Idina Menzel - The original Elphaba for Wicked on Broadway and in London

Idina Menzel interviews and articles

Idina Menzel is featured in Defying Gravity

Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked, includes a 150-page account of how Wicked came to life. For the book, author Carol de Giere interviewed Idina Menzel, Gregory Maguire, Stephen Schwartz, Joe Mantello, Winnie Holzman, and others. In the book, Menzel shares her experience in the production. Idina offers her insight into her journey with Wicked, elaborating her thoughts and feelings during the pre-production process including auditioning, learning the music, and rehearsing. The book includes over 200 photos and illustrations, including Schwartz's handwritten music for the Wicked Witch of the East.

Idina Menzel Interview exclusive to MusicalSchwartz.com:

Idina Menzel, Elphaba, and the Artistic Life.

FYI: Stephen Schwartz has commented, " although Idina's performance style suggests that she is off-the-cuff and spontaneous, she is one of the most diligent and hardest-working performers I have ever worked with....."

More interviews with Idina Menzel

BroadwayWorld in depth interview with Idina Menzel in January 2011. Idina Menzel interview [opens new browser window]. In this interview she talks about her concerts, about motherhood, and about originating roles in Rent, Wicked, and other shows. "What I have always felt the most fortunate about is having been a part of original musicals and originating roles - as well as the creative process that goes along with that and how rewarding that all is. You know, I set the bar high because I don't what to do just any other show just to keep working, I want to do something special that means something to people and speaks to them. Those kinds of opportunities don't come along all the time!"

From Ask a Diva feature on Playbill.com [new browser window]

.... Q: Do you have a favorite song or moment in the show?
IM: I have several favorite moments; it depends on the day. I love singing the duet with Kristin at the end because I'm always in awe of how different our voices are, and yet, when we sing together in unison, how wonderfully they blend. That's an important statement for the characters and the people that we are in real life as well. I love singing the duet with Norbert because I get to be the ingenue. All the other roles I've had, I'm always the slutty supporting character [laughs], and now I get to sing the pretty love song, so I love doing that. I love flying and singing 'Defying Gravity,' which is my most favorite song in the show....

Idina on Theatre Talk Nov '03 [new browser window] - Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel speak on Theatre Talk. The show includes clips of Wicked as well as a Hairspray-related interview. The video is available - follow the order tapes link

About Idina in Wicked

Idina's Wicked Days

by Carol de Giere, 2005 - originally published as part of The Schwartz Scene newsletter.

Idina Menzel still sings Wicked's songs from thousands of CD players around the world that are spinning Wicked's cast album. But she officially finished her on stage role as the original Elphaba on January 9th, 2005.

Back in 2001, auditions for Elphaba's role were scheduled for September 12th in New York City. So the Los Angeles based book writer, Winnie Holzman, who would attend the casting session, flew in to the east coast a week early to work with Stephen Schwartz on a draft of Wicked's script and score. On the morning of September 11th, they found themselves "shocked beyond belief" by the tragedy unfolding at the World Trade Center, as seen on television.

After a few days delay, the casting director decided they should probably go ahead with auditions, and so the creative team of Schwartz, Holzman, Mantello, and others ventured in to the still traumatized city. According to Holzman, the first person to walk into the door for the part was Idina Menzel. It didn't take them long to figure out she would be a perfect Elphaba, the not-so-wicked witch. That helped lighten their mood.

Idina Menzel (pronounced with a short "i" at the beginning: eh-DEE-na men-ZEL) grew up in Woodbury, New York on Long Island. She had her own ways of being green as a child. "Sometimes, when you have a talent, if you're good at something, you feel the other girls are ostracizing you. I had insecurities." ¹

Her vocal skills lead to jobs as a wedding and bar mitzvah singer until she heard about an audition for an Off-Broadway musical Rent that would be in production in early 1996. "That time of year, January and February, is the slowest time of the year for weddings and bar mitzvahs ... so I kind of went on a fluke," she says. She got the part of Maureen, the tough, sexy performance artist. Within months, she made her Broadway debut and was nominated for a Tony Award.

She began working on Wicked from the first reading in New York City, December 2001 and then left her role in Aida in order to be involved fulltime with Wicked. She played Elphaba through several other readings, the pre-Broadway trail in San Francisco, then on Broadway for eight performances a week.

To bring Elphaba from the page to the stage required research, beginning with reading Gregory Maguire's book. But later, Menzel says, she had to put the book behind her. Director Joe Mantello was a trusted guide in the process, she says. "He helped me find such depth and not to take the first general stereotypical choices, because you can do that in a musical, you can get by being cute and singing and, then, whatever. We had higher expectations."²

The Elphaba role was vocally demanding. "The kind of singing I do is like a marathon; you have to build your muscle." The actress also used her voice in special ways for her characterization, when she brings in a witchy laugh. In an interview for the PBS show Theatre Talk she mentioned that by examining Margaret Hamilton's work in The Wizard of Oz film she could add to the prequel aspect of the show. "I felt like the laugh was a good place to sort of show as a young girl this sort of boisterous laugh that comes from joy with her friend or just an organic place, and how that can become misconstrued as a cackle. And so I paid attention to what Margaret Hamilton did and just tried to find my own ways of bringing some of that stuff and making them come from real places." ³

She acted, spoke, cackled, and sang for a year and a half, and was then ready to move on to other things. In her good-bye message on her web site IdinaMenzel.com, she thanked her many fans for their cards and gifts. "It is an honor to have this kind of support and I will never take it for granted. This is been the most rewarding experience."

References:

(1.) Blake Green, "Ding! Ding! The Witches Aren't Dead," Newsday, October 26, 2003;

(2.) Peter D. Kramer, "Wicked Witch of the Best" The Journal News, February 19, 2004.

(3.) PBS Thirteen/WNET, Theatre Talk November 21, 2003

Comments on Idina's career by Morgan LaVere: Idina Menzel literally burst onto the scene in the New York Theatre Workshop's production of "Rent," playing Maureen, a character who has one of the best entrances in musical theatre history. When the show transferred to Broadway, Idina was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Supporting Actress. She followed this up with her performance as Kate in Andrew Lippa's version of "The Wild Party" at the Manhattan Theatre Club. More recently, Idina played "Sheila" in the Encore's production of "Hair," and starred in "Aida" on Broadway.

Time Magazine said of Idina Menzel's performance: "...a mix of vulnerability and feminist passion, with a rock voice to raise the roof."

ENCHANTED - November 2007

In the spring and summer of 2006, Idina was busy filming Enchanted, a forthcoming Disney feature. Menzel plays Nancy, the best friend of Amy Adam's character. Read about Disney's Enchanted with lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, music by Alan Menken. The latest release date for Enchanted is 2 November 2007

More on Wicked

Wicked home page index - access to over 50 Wicked-related web pages

Broadway shop has posters, t-shirts etc.

Wicked Posters, green glasses like Idina wears in the Emerald City scene, shirts: Wicked, Defying Gravity, Popular, Shiz University, etc. etc

Sing along: Wicked karaoke CDs (opens to our new sister site www.musicalsingers.com)

Wicked Sheet Music: Enjoy the highly praised Wicked Sheet Music if you want to sing "Defying Gravity," and other Wicked songs.

Wicked Original Broadway Cast Album Track List with Elphaba's songs highlighted:

• 1. NO ONE MOURNS THE WICKED - Glinda and Citizens of Oz
• 2. DEAR OLD SHIZ - Glinda and Students
• 3. THE WIZARD AND I - Morrible, Elphaba
• 4. WHAT IS THIS FEELING? - Glinda, Elphaba and Students
• 5. SOMETHING BAD - Dr. Dillamond and Elphaba
• 6. DANCING THROUGH LIFE - Fiyero, Glinda, Boq, Nessarose, Elphaba and Students
• 7. POPULAR - Glinda
• 8. I'M NOT THAT GIRL - Elphaba
• 9. ONE SHORT DAY - Glinda, Elphaba and Denizens of the Emerald City
• 10. A SENTIMENTAL MAN - The Wizard
• 11. DEFYING GRAVITY - Elphaba, Glinda, Guards and Citizens of Oz
• 12. THANK GOODNESS - Glinda, Morrible and Citizens of Oz
• 13. WONDERFUL - The Wizard, Elphaba
• 14. I'M NOT THAT GIRL (reprise) - Glinda
• 15. AS LONG AS YOU'RE MINE - Elphaba and Fiyero
• 16. NO GOOD DEED - Elphaba
• 17. MARCH OF THE WITCH HUNTERS - Boq and Citizens of Oz
• 18. FOR GOOD - Glinda and Elphaba
• 19. FINALE - All