Idina Menzel defies Debby, doesn’t let go in Orlando concert | Review
Idina Menzel was really determined to get “Let It Go” right on Sunday night. Really determined. In fact, one could say she wouldn’t let it go.
Menzel, the Tony-winning star of Broadway’s “Wicked” and Disney’s “Frozen” movie franchise, brought her latest tour to the Walt Disney Theater at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando.
On her first pass through the biggest “Frozen” hit, Menzel bobbled the words on the final verse. So she gave herself a re-do, but then the famous belt-y high note wasn’t to her liking. (You know, “let the storm rage onnnnn… ” She did reach it… but it was hanging by a thread.) So she sang that phrase a couple of more times for good measure.
“I want to be perfect, but it’s a really hard song to sing,” she told the audience with a grin. And with delightful bravura, she practically dared the audience to make something of it: “I hope you were filming that,” she said with a laugh.
That air of confidence permeated her performance, part of a tour that is in itself a challenge to the world: “Take Me or Leave Me” is the title, a nod to a song she famously performed in the Broadway musical “Rent.” Sunday, she shared the spotlight on that number with audience members — and if the participation went on a bit long, well, you can’t complain when Menzel sticks to the stage for more than two hours.
Her concert has a conceptual element in line with the “take me as I am” motif. She took the stage in a dress of elaborate layers, with a collar so impossibly high that it framed her head. It was Marie Antoinette meets Renaissance saint painting, a perfect look for someone who entered the scene to the lyrics “This diva needs her stage” — another nod to “Take Me or Leave Me.”
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As the show progressed, Menzel’s dress got simpler and simpler until by concert’s end she was even removing false eyelashes, makeup and a surprising number of hair extensions.
As divas go, though, she’s approachable. She charmingly opened up about her anxiety and made time for a fan who showed up in full “Wicked” witch Elphaba regalia — green face and all. Though she did humorously move the interaction along: “These people have a hurricane to get back to,” she (we hope) joked.
The approach of Hurricane Debby prompted another fun diva moment: “You all came out in a hurricane for me?” she coquettishly asked the enthusiastic crowd.
Menzel gave a preview of her new musical, “Redwood,” which premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California, and is headed to Broadway. The show follows a woman who takes a life-changing, cross-country trip to the majestic trees on the West Coast. The two songs Menzel sang from the show were mood pieces, one about the steadfastness of the trees through time, the other written to let Menzel’s signature belt slide out.
She only dove into politics once, briefly and barely, with a joke about former president Donald Trump’s penchant for exaggerating attendance at his campaign events. “This is my rally,” she joked. “There are 20,000 people here, right?” (The Disney theater holds 2,700.)
And she sparkled on inspired song choices, including a seductively bubbly “The Life of the Party” from “The Wild Party,” an early show of Menzel’s, as well as an inventive arrangement of “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” that borrowed a bit from the Beatles. (Her laughably accurate description of animated Elsa: “anorexic arms” and blue eyes “the size of grapefruit.”)
Her voice showed both power and fragility on a jazzy “That’s All,” sung while perched atop a piano. And eschewing her belt for a more tremulous tone on “No Day But Today” from “Rent” added a moving poignancy to an already poignant song. “Learn to Live Without” from the underrated “If/Then,” in which she starred, also showed off her voice well, with emotion and strength coming through.
And, of course, she milked the ending of “Defying Gravity,” — what diva wouldn’t? But is she really a diva? She deprecatingly described herself as “Long Island’s premier wedding and bar mitzvah singer” and spoke of her awe in receiving an honorary doctorate in the company of great scientists. She even showed a sense of humor about John Travolta’s infamous mangling of her name at the 2014 Oscars — playing an audio clip of the gaffe.
Or, on second thought, maybe that’s just a diva holding a grudge for a really long time. Either way, Menzel has earned the title, and as evidenced Sunday, her fans will definitely take her just as she is.
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