway debut as the decidedly self-possessed Maureen Johnson in Rent. She later created the role of Elphaba, the green-skinned heroine who defies gravity, and others’ disapproval, in Wicked.
There was more than a touch of the defiant, misunderstood Elphaba in Menzel’s last notable character, Elsa in Frozen. Menzel gave voice to the good-hearted ice queen in the Disney blockbuster, belting out the Oscar-winning Let It Go.
As Elizabeth, her part in If/Then, set to open March 30 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, Menzel is, at 42, facing a new set of challenges. An urban planner who returns to New York City in her late 30s after a failed marriage, Elizabeth ends up leading parallel lives as two women — Beth and Liz — whose disparate experiences and opportunities set them on very different courses.
“It’s about being willing to start your life again,” says Menzel, who can empathize with some of Elizabeth’s struggles. She and former Rent co-star Taye Diggs announced their separation last year after a decade of marriage. Menzel also tried to forge a career as a recording artist and screen actress, with less success than she’s enjoyed on stage. (Her credits include the film adaptation of Rent and a recurring role on TV’s Glee.)
“If I just used all of my own life for the show, eight times a week, I’d want to kill myself,” Menzel says. “You have to know how to pace yourself, and to pull from different places. Luckily, the story here is so well-written that I can use a lot of what’s right in front of me, and not leave feeling completely drained each time.”
If/Then features music by Tom Kitt and a book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, who teamed up on the Tony and Pulitzer prize-winning Next to Normal. The new musical also reunites Menzel with two other Rent alumni: Anthony Rapp, who plays Elizabeth’s friend Lucas, and director Michael Greif.
“It was important to me to be in an original piece, as I always support original material,” says Menzel. “And I would have worked with this team, frankly, if they had handed me the phone book. It’s good to try to surround yourself with people you know are smarter than you, and who are going to challenge you.”
Greif says Menzel is “doing a remarkable job in negotiating how much the events of her life inform Elizabeth’s. Idina brings an incredible openness to everything, and here she’s playing someone who thinks she has made a lot of mistakes, someone who has esteem issues. (Elizabeth) believes it’s her last chance to get it right.”
Menzel’s own approach to life has been influenced in recent years by motherhood. Her son with Diggs, Walker, is 4, and If/Then marks her first regular theater gig since becoming a parent.
“I have taken my kid on the road with me, on a tour bus,” she notes. “But now I’m also getting him to school in the morning, and dealing with his coming home with colds, which could get me sick. But nothing is more important than my child, and it gives you perspective. Actors can be self-absorbed, but when you have less time, you have to be result-oriented. You have to always be in the moment.”
That’s something Menzel tries to apply to her work as well. Performing Let It Go live at the Academy Awards earlier this month, she says, “I really wanted to be present. I brought my sister, and she helped me stay calm and grounded. Sometimes your best performances can be like out-of-body experiences, but this time I wanted to remember everything.”