When “Rent,” a rock musical version of Puccini’s “La Boheme” opened off-Broadway last February, Jonathan Larson garnered the kind of rave reviews that young, struggling composer-lyricists pray and dream for. Larson wasn’t there to read the reviews–he died of an aortic aneurysm on the night of the final […]
Two months, one Pulitzer Prize and acres of magazine and newspaper pages later, the waiflike hopes of the American musical are living in fancier digs. Uprooted by a cyclone of critical ecstasy and a hunger for theatrical novelty, they have posed for fashion layouts, inspired a Bloomingdale’s ad […]
Chatting ‘Wicked,’ ‘Frozen 3,’ ‘Rent’ and more ahead of her ‘Take Me Or Leave Me Tour’ Idina Menzel has had many patrons under a spell since she played Maureen Johnson in the musical Rent in 1996. Her powerful voice, demanding stage presence and proud identity as a […]
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 […]
L.A. is fine — the sun shines most of the time — but in New York, you get to do things like meet Idina Menzel, who, in case you’ve been living under a rock, originated the role of lesbian Maureen in Rent and witch Elphaba in Wicked (for […]
Good morning! Last week I had the amazing opportunity to get on the horn with Tony Award winning actress Idina Menzel. I was at her showcase here in hollywood a few weeks ago in support of her new album i stand – which is simply gorgeous and out […]
Interview by Daniel Robert Epstein, contributing editor Idina Menzel was in the original cast of Rent and Wicked on Broadway. She is making the transition to Hollywood with the big-budget version of Rent (now available on DVD) and Robert Towne’s Ask the Dust. In Towne’s film, Idina plays […]
Whatever type of music or theatre you’re into, chances are you’ve heard Idina Menzel‘s voice. She was part of the Broadway revolution that was Rent in 1996, was the first to immerse herself in green make-up and iconic Stephen Schwartz melodies in global hit Wicked, and more recently […]
Get ready, Toronto, because I’m thrilled to be the one to break the news to you that Idina Menzel, the Tony Award-winning star of Wicked, Glee and Rent will be appearing at Koerner Hall on Nov. 17 & 18 with the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony and these concerts are […]
Thanks in part to her creation of two iconic and much-loved roles — Maureen in Rent and Elphaba in Wicked — Tony Award–winner Idina Menzel is a gay fan favorite whose powerful voice is always in demand on Broadway and the concert stage. In the new Idina Menzel […]
Broadway star Idina Menzel doesn’t have a long list of dream roles she hopes to play some day. “I really think that I want those roles that haven’t been written yet,” she said in a telephone interview. “I really want to originate roles. I’ve had so much success […]
News, views and reviews about the multi-talented women of the musical theatre and the concert/cabaret stage. There has never been any doubt about Idina Menzel’s vocal prowess. From the moment she stepped on to the Broadway stage as Maureen in the late Jonathan Larson’s Rent, it was clear […]
The subject of the work is death at an early age. And in one of the dark dramatic coincidences theater occasionally springs on us, its 35-year-old author died only weeks before its opening. Yet no one who attends Jonathan Larson’s “Rent,” the exhilarating, landmark rock opera at the […]