Line #27 Creator/IdinaMenzel


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/idina_menzel_1.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:''[[Theatre/{{Wicked}} She's defying gravity, and you won't bring her down!]]'']]
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4	->''"You can't be the vulnerable, transparent, raw person required to be an artist, and then cover that stuff up and meet the world with some kind of armor on. It just doesn't go."''
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6	Idina Kim Menzel (born Idina Kim Mentzel, May 30, 1971) is a Broadway icon born in New York City, New York. Her breakout role came in the form of Maureen in ''{{Theatre/Rent}}'', which earned her a Tony nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical. She went on to reprise her role in the 2005 movie adaptation. She won her first Tony for playing the main character of ''{{Theatre/Wicked}}'', Elphaba, opposite Creator/KristinChenoweth's Glinda. She was nominated for a Tony for a third time for playing the main character of ''Theatre/IfThen''.
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8	After ''Wicked'', she began her screen acting career; she played Nancy in ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'' and played Shelby Corcoran, who went on to be a recurring character, on ''Series/{{Glee}}''. However, her best-known screen role is Queen Elsa of Arendelle in Creator/{{Disney}}'s ''Franchise/{{Frozen}}'' franchise.
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10	She was formerly married to her ''RENT'' costar Creator/TayeDiggs, with whom she has a son; they divorced in December 2014. She has been married since 2017 to Aaron Lohr, whom she costarred with in the 2005 film adaptation of ''RENT'' as well as an Off-Broadway production of ''See What I Wanna See''.
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12	!! Selected theatre:
13	* ''Theatre/{{RENT}}'' (1994/1996 Broadway) as Maureen Johnson (original)
14	* ''Theatre/{{Aida\|JohnRice}}'' (2001 Broadway) as Amneris
15	* ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' (2003 Broadway, 2006 West End) as Elphaba (original)
16	* ''Theatre/IfThen'' (2014) as Elizabeth Vaughan (original)
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18	!! Selected filmography:
19	* ''WesternAnimation/HerculesTheAnimatedSeries'' (1998) as Circe
20	* ''Film/KissingJessicaStein'' (2001) as Bridesmaid
21	* ''Film/{{RENT}}'' (2005) as Maureen Johnson
22	* ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'' (2007) as Nancy Tremaine
23	** ''[[Film/Disenchanted2022 Disenchanted]]'' (2022)
24	* ''Series/{{Glee}}'' (2010 -- 2013) as Shelby Corcoran
25	* ''Franchise/{{Frozen}}'' as Elsa (voice and songs):
26	** ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen\|2013}}'' (2013)
27	** ''WesternAnimation/FrozenFever'' (2015)
28	** ''WesternAnimation/OlafsFrozenAdventure'' (2017)
29	** ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'' (2018)
30	** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' (2019)
31	** ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'' (2019)
32	** ''WesternAnimation/OnceUponAStudio'' (2023)
33	* ''Film/{{Beaches}}'' (2017) as C.C. Bloom
34	* ''Film/UncutGems'' (2019) as Dinah Ratner
35	* ''Film/{{Cinderella\|2021}}'' (2021) as Vivian
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37	!! Discography:
38	* ''Still I Can't Be Still'' (1998)
39	* ''Here'' (2004)
40	* ''I Stand'' (2008)
41	* ''Live: Barefoot at the Symphony'' (2012)
42	* ''[[ChristmasSongs Holiday Wishes]]'' (2014)
43	* ''[[SelfTitledAlbum idina]]''. (2016)
44	* ''[[ChristmasSongs Christmas: A Season of Love]]'' (2018)
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46	!!Her roles provide examples of:
47	* ActorAllusion: On her ''Christmas: A Season of Love'' album in 2019, "We Wish You the Merriest" is a duet between Idina and Creator/JoshGad (Olaf). So in the bridge between the first and second verses:
48	-->'''Gad:''' Look at us, Idina, we're like Barbara, and Bette, and Cher\
49	We're like Crosby and Hope, Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney\
50	Or Elsa, and Olaf
51	* ActorInspiredElement: As is widely documented, Elsa was originally written to be a villain. "Let It Go" was her VillainSong, after she embraced a ThenLetMeBeEvil attitude. When Idina recorded the song, she sang it with such a yearning vulnerability that the directors were compelled to change Elsa to a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds who only has good intentions.
52	* AscendedFancast: During the first season of ''Glee'' it was long noted that Lea Michele (Rachel) resembled Menzel, and that Menzel should play Rachel's mom. It eventually was revealed that Shelby (Idina's character) was Rachel's biological mother.
53	* AscendedMeme: The infamous "Adele Dazeem" gaffe made by Creator/JohnTravolta at the 2014 Oscars when he misread Idina's name was added to the playbills for her new play ''Theatre/IfThen'', listing her as the star of ''[[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Farfignugen]]'' and ''[[{{Theatre/Rent}} Nert]]''. Has also become a RunningGag to claim it was "Adele Dazeem" singing when Idina doesn't hit every note in a song.
54	* DawsonCasting:
55	** Menzel was 25 when she first played Maureen in ''Theatre/{{Rent}}'' on Broadway and 34 when she reprised her role in the movie adaptation. Maureen (and the majority of the show's main characters) are written as being in their early twenties, so by the time the movie was filmed, Menzel was no longer the right age. (The same goes for all the members of the original cast who reprised their roles for the film).
56	** She starred in ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' at age 32, playing Elphaba as a college freshman in the first act; however, Act 2 takes place many years after Act 1, so most of the actors who have played Elphaba have been in their late 20s or early 30s anyway.
57	* HeavenAbove: Her song "I Stand" includes the lyric "I don't know if the sky is Heaven, but I pray anyway." Menzel seems to find any non-vertical prayer entirely ludicrous, in large part because of this ancient connection between the sky and the divine.
58	* IAmBecomingSong: [[Theatre/{{Wicked}} "Defying Gravity"]]. [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 "Let It Go"]]. She belted them both out of the park.
59	* InkSuitActor: Her guest spot as Circe on ''WesternAnimation/HerculesTheAnimatedSeries'' and as Nancy in the animated portion of ''{{Film/Enchanted}}''. To a lesser extent, the shape of Elsa's eyes and mouth are based on Menzel's own face.
60	* IronyAsSheIsCast:
61	** Nancy Tremaine in ''{{Film/Enchanted}}'' doesn't sing at all[[note]]She had a song early in production but it was cut, and she would eventually get to sing in ''Film/{{Disenchanted\|2022}}''.[[/note]]. Menzel said she felt flattered to be hired only for her acting talents.
62	** ''WesternAnimation/OlafsFrozenAdventure'' makes Elsa into a case of this since the story is about Elsa and Anna's first Christmas in Arendelle since the coronation, and Menzel is Jewish.
63	* LargeHam: In terms of her singing, her most beloved songs ("Defying Gravity", "Let It Go," and "Into the Unknown") include moments where she ''really'' belts it out.
64	* RomanceOnTheSet: She met her ex-husband Taye Diggs on the set of ''Rent''. They also starred together in ''{{Theatre/Wicked}}''[[note]]albeit briefly; Diggs played the role of Fiyero for only a month, from December 2003 to January 2004, filling in for Norbert Leo Butz[[/note]] and ''The Wild Party''.
65	* SequelGap: Her 2014 album "Holiday Wishes" was released six years after her previous album.
66	* SeparatedAtBirthCasting: She was cast as Rachel's mother on ''Series/{{Glee}}'' mainly because she bears a striking resemblance to Rachel's actor, Creator/LeaMichele.
67	* StarMakingRole: ''Rent'' gave her a following, ''Wicked'' pushed her into the public spotlight, and ''Frozen'' made her a cultural phenomenon. She even commented on the latter when she was told that songs in musicals just didn't get radio airplay anymore, and now "Let It Go" is a radio hit that includes "frozen fractals" in the lyrics, all thanks to playing Elsa. It's especially impressive because it was Menzel's own in-movie version of the song that hit it big, not the over-the-credits version by Music/DemiLovato. Usually with Disney hits it's the pop-music cover version at the end of the movie (see ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King\|1994}}'') that would get radio airplay.
68	* ThoseTwoActors: With Creator/AnthonyRapp, Adam Pascal, Creator/LeaMichele, Creator/JonathanGroff, Creator/KristinChenoweth, and Kerry Ellis.
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Context Creator / IdinaMenzel