BWW Reviews: IDINA MENZEL in concert with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra

Truth be told, the exit signs in Laura Turner Hall at Nashville's world-class Schermerhorn Symphony Center are always illuminated in green, but if Tony Award-winner Idina Menzel wants to think the color of the exit signs were a down-home homage to her Wickedly famous role on Broadway, then so be it. In fact, it's sort of amazing the building is still standing after the thunderous ovations given her Tuesday night by a savvy Music City audience so captivated by her extraordinary performance that we may, henceforth, claim her as one of our own.

"I have to tell you - and to show you how totally self-absorbed I really am," she told her audience in a self-deprecating, if somewhat conspiratorial, tone, "that when I was singing that song ["I'm Not that Girl" from Wicked], feeling every emotion in the lyrics and totally committed to the moment, I noticed that all the exit signs are green. Aren't they usually red? I thought, 'how sweet, they changed the color of the exit signs just for me.'"

Even if in jest she wants to think so, the people of Nashville are more than willing to aid and abet Menzel's highly entertaining flights of whimsy in any way we can - even if those long-lasting and loud ovations that punctuated her performance already did the job for us. I can't prove it, but I think all the traffic signals downtown were flashing green in honor of her wonderfully diverse and emotionally felt performance.

Obviously, Menzel (beautiful in a gossamer chartreuse gown, her glorious voice shining to perfection, her lovely manner so engaging that you felt she was giving you a private concert) is a charming raconteur and gifted artist, whose Nashville performance proved that the power of music - and musical theater - knows no bounds. In the course of her slightly more than an hour-and-a-half concert, Menzel put on a display of vocal artistry that was nothing short of stunning as she moved effortlessly and seamlessly from one song to the next.

Backed by the Grammy Award-winning Nashville Symphony Orchestra, the members of which certainly know their way with a musical work of art, Menzel's technical and artistic vocal wizardry was exquisitely framed by the orchestra's exemplary abilities. In short, it was a delightful and appropriate pairing of soloist and orchestra, with Menzel's music director Rob Mounsey sharing an easy onstage rapport with her and Matthew Kraemer confidently wielding the conductor's baton.

Opening with the beautifully written "Life of the Party" from Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party (which debuted off-Broadway in the same season as Michael John LaChiusa's more heralded The Wild Party was on Broadway; frankly, I fall in the Lippa camp; I prefer his Wild Party - thanks, Idina!), Menzel easily and capably took control of her audience, showing her complete command of the stage while gently placing the audience's collective heart in the palm of her hand. In her audience's eyes (and ears, of course), she could do no wrong as she took them on a musical journey that touched on her earliest "professional" efforts (she was a wedding singer at 15 - who knew?); her emergence as a major star on Broadway in Rent (her impeccable and rather low-key performance of "No Day But Today" from Rent recalled her main-stem debut while perfectly showcasing her voice) and Wicked (Elphaba's rabid fans were treated to a stunning rendition of "Defying Gravity," while perhaps most surprising was her beautiful a capella version of "For Good" that was the most emotionally satisfying number of the evening); and her subsequent appearances on TV mega-hit Glee (hearing the Nashville Symphony perform Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" may easily have been worth the price of a ticket).

Performing a medley (or a mash-up, as the kids are calling them today...oy!) of "Funny Girl" and "Don't Rain On My Parade" from the Jule Styne-Bob Merrill musical - on the same day that director Bartlett Sher announced plans for an online search for cast members for the upcoming Broadway revival of that show - seemed an eerily prescient choice, even if it makes you wonder why a revival wasn't mounted earlier, with Menzel taking on the role of Fanny Brice? If there is a better version of "Funny Girl" out there in the universe, it's hard to imagine whose it might be (yes, I'm saying her rendition of the song is better than Babs').

But the concert's most heartfelt moment, which Menzel confessed was giving her fits of nervousness all day long (which came after a red-eye flight from the west coast that landed her in Nashville at 7 a.m. Tuesday), was her eloquently realized version of Willie Nelson's timeless classic "You Were Always On My Mind." Beautifully sung, its rather simple arrangement making it all the more effective, it could well be the moment that will be most remembered by Menzel's rapt audience when they recall their concert experience.

Throughout the evening, Menzel kept up an easy dialogue with the audience - Nashville audiences are nothing if not outspoken in their support of their favorite performers - displaying a quick wit and an adept way with between-songs patter that was clever and amusing, just a little bit dishy (including some juicy backstage gossip from the Kennedy Center Honors the year she sang for Barbra Streisand and some tasty dish from the Glee soundstages), with enough insider information to make you feel as if she were confiding in you, and with enough personal recollections about her life with husband Taye Diggs  and son Walker (and the family's Yorkie, Sammy Davis Jr. - "he's little, black and Jewish," she explains) that you felt like you were talking with an old friend...the perfect way to spend a hot, early-summer evening in Music City USA.

 

Photos of Idina Menzel with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra by Alan Goldstein

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