The first time I ever heard of Idina Menzel was when I was in Mississippi. We had gone to see Wicked in New York City, and we watched the dvd of RENT over and over again. When I came back, it seemed to me that everytime I liked a new musical (new for me), Idina Menzel was in it. She quickly became my favorite Broadway actress (I say Broadway, because I have favorite West End actors as well...).
Idina Menzel is an American actress and singer from New York City. She was born on May 30, 1971. She was first a wedding and bar-mitzvah singer and she graduated from the Tish School of the Arts (NYU). Her Broadway debut was in RENT in 1995, written by Jonathan Larson (see my other article on this wonderful musical here), she originated the role of Maureen Johnson, which she later played in the movie version of the play. She was nominated for the Tony of Best Featured Actress in a Musical for this role.
She then worked on some personal music and was in other musicals such as The Wild Party, Aida and Chess, but the one that stuck out the most was in 2003: Wicked, written by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman. Idina originated the role of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, opposite Kristin Chenoweth, and she then won the 2004 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. She later reprised her role in the London production of Wicked in 2006.
Idina also appeared in movies such as Enchanted and tv shows such as Glee (playing Rachel's mom, Shelby Corcoran, and it was known long before she even came on Glee how much Idina and Lea Michele look alike).
She married the actor Taye Diggs on January 11, 2003 (one day after my birthday!). He is also an actor, they met during RENT, but you all might know him as Sam on Private Practice. They have a cute son together, named Walker Nathaniel Diggs who is 3 years old.
I wanted to share with you the amazingness that is Idina Menzel, so here are a bunch of videos of her singing. This woman is beautiful and has one of the best voices I have ever heard and, having gone to her concert last week, I know that she is really nice and hilarious. It was definitely not a bad evening, her voice is even better live and she kept making jokes and laughing, she is really great. I had the amazing opportunity of meeting her after her concert, I got a great hug and she told me "You're so pretty". I am still not over this. I met my idol and inspiration. If you want to see pictures of this: here and here, or my Facebook album for more pictures of the concert.
I hope you will all love her and her singing as much as I do. Enjoy!
