Idina Menzel to Perform IDINA MENZEL AND FRIENDS for BBC Radio 2

Idina Menzel returns to the UK following her sell-out series of concert dates last year to perform at the prestigious 2013 Olivier Awards with MasterCard ceremony and give a special one off concert at the Hackney Empire - Idina Menzel and Friends - to be broadcast on BBC Radio 2's Friday Night Is Music Night.

Tony Award winner Idina Menzel is a compelling star of stage, film and television whooriginated the role of Elphaba in both New York and London in the worldwide hit musicalWicked. She is also well known for her role in popular TV programme Glee and will return to the show in the new series.

Idina will perform at the Olivier Awards with MasterCard on Sunday 28 April at the Royal Opera House. The glittering, star studded ceremony will be broadcast on ITV television in a full highlights package and live on BBC Radio 2. For more information please see olivierawards.com.

Idina Menzel and Friends is a special Friday Night Is Music Night, recorded at the Hackney Empire on Wednesday 24 April and airing on BBC Radio 2 on Friday 26 April. Idina will perform songs from throughout her career with the sixty piece BBC Concert Orchestra under the baton of leading West End conductor Mike Dixon. For more information and to book tickets please see hackneyempire.co.uk/idinamenzel.

Idina Menzel received a Tony Award for her performance as Elphaba in the original production of Wicked on Broadway. She subsequently reprised the role in the original West End cast, winning a Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Idina also received a Tony Award nomination for her debut Broadway performance as Maureen, in the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning hit musical Rent. Her television and film work includes Glee, Disney's Enchanted and the film version of Rent. Idina's next film project will be Disney animated feature Frozen, opposite Kristen Bell.

As a singer/ songwriter, Idina writes and performs her own music, and has undertaken sell-out tours promoting her solo albums. Most recently she released her first live concert album and DVD, Idina Menzel LIVE: Barefoot at the Symphony, recorded in Toronto on her internationally acclaimed symphony tour.