Idina Menzel News

RENT owned the 90s. No other Broadway show managed to have the dual impact on society by becoming not only a pop culture phenomenon, but also changing perceptions of what a musical on Broadway could be - and, most importantly, how it could sound. Contemporary, cool, caustic and engaging, RENT updated LA BOHEME to the East Village just as Jonathan Larson updated the way the general public looked at Broadway at a time when musicals had fallen farther out of fashion than they had since their early years approaching the turn of the last century. Yet, at the end of the millennium - to quote one of the show's lyrics - RENT represented the hopes, dreams and desires of many Broadway babies and what we hoped would be achieved on the Great White Way in the new century. While SPRING AWAKENING, AMERICAN IDIOT and NEXT TO NORMAL certainly stand as solid continuations of the rock musical formula recalibrated and made anew in the mold made by RENT, no show since RENT has quite managed to have the cultural impact and win over audiences and critics alike in as major a way as that Tony Award-winning and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical has - with the exception, perhaps, of WICKED, which obviously owes a debt to its Oz-ian source inspiration and the built-in audience that comes along with that. Yes, indeed, RENT represents an entire generation in its sound, style, ideals and overall feeling, mood and tone and the subsequent success of the many members of the simply astounding assortment of talents that comprised the original cast acts as evidence that the show may have had the cast of the decade, as well.

Nationally syndicated morning show 'LIVE! with Kelly' previously announced the lineup of guest co-hosts who will join Kelly Ripa this week, May 21-25, 2012. Today, Monday, May 21, 'Private Practice' star Taye Diggs shares the hosting duties with Ripa. R&B superstar Robin Thicke chats with the hosts and performs for the 'LIVE' audience, and 'The Bachelorette' Emily Maynard sits down with Kelly and Taye.

While the Disney musical itself was suspiciously not nominated for Best Musical, the 2000 Tony Awards committee saw it fit to award Elton John & Tim Rice's stylish and emotional rock musical AIDA in four significant categories on June 4, 2000 - Best Actress In A Musical for Heather Headley charismatic lead performance, Best Score for Elton John and Tim Rice's moving and expressive music and lyrics, Best Scenic Design for Bob Crowley's stunning set-pieces and Best Lighting Design for Natasha Katz's enveloping illumination of the Palace Theatre's rightly famous stage. The show has gone on to a rich life around the world and in amateur productions, with generations of theatergoers hooked on the classic story once told in an opera by Verdi in a totally modern and dynamic new way - with some songs we are not soon to forget.

Theater actor, writer, and director Gerard Alessandrini's brainchild, the 30-year-old Off-Broadway hit parody series FORBIDDEN BROADWAY, finally premiered at Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza in Makati City last weekend. Joel Trinidad, Upstart Productions' president and the show's director, had picked FORBIDDEN BROADWAY'S GREATEST HITS, which has two volumes to date, and features some of the more popular spoofs of Broadway musicals and theater legends culled from more than a dozen FORBIDDEN BROADWAY editions.

On the edge of glory, GLEE momentarily brought back the ecstatic excitement and indescribably infectious joy which made the musical dramedy series a huge hit in its first and second seasons, then commanding upwards of twelve million viewers a week. Now sixty-plus episodes into the series, in a two-hour episode helmed by co-creator Ian Brennan, last night's two-episode gorge-worthy and gorgeous feast - 'Props' and 'Nationals', by the hour - was a reminder of everything that cynics have cited as lacking from episodes in Season Three, as flagging ratings and a general media lull plagues the once seemingly indomitable mega-show despite its continued inventiveness and dramatic daringness. It was fresh and sassy and outrageous, but touching and heartfelt - attributes ascribed to the best episodes of the show. Yet, it was so much more, too - and then there's the music! Both hours were a totally over-the-top tribute to all things big and wow-worthy, coming at just the right moment to pump some energizing lifeblood into the audience base - passing references to Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Marvin Hamlisch and Elton John as well as multiple winks at DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES songwriter and BAT OUT OF HELL mastermind Jim Steinman collectively pushing the theatre insider reference quotient into the stratosphere; and appreciably so. Yes, indeed, last night's double-dose of GLEE was an OD-worthy escapade worthy of returning to time and time again - Lea Michele's solo spots of Jason Mraz's 'I Won't Give Up' and Celine Dion's Grammy-winning 'It's All Coming Back To Me Now' alone were standouts of not only this or any season, but the series itself. With more than fifteen songs performed - everything from Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj and The Who to STARLIGHT EXPRESS, TOMMY, FLASHDANCE and KISS ME, KATE - there was something for everyone in the two-hour GLEE extravaganza overflowing with the witty one-liners, out-of-this-world twists, outlandish characterizations, as well as the idiosyncratic theatrical reality that only GLEE can create. It was a true return to form to prove any and all naysayers wrong, and, this, coming after last week's Ryan Murphy-penned 'Prom-asaurus' season highlight, no less.

In her first return to television since 'Sex in the City,' Emmy Award-winning actress and fashion icon Sarah Jessica Parker will guest star in the fourth season of GLEE.

In a correlative column to this weekend's extensive and exclusive InDepth InterView, tonight we are shining a special solo spotlight on the vast multitude of talents possessed by one of Broadway's brightest stars - known best to theatre fans for his tremendous turns in Maury Yeston's TITANIC, Andrew Lippa's THE WILD PARTY, the original musicals SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, SHREK and NEXT TO NORMAL as well as original dramas such as TIME STANDS STILL - who now can now regularly be seen on NBC's hit music drama series SMASH, and, starting this Sunday in a three-episode arc on Showtime's THE BIG C with fellow Broadway notable Tammy Blanchard - the one and only Brian D'arcy James. While you will have to wait until tomorrow for the career-spanning conversation that covers his experiences working on those thrilling original musicals as well as reflections on collaborating with the starry array of cast members and creatives on the Steven Spielberg-produced SMASH and what lays ahead for Season Two, now is an absolutely ideal opportunuity to reacclimatize ourselves. Just what can't Brian d'Arcy James do? As this spell-binding collection of clips prove - everything; and then some.

Today we are continuing BroadwayWorld's ongoing interview series with the stars and creative team of NBC's hit musical drama series SMASH with a Broadway/Hollywood leading man who first made his mark on the stage creating a role in the Tony Award-winning TITANIC after having appeared in BLOOD BROTHERS and CAROUSEL and who has since starred in productions as diverse as SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, NEXT TO NORMAL, SHREK and many more - the jovial and multi-talented Brian d'Arcy James. Discussing all aspects of his role on SMASH as well as cluing us in on what we can expect from Monday's highly awaited season finale, d'Arcy James and I also take a look back at his career onstage thus far and he shares fond recollections of working on TITANIC, SWEET SMELL, SHREK, NEXT TO NORMAL, TIME STANDS STILL and THE WILD PARTY Off-Broadway as well as offers his observations of his collaborators and co-stars in each endeavor. Plus, Brian also reveals his other current TV project: his character arc on Showtime's dramedy THE BIG C, starring his TIME STANDS STILL co-star Laura Linney and previous John Benjamin Hickey, that begins this Sunday and continues through the rest of this month. Additionally, we also discuss his upcoming 54 Below concerts June 26-30 - as well as his thoughtful and candid opinions on some of his favorite songwriters and his own songs. Plus, comments on his film roles in HBO's GAME CHANGE, FRIENDS WITH KIDS, an upcoming short film - and much, much more!

Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts announces its entire 2012 Summer season, featuring 92 performances at the majestic Filene Center amphitheater, nine evenings of opera at The Barns at Wolf Trap, and 34 performances in 108 days at Wolf Trap's Children's Theatre-in-the-Woods.

On Monday, May 21, 'Private Practice' star TAYE DIGGS will share the hosting duties with Ripa. R&B superstar Robin Thicke chats with the hosts and performs for the 'LIVE' audience.

Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts has announced its entire 2012 Summer season, featuring 92 live performances and 108 days at the Filene Center amphitheater, nine evenings of opera at The Barns at Wolf Trap, and 34 performances at Wolf Trap's Children's Theatre-in-the-Woods. See below for recent additions to the line-up and schedule.

Tony Award-winning actress, singer and songwriter Idina Menzel, star of Broadway's Wicked and the original stage production of Rent, will ring in the new year at Walt Disney Concert Hall with two performances of her brand new live show, on December 31, 2012, at 7 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

Idina Menzel started her camp for girls, A Broader Way, in 2010 with husband Taye Diggs. In this video, Idina and Taye talk about what exactly A Broader Way is, and how it has impacted their lives.

Rachel doesn't seem likely to be headed to New York and NYADA - nope, not this time. Mucking up her major shot at Broadway glory - at least as far as high school auditions go - by messing up the words to "Don't Rain On My Parade" from FUNNY GIRL, her anthem, no less - the focus on GLEE's appropriately titled "Choke" episode brought to mind a lyric from Stephen Sondheim's MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, a musical about the sacrifices we make to get what we thought we wanted - "still with dreams, / just reshaping them. / Growing up…." And that is Season Three of GLEE in a nutshell - the senior members of New Directions learning to let go of childhood and move ahead into the unknown world of maturity; whether the future may bring college, career or pool-cleaning. With more musical theatre references per minute than any episode of the twenty so far in GLEE S3, "Choke" was filled with the stylized storytelling and absurd, although always appreciable surprises along the way that makes GLEE consistently, near-constantly compelling. No, no, no - GLEE has not flagged in the least sixty-odd episodes into the series so far, although the rating may have slightly. Last night's GLEE was a good example of the shifting focus and repeated reinvention that keeps the series fresh - and the comedy is as fearless and biting as ever.

A Memorial Tribute honoring Theodore Mann, Circle in the Square's Co-Founder, Artistic Director, and Co-Producer, who passed away on February 24 at the age of 87, will be held at Circle in the Square Theatre, 1633 Broadway, at 50th Street, today, May 1, at 1 p.m. Seating is open to the general public on a first come, first-served basis.

Tonight on GLEE, Kurt and Rachel finally get to audition for NYADA and Whoopi Goldberg guest stars! The full episode airs 5/1 on FOX. Check out photos and full audio tracks from the episode below, which include 'Cell Block Tango,' 'Shake It Out,' 'School's Out,' 'The Rain in Spain,' 'Not the Boy Next Door' and more!

Nashville Symphony's June 2012 Events include Carmina Burana, Willie Nelson, Idina Menzel, Beethoven and more. See details below.

Next week on GLEE, Kurt and Rachel finally get to audition for NYADA - the promo trailer below drops a heavy hint than everything will not run smoothly! The full episode airs 5/1 on FOX. Check out full audio tracks from the episode below, which include 'Cell Block Tango,' 'Shake It Out,' 'School's Out,' 'The Rain in Spain,' 'Not the Boy Next Store' and more!

In next week's GLEE episode, Puck (Mark Salling) and the rest of the cast sing Alice Cooper's rebellious classic 'School's Out.' This episode will air on May 1 at 8/7c.

Full of biting wit and hilarious parodies of various popular Broadway shows--and the famous actors that star in them--Musical Theatre West's cabaret-style send-up FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: GREATEST HITS, VOLUME 2 plays its final, laugh-filled set of performances this weekend ending April 29 at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach.