Idina Menzel Talks Broadway, Balance and Her Dream Gig
Notes from America with Kai Wright
WNYC Studios
4.4 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2022
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From Broadway to Frozen, Idina Menzel has captivated young and old audiences alike. A new documentary about her journey as a performer reveals how she worked to land her dream gig.
Actor and singer Idina Menzel has played a series of roles that inspire empowerment and a quest for identity. Her critically acclaimed turns on Broadway in Rent and Wicked and her voice work as Elsa in Disney’s Frozen have made her an intergenerational star. Now, a new Disney Plus documentary called “Idina Menzel: Which Way to the Stage” unveils the person behind such iconic characters and shares her devotion to entertaining audiences. Ahead of the film’s release, Host Kai Wright speaks with Menzel about balancing work and life, and realizing her dream of performing at Madison Square Garden.
Companion listening for this episode:
David Byrne on Musical Democracy (2/10/2022)
The former Talking Heads frontman explores the challenges – and beauties – of human connection while breaking down his hit Broadway show, American Utopia.
“Notes from America” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. To catch all the action, tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on notesfromamerica.org or on WNYC’s YouTube channel.
We want to hear from you! Connect with us on Instagram and Twitter @noteswithkai or email us at [email protected].
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Have you heard of Adina Menzel? |
| 0:04.0 | She's had so many iconic roles. |
| 0:06.0 | Which one do you most associate with her? |
| 0:08.0 | Frozen. |
| 0:09.0 | Frozen. |
| 0:10.0 | And frozen? |
| 0:11.0 | Even though I know she's more prolific for Wicked. |
| 0:13.0 | I would probably say Wicked and Ranch. |
| 0:16.0 | Alphaba. |
| 0:17.0 | In Wicked. |
| 0:18.0 | Of course. |
| 0:19.0 | She's in Wicked. |
| 0:20.0 | Oh, she's in both. |
| 0:21.0 | She's in both? |
| 0:22.0 | Yeah, she's in both. |
| 0:23.0 | But in the second movie, she sings. |
| 0:25.0 | But in the first movie, she wasn't singing. |
| 0:27.0 | And they were like, oh, she can sing. |
| 0:29.0 | She's like Broadway star. |
| 0:30.0 | You didn't know she could sing? |
| 0:31.0 | In the first-in-chance, in the movie, she wasn't singing. |
| 0:34.0 | Um, she sings Let It Go, right? |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.