Frozen’s Queen of Broadway, Idina Menzel
Idina Menzel
Idina Menzel has been skirting the edges of super stardom since the start of her career on Broadway in her breakout role as Maureen Johnson in the Broadway musical Rent. She ended up earning a Tony for this performance in 1996, but she still was not a common household name. She ended up doing more work for Rent when she reprised her role as Maureen for the film adaptation, which many theatre and choir kids have been forced to watch when there is nothing else to do in class. One of her biggest roles on Broadway she played Elphaba as part of the original cast of Wicked and won a Tony for her role in that also. After falling through a trap door and cracking a rib during Wicked, Menzel took a break from Broadway. She became famous all throughout the world not for her Broadway roles, but for her role as Elsa in the Disney movie Frozen. The song “Let it Go” which Menzel’s character sings, won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Some of Menzel’s lesser known roles include Nancy in the Disney Film Enchanted, Amneris in the Broadway production Aida, as well as a recurring role as Shelby Corcoran in the TV series Glee. Menzel returned to Broadway in the 2014 production of If/Then, earning her a Tony nomination.
Menzel voiced Elsa in Disney’s Frozen
From a musical perspective, Idina Menzel is very technical and is able to navigate her range with great precision and control, which provides supported and projected notes. She is capable of holding sustained notes with or without vibrato, however her vibrato is very thin compared to others. She has a strong midrange, but as her range climbs she gets a rougher sound as she enters her belting range since she doesn’t always combine her head voice and chest voice during this. Because she has such a large vocal range, she doesn’t use her head voice as often.Though as she dives into the basement of her range the quality of her notes become rounded and softer.
Idina Menzel as Elphaba in the West End’s production of Wicked
Idina Menzel is best known for her impressive belting range, which is usually on display in her most well know songs such as “Let it Go”, “No Day but Today“, “My Strongest Suit“, and “Defying Gravity“. The belting range is clear and sometimes has an almost unmusical quality to it because it is so steady and loud. Because the voice is already light in the upper belting range, when it’s mixed with the head voice, to hit higher notes, the voice retains much of its character, making the belting range sound endless and effortless.
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