The release of I Stand, the long-awaited and highly anticipated Warner Bros. Records debut of Idina Menzel, took place back on January 29th and hit the Billboard charts at #58, the star's first solo album to do so. Featuring 9 songs written by Menzel, I Stand, is produced by Grammy award winner Glen Ballard, brings Idina Menzel to another chapter of a star-studded career that includes a Tony Award for her star turn as the green witch Elpheba, in Wicked as well as a Broadway debut in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Rent. Menzel recently performed the National Anthem for a TV audience of many millions before the start of the now legendary Giants / Patriots Super Bowl Game, played in New Jersey.
Menzel appears TONIGHT, February 26, 2008 in conversation at the 92nd Street Y. Click here for details.
Let's start at the beginning of the journey for I Stand. When did you begin working on the album? I got signed to Warner Brothers toward the end of my Wicked run, and as soon as I got signed, I started to think about collaborators and people I always wanted to work with. Glen Ballard was at the top of my list, although I didn't think it would be possible. Thankfully, I begged the label to set up a meeting and we hit it off. From there I spent the next year and a half writing music with him and a couple of other people as well. Mostly, I sat with him, especially for the first half of the process, to really try to zone in and find the right sound.
As many of your fans know, you've been writing your own music for a while now. Where did the songs for I Stand come from?
I've been writing since I was a teenager, and always just writing music, trying to get the songs demo-d, trying to get signed to a record label and gigging around downtown New York City, when I was in college and doing that whole scene. Then along came Rent, unforeseen, and I got that role and that sort of took me on a slightly different path.
Many actors who perform solo note that it's much more frightening to appear as "yourself" rather than behind the mask of a character. Was it the opposite for you...or the same?
Performing as yourself, and especially your OWN music, is much more frightening (laughs). The reason being that just singing your own words and putting yourself out there for everyone to embrace or to criticize...it's a very scarifying thing...and yet, it's the most rewarding thing in the world.
I will be forever indebted to the likes of Stephen Schwartz, Jonathan Larson and all the other composers that I've worked with, because it's an honor to sing their music. There's just something different about doing your own thing.
What's next for you after the the release of I Stand? Are you planning more solo work immediately or back to the stage, or...?
I hope to do it all. I will never leave the theater. My heart is there and I love being on stage 8 times a week. It just so happens this is also something that I love. I've spent a lot of my life trying to figure out which one was more "me" and trying to decide, trying to make, trying to focus on one thing...left me thinking that I couldn't' have it all. I feel like now I realize that it's OK to be versatile and multi-faceted and it's great to have a balance and that, as long as you find a cohesive way of presenting your ideas, you can have it all.
