Idina Menzel: Which Way to the Stage? (2022) Movie Script

[band playing "Over the Moon"]
[Idina Menzel]
Last night, I had a dream
I found myself playing
In Madison Square Garden
With the greatest band of all time
[vocalizes]
And the fans were screaming
[chattering]
Heading to S.I.R.
Um, it's 25th Street and 10th.
It's the very first day of rehearsal.
We're gonna do, like, 17 shows,
and then they end up in my dream spot,
which is at The Garden.
-[horns honking]
-Don't make a right. All right, sir?
[driver] Gonna make a left.
[Menzel] Thanks.
-Hey. Hi.
-How are ya?
[Menzel] This is the first time
everybody's in the same room.
-Hey.
-Welcome.
[Menzel] I've been on the road
with all these musicians for years,
so we're a really big family.
-Hello.
-Hey there, sweetie.
[musician] Let me just hear it.
Just do it straight for now.
I'll show you, and then
-Did we cut that bridge?
-[person] I just brought some snacks.
[Menzel] Just trying to tell the story.
Figure out the set list
and have some fun with it.
The whole way
that I've constructed the set list is
to tell the story of my life
and how I got here.
[band playing "Queen of Swords"]
You mistake my passion for anger
Should I sit polite in the silence
[Menzel]
This is a really special time for me
because we're playing in
all of these amazing arenas
and ending up in my hometown:
Madison Square Garden Arena.
Which is like a dream come true for me.
I can be
Like a raging storm
And don't go asking me
For apologies
And I'll sing
Everything's been coming full circle,
and it's just taken me, like,
26 years to get to The Garden.
But we're, uh we're gonna get there.
This time you better believe
That there's no way
I'm holding back anymore
I'm slaying like the queen of swords
She always sang.
She used to sing, uh, for my father.
He would introduce her, and--
at three years old,
and she'd run out from behind the couch.
The one that really, I think, got me was
when you were in Carousel.
And you sang
That's in high school.
Mommy was believing in me
-since I was six-years-old
-I be--
at the Brickman's in the Catskills.
In the Catskills, the kids go to camp
when you stay at a hotel.
And they do a talent night.
And we're all standing there and she's
singing "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow."
And all these people are saying,
"Oh, my God! Listen to that girl."
I thought when you came out of the womb
you were gonna be famous.
-Yeah. Have your mother beat that one.
-No, go back to--
This time you better believe
That there's no way
I'm holding back anymore
I'm slaying like the queen of swords
"Queen of Swords," I thought
I would do that, but not big, like,
with all the Pro Tools
and stuff from last time.
We would do it a cool, unplugged version
that was really fun with acoustic guitar
and, um, our--
just percussion instead of drums.
So, I can't, you know, whatever.
I just wanna cover my bases,
so I'm not surprised
and I feel good
about whatever happens and--
[electronic voice]
has left the conference.
-Great. Who just left?
-[laughs]
Hey
Hey
[Menzel] I feel like the set's always
a living, breathing thing.
And I want us all to feel like
we have some creative freedom, you know,
and we're not just stuck in one script.
But, um, I only have an hour because
I'm sharing the bill with Josh Groban.
This is an all
[Menzel] I love Josh. We've worked
together a bunch of times in the past.
Life imperceptibly coming between
[Menzel] And we need
to divide the stage time.
Love is as strong
So, it's, like, slam-packed.
I don't have much time to breathe.
Hold up. Should we just do
one chorus right into the "Hey"?
[Menzel]
I think one of the biggest misconceptions
about me as a singer is that
I just come from a theater background.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
Am I always starting over
In a brand-new story
[Menzel] When I was a little girl,
I loved musical theater.
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever
[Menzel] I did listen to cast albums
when I was a little kid, and I
My parents did bring me to shows.
I was inspired by so much--
West Side Story to My Fair Lady,
that's all part of me.
From now on, it's gonna be me, Rosie.
On the town,
living, dancing, having a ball.
Making up for eight long years
of being in love with a mama-clutching,
aspirin-splitting, 6-foot tower of Jell-O.
[Menzel] Then when I was 15, 16,
I started working with wedding bands.
And when he comes my way
I'll do my best
To make him stay
[Menzel] But then, as I got
a little older, my musical taste evolved.
that way
When your honey drip, can't keep away
[Menzel] I started to sing
a lot more rock and R&B
and started to write my own music
and find my own sound.
like that
Whatever you're thinking
Whatever you're feeling
I'm of many of many worlds. [laughs]
No, I'm of many, like, um, influences.
And so, it's taken, like,
a life of experience
and songs that speak to those experiences.
A song from a show, a song from an album,
a song from my childhood.
It's all those things in one concert.
like crazy
I hope for a hero to save me
[Menzel] I'm stressing a lot.
Like, I'm multitasking.
Trying to be in this headspace
and be with my band and do the music
and get the set ready, and--
But I have two major things
before I have to be onstage in Atlanta.
I have to finish this film that I'm doing,
and I have to do
the Wicked 15th anniversary TV special.
Tour rehearsal's expecting me around 5:00,
and Wicked rehearsal's expecting me
at 4:30.
I've been simultaneously doing this
Adam Sandler movie where I play his wife,
and we worked till 7:00 in the morning
last night.
I hate being with you,
I hate looking at you,
and if I had my way,
I would never see you again.
You can punch me if you want.
Oh, thanks.
-Hey, I was
-[laughs]
And I'm late because I was FaceTiming LA
um, so that I could be--
watch my son's basketball game.
That was the biggest thing of the day,
to be honest. [laughs]
Once I'm with the Wizard
My whole life will change
[Menzel] Aaron and I met through friends
in the theater community,
and I was out of town
doing the D.C. production of If/Then,
which, funny enough,
was all about the choices one makes.
And I was going through a divorce.
I hadn't seen him in years and years
'cause he had left the business.
And someone mentioned him, and I thought,
"Well, he could be a good person
to go on a first date with."
And we were inseparable ever since then.
And when Aaron and I were dating,
he's like,
"I don't wanna get married.
I don't wanna have babies."
I'm like, "Me too."
And then he, all of a sudden,
he wants to marry me in my backyard
with a rabbi.
So I got married in my backyard
with a rabbi, and now he wants babies.
-[whispering] That was Dr. Nejat.
-[interviewer whispering] Who's that?
He's the one
who will be looking at my vagina.
[Menzel] I'm in the middle of what's
called IVF, so I can try to get pregnant.
IVF is trying to get a bunch of eggs
that are healthy at this age,
so you need all this medicine
and these shots.
So that's kind of what I've been doing
for two years now, on and off.
Like this.
I know you boys are gonna be queasy.
The only thing is, like,
the way it looks on my calendar,
it looks like I'd be at The Garden, like,
doing an egg retrieval that morning.
There goes three eggs. Hit it.
It's-- I-- I've been, yeah.
I've been doing a film
and a thing and a thing
and now I'm in band rehearsal,
-and yeah.
-[Nejat] You're in a band?
Yeah, my band goes on tour.
You know, we do a concert.
-[Nejat] I did not know. What band?
-It's me and my band.
-Me. Yeah.
-[Nejat] It's you.
-Awesome. I did not know that.
-Yeah. I'm at The Garden.
-That's what this tour is.
-Yeah.
[Nejat] You're at The Garden.
Get outta here.
-Cool. What's the name of your band?
-Yeah. So
-It's me, doc. It's Idina.
-[Nejat] It's just you? Okay.
-[Nejat] Okay. [laughs]
-[laughs]
-[Nejat] Awesome. I love it.
-Um...
-So I'm out with Josh Groban, actually
-[Nejat] Great.
on tour. We're doing, like,
a splitting the bill kind of thing.
[Nejat] I should know who that is,
but I don't.
-You don't know who Josh Groban is?
-Sorry, Josh.
Sorry, Josh.
[Nejat] Not a great cycle to start.
[Menzel] Right. Maybe it's 'cause
I'm just all over the place.
[Nejat] Could be, but it's also
not uncommon in this age bracket.
[Aaron on phone]
Four to five eggs. That's pretty good.
[Idina sputters]
You're sweet. I love your text
that you sent me. Thank you.
[Menzel] And I didn't think
I wanted to have a baby.
But then, Aaron has been
the most amazing man to my son,
who has a wonderful dad,
but has found a way to have his own
incredible relationship with Walker.
He scored a couple jump shots
that were awesome.
Really?
Yeah.
-[parent] Great game.
-Yeah. You too.
[Menzel] I feel like he saved my life,
in a way.
I wanted to give back life
I wanted you to see yourself
In their eyes
And hold them in your arms
For all and all the time
I want to give that to you
I was with my ex-husband for, like,
16 years.
We met in Rent.
We were both in the original cast.
That was my very first professional job.
1995, '96.
You know, we grew up together.
So to figure out who you are
separate from that person, it takes time.
I think we're doing a really good job
of co-parenting.
Raising our child
in two different households.
Did Daddy tell you I called a million
times to wish you good game beforehand?
-[Walker] Wait, you did?
-Yes.
I was trying to reach you guys before
to tell you to kick some butt.
Thank you.
-Love you, Walker.
-Bye.
Congrats.
Go team. Go Jets!
First gig, I think, is October 7--
18th in Atlanta.
On the road to The Garden.
-Yay!
-Whoo!
[Menzel] You know.
[Walker] Mama, is this gonna be
a comedy/documentary?
[Menzel] Yes, it's going to be very funny
at Mommy's expense.
[person] Ain't nobody. [laughs]
[chattering]
Ladies and gentlemen, Atlanta!
[chattering]
Hey, sure. Come on in. It's a mess.
What's going through my head is my--
I'm worried about my son's ear. Honestly.
In like, five minutes' time
of getting in this room,
he went to scare Geo and fell back
and hit his back, like, on the corner.
It was bleeding,
but all I saw was like, my son's, like,
fat ear with like, blood coming down.
What's the schedule?
-Eight o'clock show?
-[assistant] Mm-hmm.
Did you tell 'em that my
one costume's already ripped?
[interviewer] Good camera shot.
In theater, you practice changes
so that you can choreograph them
and get them down.
Like,
you can get them down in nine seconds.
You're like, boots, belt, out.
This person, this person, boom.
In, go onstage.
So, we were choreographing it in my house,
and we pick--
We don't know if it ripped before
the change or not,
But one of the other costumes was already
ripped before we ever left New York.
So, it's being FedExed here,
and it ripped right up the ass.
Yes.
Where do we go?
[person 1] This way.
Which way? Okay.
[person 2] It's this door.
[all laughing]
[person 1] Sorry. It's-- It's that one.
-Which way to the stage?
-You better watch out, right?
[interviewer] Yeah.
[Menzel laughs]
That's a Rent reference,
in case you didn't know.
Joanne, which way to the stage?
Snow!
Oh, we're gonna go see
how the projections look
for the first time in the actual space.
This tour is bigger. It's all arenas.
So, it's different. Different venues.
I upped the production value.
Bigger space. I wanna fill it.
-[PA 1] That wants to be low?
-[PA 2] Yeah, it wants to be low.
Now, I'm getting excited.
Careful, Walker. Look at this.
-That's a step. It's dangerous.
-[PA] Behind that line.
[Menzel] "The Juggle is Real"
is the unofficial title of this tour.
There's a solo coming up on the guitar.
Do you know--
Not yet.
[drums playing]
The top of the show, he's gonna give a bit
of spotlight for you right away,
-in addition to the backlight.
-Okay.
Just to help the audience focus in on you.
So don't be thrown.
It's better that we see you.
-I always love the spotlight.
-[Alpert laughs] I know.
Good.
This is when it's, like,
I have no idea what I'm doing right now.
No idea what I'm doing.
-Where's my child?
-[assistant] He's on the bus, I believe.
-He's happy? He's fine?
-He's good.
[assistant] Pretty good.
[Menzel] This is the moment
This is the moment
-Bring it in.
-Yeah, baby. Come on now!
[Menzel] I'm not that nervous
'cause I know we'll be good.
-We've all done this before.
-[person] Yeah.
I love you all. Thanks for being
on this journey with me.
-Let's have a good show.
-[crew 1] Let's go!
-It's gonna be amazing!
-[crew 2] Great show.
-Leap of faith.
-Yes!
-One, two, three, leap of faith!
-[all] Leap of faith!
[sighs]
Sounds like there's three people
out there now.
[crowd cheering, whistling]
Last night, I had a dream
[crowd cheering]
And I was thirsty
Only thing to do is jump over the moon
Last night I had a dream
I was surrounded by the greatest audience
In the entire world
And they thought I was amazing
[crowd cheering]
Leap of faith, leap of faith
Leap of faith, leap of faith
I gotta get outta here
[crowd cheering]
It's like I'm being tied
To the hood of a yellow rental truck
Being packed in with fertilizer
And fuel oil
Pushed over a cliff
By a suicidal Mickey Mouse
[crowd cheering]
I've gotta gotta gotta
Gotta gotta gotta gotta
Gotta gotta gotta
[grumbles]
Gotta gotta find a way
To jump over the moon
Come on!
Only thing to do is jump over the moon
Only thing to do is jump over the moon
Only thing to do is jump
Jump, jump, jump, jump
[crowd cheering]
Whoo!
Every single day
I walk down the street
[Menzel] You know, on weekends, I was
still doing gigs as a wedding singer.
But January and February
are the worst months for weddings
'cause it's cold, and nobody gets married
in January and February.
So I just thought I need a job.
So, I went in for this little
Off-Broadway show.
A leap of faith
Sing it
[singer]
A leap of faith, leap of faith
-Leap of faith, leap of faith
-[vocalizing]
-Leap of faith
-Only thing to do is--
[composer] That's great. Thanks, everyone.
Nicely done, Idina.
[Menzel] I had no idea
that I was gonna move on
and my first dream was gonna come true.
I was gonna be in a Broadway show.
[reporter] On the evening that
the musical Rent opened on Broadway,
the stars were offstage.
Onstage, there are no big names.
At least not yet.
You know, I come from doing weddings and
bar mitzvahs on the weekends as a singer.
Paying the rent that way, so
[all] I'm making noise
I'm making
[Menzel] Sometimes I feel
like I don't totally belong.
When I got cast in Rent,
the theater community saw us
as kind of raw and untrained talent.
I have a job to do.
And I feel very pressured about it.
You know, people are paying me money
to come and do what I've said
my whole life I do very well.
Ever since puberty
Everybody stares at me
Boys, girls
I can't help it, baby
So be kind
And don't lose your mind
Just remember
That I'm your baby
Take me for what I am
Who I was meant to be
And if you give a damn
Take me baby or leave me
No way, can I be what I'm not
But hey, don't you want your girl hot?
Don't fight, don't lose your head
'Cause every night, who's in your bed?
Who's in your bed?
[crowd cheering, whistling]
Thank you.
[crew member] Whoo!
[Menzel] Thank you.
-Ten minutes over time.
-[drummer] Yep.
-Not bad.
-We can take it out of "Over The Moon."
[drummer] Exactly!
-At the end
-[crew member] You did it.
you were standing out.
Absolutely. It was killer. Yeah.
That's a lot to do
in an hour without taking breaks.
-I like to talk and give my vocal cords
-Yeah.
Yeah, it's like-- Out of a cannon.
Like... [imitates cannon] You know?
-It's a lot. For my cords.
-[PA 1] You're on the clock.
-I know.
-[PA 2] Great job.
-Thank you. Thank you, guys. So sweet.
-[PA 1] Thank you. Oh, my goodness.
Where's my guy? Walker!
Hey, babe.
It's a lot in an hour.
-My voice got tired.
-It was unbelievable.
All my talking helps me take
-some moments in between songs.
-Of course.
[Walker] Can I have an avocado?
Okay. Let me change into the Josh thing
so I'm just ready to--
-I have a long time, right?
-[PA] You have a while. You have an hour.
-Could be. Yeah.
-Make sure that I know
-[PA 1] Gotta pick what you're gonna wear.
-when I'm going on.
-[PA 1] Yeah.
-Yeah.
-[Del Monte] Time to go.
-[PA 2] He's announced her.
-[Del Monte] God!
-[Goldstein] He's announced her?
[Del Monte] Yeah. I didn't get a call.
[Goldstein] Nobody called us.
-[Menzel] Do you need shoes?
-Yeah, it would've been on the floor.
Apparently he's announced--
Are we going that way?
[crew 1] We're gonna go left.
-[crew 2] Mom's gotta go.
-He's already announced you.
-[Walker] Mommy.
-You're fine.
[crew 3] Come on. I'll help you.
You're gonna come here just to the right.
What do you mean he announced me,
they're waiting for me to come out?
-You didn't get a call?
-[Goldstein] No, nope, nobody.
-Is my mic up there or--
-I've got it right here.
We're gonna cue from him.
-Okay. We're all set.
-Oh, we're going.
All right. Stay here, honey.
Stay with these-- Stay with Burt.
[Groban] All right, I'm just gonna do
this song because-- Idina!
You must be yourself
It's time that you are
-Oh
-Oh
So take this sinking boat
And point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice
You have a choice
You've made it now
[Menzel] That was advanced notice we got.
-Yeah. What happened?
-Might've been a little confusion.
-It's the first night.
-[Menzel] Okay.
That was a very good dress rehearsal.
[crew member] "I now welcome to the stage
Idina Menzel," I was like,
"Oh, my God. She's not here.
Where is she?"
-[shutter clicking]
-[Walker] No picture.
[fan 1]
Looks beautiful on all these guys too.
He's my bodyguard. I'm sorry.
-[fan 2] It's important to have.
-I'll give you one of their radios
[Menzel] My parents wouldn't let me
work professionally as a kid.
So I just studied at home with teachers
and was active in all the school stuff.
through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed
[Menzel] I wanted to-- I wanted to, like,
go in for the next Annie production.
Tomorrow, tomorrow
I love you, tomorrow
You're only a day away
[Stuart cheers, laughs]
Yay!
[Menzel] But they wouldn't let me.
And then my parents split up,
and my life turned upside down.
So this is like a catering hall.
Like a lot of people come here
and they get married or have parties.
When I was 15, on Thanksgiving morning,
my parents brought my sister and I
down to the kitchen table
and they told us they were separating.
And that they were gonna cancel
all the guests that were coming over,
our extended family, and, um
That we're gonna salvage the day, though,
because in an effort
to show my sister and I that we would
that it would always be amicable
and that we'd still be a family,
we wanted-- they wanted
to still go to dinner, Thanksgiving.
And my sister and I are like crying
up in our rooms.
And so my mom throws
the mashed potatoes down the drain
and the turkey in the garbage,
and makes a reservation
to come here and sit in public.
[Stuart] Hey, honey. How are you doing?
Good. Guess where I am right now?
Uh, let me see
I'm at the Fox Hollow Inn.
On Jericho Turnpike.
[Stuart laughing]
-Are you really?
-Does this look familiar to you?
Does it bring back memories?
Why do you think you guys picked
Thanksgiving morning
to just break it to us?
Well, honey, I have--
[person on phone] You told your daughter
on Thanksgiving morning?
-[Stuart] Yes, I know.
-Yeah.
Literally Thanksgiving morning.
Like, wouldn't you tell--
Wouldn't you and Mommy be like,
"Let's wait till tomorrow.
We can hold it in.
We've waited this long"?
[Stuart] Honey,
I-- I don't actually remember.
I actually have never been back
to that place.
But then, you know,
then I came here all the time
and had gigs here all the time.
-I'd sing at bar mitzvahs and weddings
-Well--
and I had to be reminded
of this horrible day
every time I came here
to make a buck and sing.
Well, you could have taken-- you could've
taken up a different occupation.
[both laughing]
[Menzel] During these tough times,
my younger sister, Cara, and I,
we got really close.
She always was really protective of me
but I think even then,
when she kind of felt that our world was
shaking, was kind of falling apart,
then she was even more protective
in making sure I was okay.
[Menzel] I also think
that this period of my life
was a catalyst for me to go deeper into my
songwriting and immerse myself in music.
[Cara] I think it was a couple of years
after the divorce,
D started to go into the studio
and record her own music.
What else is in here?
These are lyrics.
Why is it when we're on the phone
I really want you to-- want you near me?
Yet then, when you're by my side
The test seems not so easy
You'll probably never get to read this
In certain ways, I wish you would
Maybe one day we'll surrender
To each other, I wish I felt we should
[laughing]
Tonight's important
because it's my own music.
[announcer on speaker] Ladies and
gentlemen, please welcome Idina Menzel.
[applause]
It don't come easy
Never once
Lessons along the way
[interviewer]
Do you actually get paid for this?
-No, I do pay my musicians. He--
-[musician laughs] Right.
-You pay money to do it.
-I pay money out.
I usually come out negative.
[interviewer] Why do you do it?
It's the only way to get out there
and be seen.
She was on this pedestal
and I idolized her.
She could do all these things
that not only I couldn't do but, like,
nobody else I knew could do.
If this is the moment
I stand here on my own
If this is my rite of passage
That somehow leads me home
I might be afraid
But it's my turn to be brave
If this is the last chance
Before we say goodbye
At least it's the first day
Of the rest of my life
I can't be afraid
'Cause it's my turn to be brave
[no audible dialogue]
[crowd cheering, whistling]
[all cheer]
Let it go
Let it go
[shouts]
[Walker laughs]
Tell-- Walker,
what are we doing right now?
We're taking off my mom's fake hair.
He likes to tell his friends that
when they come over.
[laughing]
Oh, don't look at that thing,
that chipmunk on the table.
It's just my mom's fake hair.
You look beautiful without it.
[all] Aw.
So the first night we have a piece
and I just put it on, like, good.
You know, I have a Broadway background
so I know you just have to secure it.
-I thought she was gonna sit
-[Menzel] Walker.
and go, like, do the Idina Menzel show.
An evening--
Sit on a stool and sing to everyone.
We get in there, and Led Zeppelin
comes on. And she's there
[imitates Idina singing]
-I'm like, "I'm fired. I'm so fired."
-[Menzel laughing]
"This thing is gonna come off.
I will never work again. Ever."
Like, I just gotta do something else.
Now we're going home. We got flag football
-and basketball games.
-[Walker] Yeah!
And we're going home
to see my husband, stepfather.
I need to--
[whispers] I need to get me some.
[all laughing]
[Hennings] Whoo!
Ladies and gentlemen
Los Angeles!
Ow, I hit my hand on that.
It's Los Angeles.
Isn't that-- It's Marina del Rey.
It doesn't look like Los Angeles.
-[Aaron] My brother wanted to ask--
-[Walker] I'm back!
[both grunting]
[Walker] Hi-yah!
Just a little peace and quiet
before an important show.
[Walker] Yes! Mama! No! What are you--
I didn't know is what I'm saying.
-Watch. Watch. Watch.
-[Aaron] Come play back over here.
I don't wanna be running one of you
to the hospital instead of being onstage.
Thank you. Priorities.
[Walker] You'll crush me.
[Menzel] And the jackets
we're supposed to have with you.
Hi!
I guess LA is
always an uncomfortable show.
'Cause it's like LA industry people,
they don't know how to just relax
and have a good time.
You think you have all these people there
that you know, and it's hometown,
and then they're usually more reserved.
Oh, man. I'm so late. [sighs]
[Menzel]
And to add to the stress of the day,
we also had trouble getting
into the venue.
The security people didn't even have me
on the list. They didn't recognize me.
[security] Only artists can come in here.
-[PA 1] Are you serious with all this?
-[Menzel] Yes.
[PA 2 chuckles] Oh, my God.
-This is my girlfriend, Claire.
-Hi.
-Hi. It's so nice to meet you.
-[Claire] So nice to meet you too.
-I'm sorry. I'm on a little bit of a--
-[Claire] No worries.
They wouldn't let me or my family in.
[Claire] Oh, no.
I feel like crying right now so--
[Claire] Oh, no.
So
[Claire] What's the deal?
I'm not Josh Groban's wife, apparently.
[Claire] Well [laughs]
[Aaron] How you doing?
I just lost it for a minute.
Embarrassed that nobody would let me in.
[whimpers] Like, "She's not the artist,
she's not-- The artist is onstage."
"Well, I have Josh's wife here."
-I'm like, "I'm not his wife!"
-Oh, my gosh.
[assistant] Did anything happen?
It's just my ego. [cries]
This town never fails.
-[laughs]
-[Hennings] It's gonna be okay.
[assistant] Oh, my gosh.
[Aaron] I'm consoling my wife
and Geo's consoling me.
-[Hennings laughs] Right.
-[Menzel laughs]
What's wrong?
Well, I was just thinking
that maybe you could give me a massage
-before you go onstage?
-Oh, shut up.
-[Aaron laughs]
-[Hennings laughs]
He just has a way, soulfulness,
and a-- just like--
-[Hennings] Mm-hmm. Calming.
-Yeah.
-Just his voice alone.
-It is.
-[Hennings] It's a very calming voice.
-Yeah.
-[Hennings] He could be a pastor.
-A pas-- [laughs]
[Menzel vocalizing]
[Menzel] I feel like LA makes me
more nervous
because here
I feel like I have to prove myself.
Maybe that's what's the underlying tone,
you know, wanting to be accepted.
And I hate even that idea
of wanting to be accepted.
I love you, Mommy.
[Menzel] I love you.
Hey there, Los Angeles!
[crowd cheering]
[Aaron] She gave me a heads-up
-about a couple songs.
-[assistant] She did?
She's worried that I might get emotional.
I probably had a bit too much to drink
It's a little after midnight
You are probably asleep
I bet that you're surprised
To hear from me
[vocalizes]
I still have your number memorized
I know it's been eight years
But I still got these butterflies
I know I might sound crazy
Every day I experience her
as my wife and mother,
and coming here,
and then I get to experience her.
You know,
while she's up there doing her thing.
It's like,
"Is that-- Is that my wife up there?"
I always wonder
If we could have been something
Or was it all in my mind
And I always wonder
Here I might have missed something
That we left behind
And do you ever think of me?
And have you wondered
Could we be
Something extraordinary?
[Menzel] I love writing music
because you have to write both universal
and with specific and unique to only you
in order for a song to be great.
And that's really hard to do.
But I love that about songwriting.
You love me
I never told you
That you are the one thing
I held onto all this time
And do you ever think of me?
And have you wondered
Could we be
Something extraordinary?
Extraordinary
[crowd cheering]
Thank you.
[assistant]
Was there any-- Did we even wash
-I love you.
-I love you.
That was fantastic. Couldn't have been--
Couldn't have been better.
Thanks.
[sighs]
It's one thing about me,
maybe it's the pessimist,
but I never celebrate too long.
Yeah, it's probably because
when your parents divorce,
and you don't expect
that they would ever get divorced,
I think that that's changed
the way that I see my whole life.
'Cause you never know.
Nothing is ever what it seems.
So, like, sure,
this show, Rent, seemed cool
and it seemed like something
really special, but you never know.
It could just end tomorrow, or
You get this big Broadway show,
you get an agent.
You get a record deal
that I've been trying to get.
I had some money, you know?
So, you think it's happening.
Then after my record deal, and the album
came out, and it didn't do anything.
Literally, two people would be at each bar
we showed up at. I was like,
"I have a big album coming out
and I just came out of this hit show.
Where are all the people?"
And then I got dropped, and then
the momentum from Rent was gone.
I sold no records.
I went into obscurity for a couple years.
I-I-- I've had a lot of highs and lows,
so you start to realize how fleeting
all this stuff can be, and how you just--
When it comes, you gotta--
you gotta grasp it.
This was my first single.
It's called "Minuet."
The single was sixth most added
on the radio
of the first week it came out.
-[crowd cheering]
-It was between Madonna's "Ray of Light"
and some Babyface song.
I don't remember what it was.
And I just thought, you know,
I had it all figured out.
I had, like, the rock star fantasy
in my head. I just knew.
I just knew, the next day, they were gonna
be flying me back to New York in a jet.
Steven Meisel was gonna be waiting there
to take my picture
for the cover of Rolling Stone.
Next thing you know,
I'd be whisked off in a limousine
to where I'd be opening
at Madison Square Garden.
And I'd get there, and I'm just, like,
walking towards the light.
And I hear, like
-They're waiting for me. "Idina! Idina!"
-[crowd laughing]
"Idina! Idina!"
And what really happened
[crowd laughing]
[applause]
is first time I heard my song on the radio
they called it "Minute" by Idina Mensel.
I had to just kinda start all over again.
And it wasn't till, uh, eight years later
that they called me
to come in for some show called Wicked
and start working on that.
When I meet the Wizard
Once I prove my worth
And then I meet the Wizard
What I've waited for since birth
And with all his wizard wisdom
By my looks, he won't be blinded
Do you think the Wizard is dumb?
Or like Munchkins so small-minded?
He'll say to me
I see who you truly are
A girl on whom I can rely
And that's how we'll begin
The Wizard and I
Come on!
[Menzel] Creating an original role
is the most rewarding.
Nobody's seen it before, you know?
You can have that freedom
to really discover who they are
and build it piece by piece.
I do believe
I have been changed
-For the better
-[music director] Now you can stretch.
I have to take a--
Where do I take a breath?
[music director] Oh, breath?
Yeah, it's gonna be here.
Who can say
If I've been changed
-[Menzel] For the better
-Take it right on the downbeat.
-I do believe
-There you go.
I have been changed
For the better
[Oremus] Actually
None of it seems to matter anymore
Like a comet pulled
[person 1] You're one of the few people
who can pull off green.
[Chenoweth] Oh, my God.
-[person 1] Great, right?
-I'm thinking I wanna be green. [laughs]
[all cheering]
-[person 2] Give her some space, guys.
-[laughing]
[Menzel] When you're doing readings
and workshopping a new show,
you never know when the money
might fall out, or something will happen.
It's rare you see something make its way
all the way through to the Broadway stage.
I know it sounds truly crazy
And true, the vision's hazy
But I swear, someday there'll be
A celebration throughout Oz
That's all to do with me
And the 2004 Tony for best leading actress
in a musical goes to
[both] Idina Menzel, Wicked.
[crowd cheering]
[announcer] Idina Menzel takes home
her first Tony Award.
Playing the part of Elphaba
in the original musical Wicked.
She was nominated for featured actress
in a musical in 1996 for Rent.
I am so proud to be in a musical
that celebrates women.
That celebrates their strengths
and their differences.
[Menzel] Kids come with their parents and
they get it on a whole different level.
I think that's the best part
of the whole experience for me.
The impact it's having on younger people.
When you get tired and the eight shows
a week starts to get you down.
And you might have a cold,
I try to remember these kids
that are out there.
And I'll stand there with the Wizard
Feeling things I've never felt
And though I'd never show it
I'd be so happy, I could melt
And so it will be
For the rest of my life
And I'll want nothing else
Till I die
Held in such high esteem
When people see me, they will scream
For half of Oz's favorite team
The Wizard
And I
-[crowd cheering]
-[panting]
[birds chirping]
[dog barks]
Good flipper. I'm a good flipper.
Aw, it's a messy flip.
The thing is, I'm not a cook.
The one thing I do is some good pancakes.
So he gets it, like, every day,
and he thinks I'm the best cook. [laughs]
Dude.
Let's go. Let's go.
Louie, come here.
-Go get dressed.
-I'll race you.
-And brush your teeth too.
-I'll race you.
[on radio]
We gonna party like it's your birthday
And we gonna sip Bacard
Like it's your birthday
And you know we don't give a [bleep]
It's not your birthday
Yeah, good parenting.
My entire identity was
wrapped up in being a singer even.
Not even an actor. Like, just--
This is what everyone paid attention to
ever since I was a little girl.
This is what makes me different
and special in the world.
This is who I am.
If I don't have that, who am I?
So when you become a parent,
and you realize that they're just
relying on you for love and protection,
it sort of liberates you in this way,
and you--
Not that a woman should define herself
as a mother either.
Like, I feel like we put ourselves
with so many labels.
"Am I a working mom?
Am I not a working mom?"
It's, uh, being in perpetual conflict
with yourself.
It's, like,
guilty that you're leaving.
But there's this part of me
that's sort of excited to be on the road
without him for a couple days
'cause it's--
I can sleep in
and just focus on myself and
But then that's, you know,
feels wrong as a mom, so
I gotta focus on the baby thing.
It's really amazing.
Like, when I'm flying and doing tour,
my-- the count-- the follicles--
Is this TMI?
Is Gets so low.
But then when I'm home, and I'm, like,
just hanging, the doctors are like,
"You know,
this can totally still happen for you."
So that's why they've kept my hopes alive.
[horns honking]
-How are you feeling? How's the meds?
-I feel fine.
Are you here now with New York
for a couple of--
No, but I'm-- I can keep coming back.
I'm here. I'm close.
-Okay, let's take a look.
-So
Yeah, so
We have a couple advanced eggies,
but some are ready, some are not.
What do you-- What's your instinct?
Should we just grab them?
Can I take a look
at your blood work today?
-Yeah.
-Then we decide what is the next step.
Should we pursue or not?
It's a very easy retrieval.
Should not be in too much pain.
Can go right back to work
-if you need to.
-Yeah.
But at the same time, is it worth it?
Not worth it?
I do want to take a look
at your blood work.
-Okay.
-And then to decide.
It's good news or bad news.
It's kind of mediocre.
Yeah, I guess it's bad news.
Like, you want them to be like,
"Yeah. It's gonna be a great cycle.
-We're gonna get all these eggs."
-[elevator door opens]
I remember when Dina was born,
and they wanted to name her after an "I."
But they couldn't find a name,
so they took the word-- name Dina,
and they put the "I" in front of it,
and they called her Idina.
-So, I-- Go ahead.
-And we call her Idina,
but I guess you guys call her Dina.
[Menzel] No. Nobody calls me Dina.
It's Idina with a short "I."
-It's shorter?
-It's "Idina."
-Idina. So shoot me.
-She's always "Idina."
So shoot me.
So all these years I made a mistake.
[Menzel] People are always having trouble
with my name.
Idina Menzel for Rent.
Please welcome the wickedly talented,
one and only, Adele Dazeem.
[band playing "Let It Go"]
Idina, when you had to perform
at the Oscars,
-he introduced you--
-Adele Dazeem.
And then I have eight seconds,
the-- the band starts, and I'm like,
"Get your [bleep] together. Come on.
This is your moment.
Like, stop worrying about
that he messed up your name.
-Just sing, bitch." You know? I was like--
-Sing!
Snow glows white
On the mountain tonight
Retrospectively,
how do you feel about that moment now?
It was the greatest thing
ever happened to me.
Yeah.
And listen, she's gonna be
a household name within 24 hours.
-Yeah. So true. So true.
-Like, I was like,
"I need somebody
to say my name wrong at the Oscars."
[Menzel] Yeah!
He's written so many nice,
apologetic emails and sent flowers.
He's so kind. And I just always say,
"No worries, 'cause it was the best thing
that ever happened."
[Corden] Correct!
I'm not leaving without you, Elsa.
Yes, you are.
[Bell] No, I know
we can figure this out together, Elsa.
How?
What power do you have
to stop this winter?
To stop me?
[Menzel] Whenever I'd go
into a recording studio
with a big-time producer or songwriter,
they'd sort of admonish me and say, like,
"You're too expressive. You have to--
All that Broadway training"
You know? Or,
"You have to sound more like Sheryl Crow.
-Throw it away."
-Enough!
[Menzel] They would have all of these
rules like theater people never,
you know, are never gonna get on the radio
on a pop station.
And then all of a sudden,
cut to, like, 15 years later,
I'm, like, taking my kid to school,
and Z100's on, and I hear "Let It Go."
I'm like, "What the hell?" You know?
And you just can't worry
about those rules.
And I did for a long time.
You just gotta keep moving and going
and taking work that makes you feel good,
and surround yourself
with people that teach you stuff,
and just keep going.
[reporter] Frozen is the
second-highest-grossing animated film
in history.
Frozen is now out on DVD,
and more than three million copies
were sold
on its first day of release on Tuesday.
[shutter clicking]
It was so crazy how it just overnight,
it just sort of became this thing.
It's become, like,
this huge pop-culture moment.
Couldn't keep it in
Heaven knows I tried
Don't let them in
Don't let them see
Be the good girl
Who you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel
Don't let them know
Well, now they know
Let it go
Let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
[playing "Let It Go"]
Let it go
[Menzel] The success of "Let It Go"
and Frozen,
that was a huge defining moment for me.
And my thing with Elsa is more about,
like, harnessing this incredible power
we all have in ourselves.
And so often in the world
where we're so, like,
"Watch out. That's too much for people.
That's gonna, you know, be off-putting."
Especially with women. You know?
That anger, that ferocity,
that magic sorcery that you have,
whatever it is that you have.
That thing that makes you
really exceptional and incredible in life.
The snow glows white
On the mountain tonight
[crowd cheering]
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation
And it looks like I'm the queen
The wind is howling
Like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in
Heaven knows I tried
I tried
Oh, I tried
[Menzel] I love that I get to perform
these songs for young audiences,
but they're actually great reminders
for all of us
to just stop making yourself smaller
so other people can feel better.
It's time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me
I'm free
Let it go
Let it go
I'm one with the wind and sky
Let it go
Let it go
You'll never see me cry
Here I stand
And here I'll stay
Let the storm rage on
Come on!
[crowd cheering, whistling]
My power flurries through the air
Into the ground
My soul is spiraling
In frozen fractals all around
And then one crystallizes
Like an icy blast
I'm never going back
The past is in the past
Let it go
Sing it!
Let it go
Can't hold it back
Anymore
Let it go
Let it go
Turn away
And slam the door
I
I don't care what they're going to say
Let the storm rage on
The cold never bothered me anyway
Anyway
I just wanted you to know
I wasn't lip-syncing.
[laughs]
[elevator bell dings]
[electronic voice] Tenth floor.
Ugh, I could just lay here all day
in this bed.
Okay. What time is it?
I'm-- I can't believe how on time I am.
When you say, "The snow,"
I would say it would be there.
[Menzel] Okay, let's try that. Ready
Snow glows white
On the mountain tonight
Just refining.
[crowd cheering on phone]
[person on phone]
David, David, David! David!
[Menzel] Watch. There's Walker.
-He caught it and he runs it in. Come on!
-[cheering on phone]
-[crew member] Are you screaming?
-Do you hear us?
Well, you know, I was saving
my voice, actually, a little bit.
Oh, and then I didn't tell you guys,
some kid tackled him.
-You're not supposed to.
-[Hennings] No.
Aaron and Taye both,
"Hey! Hey! Watch it! Watch it!"
And then the ref comes over
and starts yelling at the parents like,
"Guys, I got this."
And then Taye, in defense of Aaron, goes,
"Listen, it's just parents here, man.
We're just parents."
[all laughing]
-It was like a bonding moment.
-[crew member] I wish you filmed that.
-Hilarious.
-I know.
Remember when our rider
-just had dinosaurs here?
-[crew member] Yeah. Mm-hmm.
[Menzel] And then, all of a sudden,
these kids at school
didn't pick him for the basketball team,
and, like, he's like,
"Nobody's gonna tell me I can't do it."
[crew member] Yeah.
Sound like anybody you know?
[all laughing]
Don't tell me not to live
Just sit and putter
Life's candy and the sun's
A ball of butter
Don't bring around a cloud
To rain on my parade
Don't tell me not to fly
I've simply got to
If someone takes a spill
It's me and not you
Who told you you're allowed
To rain on my parade?
-Baby! I'm so proud of you.
-Mom!
Dallas!
Denver!
Boston!
Isn't it beautiful?
And you did it all with a horrible mother
who didn't come to any games.
[Walker on phone] Uh-huh.
Excuse me?
hat, sir
I guess I didn't make it!
But whether I'm the rose
Of sheer perfection
He hung up on me and he's crying.
A freckle on the nose
Of life's complexion
The cinder
Or the shiny apple of its eye
I gotta fly once
I gotta try once
Do you love my child?
-[Aaron on phone] Of course.
-You do? Okay.
is juicy
Juicy, and you see
I gotta have my bite, sir!
Get ready for me, love
'Cause I'm a comer
I simply gotta march
My heart's a drummer
Don't bring around a cloud
To rain on my parade
I'm gonna live and live now
Get what I want
I know how
One roll for the whole shebang
One throw, that bell will go clang
Eye on the target, and wham
One shot, one gunshot, and bam
[Menzel] When you're juggling
so many things and--
The extra performance I do with Josh.
Then having family,
going back and forth, the traveling.
I don't hang out with the band
in between cities sometimes.
So it's nice to bond with them.
[Menzel on speaker]
With a feeling from side to side
Sit yourself down in your car
Rock steady
Let's call this song
Exactly what it is
What it is, what it is, what it is
It's a funky and low down feeling
What it is, what it is
Move my hips from left to right
What it is
This funky dance all night
Yeah
["Defying Gravity" playing]
Yeah, you can!
I think I'll try defying gravity
I think I'll try--
-I think I'll try
-I think I'll try defying gravity
And you won't bring me down
I've had the time of my life
To be someone who is away from home a lot,
away from your loved ones,
we couldn't do what we do
without every single person on the team.
Like, we're friends. And let's just
make fun music together. You know?
[Menzel] Whenever the band and I are just
vibing together in a spontaneous way,
stuff always comes up.
The time we were doing Aretha,
it hit me that
her song "Respect"
and "Take Me or Leave Me"
actually have a similar chord progression.
[Bryan] She doesn't sing the same way.
Every evening, "Do you like this here?"
and "What do you think about this?"
And she has really great ideas.
Like "Take Me or Leave Me."
Go Take me, leave me, take me
Take me, leave me
-Take me for what I--
-Take me for what I'm meant--
[Menzel] Am I for--
-Where's your for at?
-For what I am meant to be
-[Menzel] For what I am meant to be
-Right.
-[Menzel] What's yours?
-For what I'm meant to be
-[Menzel] Is that it?
-That's me.
The way that you treat me
You take me or leave me
Or I'm gonna walk out the door
And then we gotta do one together.
Get with the program
And if you really give a damn
-Then we do our thing.
-[Bryan] Take me
-Yeah.
-All right. Let's just give it a go.
Take me or leave me
Take me for what I am meant to be
So, I'll tell you what I want
What I really, really want
What I really
[Menzel] I've always said that versatility
is a gift and a curse for me.
What you really, really want
People in this business
wanna pigeonhole you stylistically.
When you're versatile,
and you can do a bunch of things,
that confuses them.
They don't know how to market you
when you're eclectic like that.
You think it would be something
that would excite them,
but it makes their jobs more difficult.
Who are you?
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
Re-re-re-re-re-re-re--
Guess I'm leaving
I'm gone
[both vocalizing]
Vanessa Bryan!
Thank you, Idina!
[Menzel] And so I've struggled with that
my whole life,
'cause I've been inspired
by so many different kinds of artists.
Are you a Broadway girl
or are you a pop girl?
Do you sing rock 'n' roll?
Who are you? What do you wanna be?
It's like, I'm all these things.
And all these things make up who I am.
So I was thinking about this song
to cover,
because it was a song that
I used to listen to with my boyfriend
back in junior high school
when we'd drive around Long Island
trying to find Billy Joel's house.
-[crowd cheering]
-And
It's not a Billy Joel song, but--
So we start working on this
in the rehearsal with the band,
trying to come up
with our own cool arrangement.
And when we get to the bridge will that--
Forget about Mazz for now.
When she comes in,
we'll play around with her.
Can you do the pretty piano thing
you were doing and--
-Play it on piano? Okay. I will.
-Yeah.
Sean, can we do it the way we did it,
like, just me and you and maybe Oz?
Really-- Really sparse.
And Sean Hurley over here on the bass,
he started playing this bass line
[playing "I Melt with You"]
Yeah.
[keyboardist] From the top?
-This is how it would start.
-[keyboardist] We're starting at bar 14.
There is no--
We can sell more merch.
Moving forward using all my breath
Making love to you
Was never second best
Maybe now us?
I'll stop the world and melt with you
You've seen the difference
And it's getting better all the time
There's nothing you and I won't do
I'll stop the world and melt with you
I dream of better lives
The kind you never hate
Dropped in a state of imaginary grace
I made a pilgrimage
To save this human's race
Never really knowing
The race had long gone
Gone by
I'll stop the world and melt with you
You've seen the difference
And it's getting better all the time
There's nothing you and I won't do
This is the, uh where I grew up.
[Menzel] I have a complicated relationship
with my hometown.
They always want you to fit in
when you're out here.
You want to wear
what everyone else is wearing,
have the same car everyone else has,
you know?
Otherwise, you feel like
you stand out and get bullied.
I'll stop the world and melt with you
[Menzel] That's why I wanted to go to NYU.
Because Manhattan, you know,
you know you don't have to fit in.
They don't want you to fit in.
You can be whatever you wanna be.
The future
The future's open wide
I'll stop the world and melt with you
I've seen some changes
Have you seen my changes?
I really made some changes
To be honest, it's memories of hard work.
School, and then gigging, and then
uh, trying to fit in
with the kids at school,
but then going late at night
on a Friday or Saturday,
missing a party because I wanted to work
and sing at somebody's bar mitzvah.
[crowd cheering]
[Menzel] Thank you.
[mouthing words] Thank you.
This was the location of
the very final, last club date,
which is like a cool way of saying
wedding or bar mitzvah gig,
um, that I ever did in my entire life,
after doing it for--
on and off for, like, eight years.
Yeah, this was it.
Well, this is the thing
that people don't realize,
is we don't usually come in that way.
We usually come in this way.
This way. This way.
So we just come in like this.
All decked out in a gorgeous,
little black cocktail dress.
Ladies with an attitude
Fellas that were in the mood
Don't just stand there
Let's get to it
Strike a pose
There's nothing to it
Vogue
But I never could do the vogue.
I couldn't-- [laughs] I couldn't dance.
And so whenever I'd be up here,
whether it was a decent gig
where it felt musical,
and I felt appreciated,
or it was horrendous and cheesy, and,
you know, drunk people yelling at you
Either way, I always stood up here
and I was, like, "I'm gonna
This isn't gonna be all for me."
[playing "No Day But Today"]
This is from a show called Rent.
[crowd cheering]
Yeah. It's the very first show I ever got.
My first big break.
Back in New York City down in the Village.
Ah, and it changed my life, it really did.
Just, uh
finally someone seeing something
in me and hiring me and believing in me.
And that man was Jonathan Larson,
who was the composer of Rent.
[applause]
He wrote a show all about--
Well, really love.
About loving whoever the hell you want.
And, um, embracing the moment,
not taking things for granted,
not taking people for granted.
Trying to stay present, you know, and live
every day as though it's our last.
And, uh, he didn't--
he didn't stay with us very long.
We lost him very early on in our process.
[Menzel sighs] The night of our first--
It was supposed to be your first audience.
The night of our first audience.
We were supposed to show up
at around three o'clock at the theater,
and we got a call and told us
to come a little bit later,
that Jonathan Larson had passed away on--
in his kitchen, in his apartment downtown.
So, um
that was just crazy.
We dedicate this opening night and every
performance to our friend Jonathan Larson.
[Menzel] And it became this mission
for everyone involved to--
It was more than just,
"Wow, we got our first Broadway show."
It was like now we had a mission
to get forth this man's music
and his love and his message and, um
[clears throat]
He was a struggling artist
just like the rest of us.
So everything's always been
so bittersweet about that
because he never got to enjoy
all of the accolades
and the love that everybody was sending
back our way through that show.
Till-- Till now-- Till tomorrow night,
you know, to every concert that I ever do.
It's like it's--
Thanks to him, like, I have fans from
23 years ago that've grown up with me.
That kids-- Those--
Their kids now see Frozen, you know?
That's how, like, deep it goes.
And that's because of him.
And I find, as the years go by,
that the impact
and the meaning of what he wrote
starts to resonate more and more.
There's only us
There's only this
Forget regret
Or life is yours to miss
No other road
No other way
No day but today
[sighs] Jonathan Larson,
he wrote this show
about tolerance and love
combating hatred with love.
[Menzel] As an artist, we are always
a conduit for what's going on in our lives
and what we're feeling emotionally
and what's going on in the world.
Our Pittsburgh show was just a few days
after the Synagogue shooting.
So I had to acknowledge it. And you know?
The songs, they take on new meaning.
And what a testament to Jonathan Larson
and his music.
That show was all about tolerance.
It was about love.
It was about community.
If we could use this song tonight, um,
while I'm sitting here in this--
in this beautiful city,
a Jewish girl from Long Island,
I thought about how we-- we light candles
in the Jewish religion.
Sort of choosing light over darkness.
Choosing love over bigotry.
There's only now
There's only here
Give in to love
Or live in fear
No other road
No other way
No day but today
[crowd cheering]
No day but today
Sing.
No day but today
No day but today
[crowd] No day but today
[Menzel] No day but today
[crowd] No day but today
[Menzel] No day but today
[crowd] No day but today
No day but today
[crowd] No day but today
[crowd cheering]
-[assistant] We need--
-So this is--
Wait, where's Halloween?
Oh, so, we're home
-Day off here at home.
-[assistant] Mm-hmm.
How long does it take to drive from LA to
-Salt Lake? Mmm.
-[assistant] Salt Lake?
[Menzel] When I signed on for the tour,
I told them I'm only doing it
if I could have the two days off
to take Walker trick-or-treating
and go home for Halloween.
[assistant 1] We're planning
to fly home this morning.
-[Menzel] For Halloween?
-Mm-hmm.
-Denver, the following night
-Yeah.
-would be nine hours.
-[assistant 2] She wasn't here for that.
-Yeah, there was two drivers there.
-[assistant 1] They got a 12-hour drive.
I miss my child
Hi! Hi, babe.
[Walker] I'm filling in my homework.
Oh, good.
Do you want me to do a little with you?
Okay.
So you know how "who's" with a,
I think it's called
an apostrophe, before the S?
Yeah.
"H"-- I mean "W-H-O" and then the--
What's it called again?
Apostrophe.
-We going on a walk?
-[crew] Yeah.
We gotta go up? Okay.
[crew member] Keep that on.
"she yelled, 'blank making
all that racket down there.'"
[laughs] Who's making all that racket
down there?
-Which one is it?
-Same one.
Same one, 'cause it's a person.
W-H-O-S-E, right?
It was hard for me to hear
'cause the reception went out.
You see me?
Can you hear me?
Walk, can you hear me?
-Homework.
-[Groban] Okay. Aw.
Can you hear me, babe?
Yeah.
I'm gonna call you
because it's bad reception here,
I'm gonna go do those two songs with Josh
and then call you right back, okay?
-Okay.
-All right, I love you.
I'll call you right back
and go over it with you.
[crowd cheering]
And all love through darkness
Don't you ever stop believing
With love forlorn
With love, you'll find your way
I miss my son and my husband,
and then I decided not to bring in Walker
this weekend
because he's got all these games.
And I won't have seen him
for, like, two and a half weeks,
so what kind of mother does that make me?
And then-- then I'm thinking, "Why am I
choosing to do this whole IVF thing?"
There's only that many eggs,
so it's like I gotta rush it in.
Why am I rushing it in
on the one week I decide to, like,
film a documentary
for Madison Square Garden
and, like, capture this dream
and [sniffles] trying to fly my kid in
and do everything all at once?
And then I'm just gonna get sick
and not be able to sing it anyway.
[chuckles]
Remember, Geo, when you were like,
"If we do this documentary,
you have to, like, have your hair done
-when you wake up in the morning"?
-[laughing]
Eye shadow on, mascara--
like, waterproof mascara.
Like, "If Beyonc was doing it,
she'd look great no--
from the minute she woke up out of bed."
I'm like, "I cannot do that.
That is exhausting."
[crowd cheering, whistling]
["Do You Want to Build a Snowman" playing]
[Menzel laughs]
We're gonna go into
this nice children's song.
Do you wanna build a snowman?
[crowd member] Yeah!
Come on
Let's go and play
[laughs]
I never see you anymore
Sing with me.
Come out the door
It's like you've gone away
We used to be best buddies
And now we're not
I wish you would tell me why
Let me hear those 12-year-old girls sing.
Do you wanna build a snowman?
It doesn't have to be a snowman
Okay, bye
Hello.
Can you hear me?
-[Walker] Yeah.
-I love you. I'm so proud of you.
I love you too.
[Aaron] I can't take pictures
'cause I'm doing--
All right, all right, all right.
I love you. Go take pictures.
-Do you want me to take pictures or not?
-Yeah, take pictures.
build a snowman?
Or ride our bikes around the hall?
[vocalizing]
One second, Tania.
I don't see my son's name.
So I'm wondering if he missed it
because he was away with me.
Just writing the teacher right now.
gets a little lonely
All these empty rooms
[Menzel] It's an indescribable feeling
to connect with these young kids
every night onstage.
Do you wanna build a snowman?
But it also can make me miss my own son.
It doesn't have to be a snowman
Okay, bye
Apparently, we're in Chicago. [chuckles]
No, I mean-- Where are we?
We're in Detroit.
-What time zone are we on right now?
-[assistant] East.
-No-- We're East now?
-[horns honking]
We're in Chicago. Are we in Chicago?
It doesn't have to be a snowman
Goodbye
[Aaron] How was your show last night?
Oh, it was awesome.
It was like a sea of lights.
-Oh, wow.
-[yawning] It was beautiful.
It doesn't have to be a snowman
Goodbye
[Walker] You made me die.
[Menzel] He's playing Fortnite
at 6:00 in the morning,
which he's not allowed,
but I didn't wanna start a whole thing.
"I don't wanna talk to you.
You made me die."
Thank you. Good morning to you too, sir.
[scoffs]
Honey, I love you.
We only have each other
It's just you and me
What are we gonna do?
Do you wanna build a snowman?
It doesn't have to be a snowman
Bye!
The sun is up
The sky is blue
It's beautiful
And so are you
Won't you come out to play?
[crowd cheering, whistling]
[birds chirping]
Close your eyes.
Okay, but wait, um, just let me--
No big gloopy-goopy parts.
I know. I know that. Okay, you can open.
Good luck.
-The light! The light.
-Hurry, get to the car, get to the car.
[groans]
[Menzel laughs] Walker!
Are you all right?
Dracula!
Take your pumpkin.
You in?
Happy Halloween.
[chattering]
Where are we?
How we doing Milwaukee?
What's going on Philly? Are you ready?
I gotta get to the theater--
Not the theater.
We're not at theaters.
We're-- Arenas. Arena, baby!
[vocalizing]
Okay, here we are.
Everybody, this is Rochester.
Don't be jealous!
[crowd cheering]
MSG, here we come!
[horns honking]
[doctor] For the retrieval,
you have been sleeping, right?
-[Menzel] No, I've been awake.
-[doctor] Okay.
Were you able to do something
after retrieval here though?
[Menzel] Yeah, I did six hours
of recording Frozen.
[laughs]
It looks better.
So, I think we should go for it.
Okay, cool.
[Aaron] Are you in pain?
-[Menzel] It's uncomfortable.Not painful.
-Okay.
[Menzel] It's more that I'm just bleeding
a lot more than I remember.
[assistant] Just keep doing your thing.
Drink that tea and--
[Menzel] I didn't drink it.
I don't know.
I'm just annoyed
'cause I said to that lady,
"Are they all a good size?"
And usually, they'd be like,
"Well, there's one really big one."
And she was like, "Yeah, they're all--"
[assistant] So is the concern
that the big one takes over
-and prevents the other ones from growing?
-Mm-hmm.
That's what all the medicine's about.
Like, suppressing and growing the others.
Such a headache.
Why do I have such a headache?
And probably I didn't drink enough water.
[horns honking]
[sound engineer]
One, two, one, two, one, two.
[Menzel clears throat, vocalizes]
[interviewer] What's 26-year-old you
saying to you right now?
She has an accent.
A bad Long Island accent.
She's like, "Oh, my God!
Idina, you made it to the big time.
That's amazing."
[chuckles]
No. She's saying, "You did it, girl."
She's saying, "See, I told you.
I knew you'd do it all the time."
No matter how big the venue is,
tonight it's Madison Square Garden,
but years ago it was The Bitter End
back in-- in the Village.
My goal is always to feel like
it's a living room,
like, you know, we're just still talking
and telling a story.
All those girls that were mean to me
in high school, see ya!
Putting bubble gum under my car handle.
Something's coming
I don't know what it is
But it is gonna be great
I had, like, the rock star fantasy
in my head. I just knew, I just knew--
You remember the time when the--
I couldn't pay my musicians?
I remember you asking.
I was like, "Can I have 40 bucks
to pay my drummer?"
[Stuart] Yeah.
-[Menzel] You gave it to me.
-[Stuart] I gave it to her.
Toothbrush, check. Deodorant, check.
Parents, check.
I saw Rent 265 times.
I saw Wicked 282 times.
[Menzel] It's true.
leaving today
I want to be a part of it
New York, New York
Madison Square Garden.
I wanna wake up
In a city--
Hello. How you do?
"Madison Square Garden,
the world's most famous arena."
[shutter clicks]
[vocalizing]
Going there now to see my daughter
sing at Madison Square.
-[Menzel] Hey, guys.
-Hello.
I'm enormously proud of her.
[Menzel] I just wanna enjoy it.
It took 47 years to get here,
and now I'm nervous.
You got to take these moments in,
you know?
Hey, what's up, New York City?
[crowd cheering]
I wanna thank all of you for showing up
and making it possible
for me to do this tonight.
And for showing up to all my shows
throughout the years and supporting me.
I love you all. Thank you.
This is for you.
It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have rewritten mine
By being my friends
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a sky bird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed
For the better
But because I knew you
Because I knew you
Because I knew you
I have
Been changed
For good
[crowd cheering]
Can I just take this in for a minute?
Tonight is a lifelong dream coming true.
Playing at MSG.
It's a little girl from Long Island
coming to Manhattan
all the time with her parents,
then going to school at NYU.
Stomping around this city,
struggling to be noticed.
This city welcomes
every crazy creature like us.
To feel different.
["Defying Gravity" playing]
To embrace what makes them different.
Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules
Of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes and leap
It's time to try defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye
I am defying gravity
And you won't bring me down
No, you won't bring me down
I'm through accepting limits
'Cause someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change
But till I try, I'll never know
Too long I've been afraid of
Losing love I guess I've lost
Well, if that's love
It comes at much too high a cost
I'd sooner buy defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye
I am defying gravity
I think I'll try defying gravity
You won't bring me down
Unlimited
Our future is
Unlimited
And I just had a vision
Almost like a prophecy
I know
This song's truly crazy!
With you the vision's hazy
But I swear, someday I'll be
Flying so high
Kiss me goodbye
So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky
As someone told me lately
Everyone deserves the chance to fly
And if I'm flying solo
At least I'm flying free
To those who ground me
Take a message back from me
Tell them how I am defying gravity
I'm flying high, defying gravity
Sing it!
I'm flying
[crowd] High, defying gravity
Kiss me!
Kiss me goodbye
I'm defying gravity
One more time. You got it, New York!
I'm flying high
Defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye!
Kiss me goodbye
Defying gravity
Good night, New York City! I love you!
Soon, I'll match them in renown
And nobody in all of Oz
No wizard that there is or was
Is ever gonna bring me
Down
[vocalizing]
[cheering]
Come on!
[crowd cheering]
[crowd] Idina! Idina! Idina! Idina!
Idina! Idina! Idina! Idina!
Idina!
[birds chirping]
Five hundred, twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
Five hundred, twenty-five thousand
Moments so dear
[Menzel] So it's towards the end
of the tour, we're playing in DC,
and we hear a high school there was
putting on their own production of Rent.
We're going to surprise this class.
-Hi. How are you? Thanks for having me.
-Such a thrill--
So, they have no idea you're here.
Take me, baby
Or leave me
Yes, I'm leaving! I'm gone!
[Menzel] That sounds awesome.
[students cheer, scream]
[screaming]
[Menzel] Hi, guys.
I love your hair.
[student] One of the big messages
of the show
is to live in the moment
and not take anything for granted.
Do you think that you took that
into your own life?
I think I do. Yeah.
I forget all the time, obviously.
I have my own anxiety
and, um, my own neuroses
and fears and nerves,
and all those things
that I contend with still.
At your age, I was just, like,
let me at-- Let me at it.
I can wow anybody.
As I got older,
maybe more people are looking at me.
Sometimes it makes me get a little bit
more, um, introverted and insecure.
But being a mom and a parent
helps me also stay in the moment.
Because if I'm gonna think too much about
all the other superficial things in life,
I'll-- I have to worry about my child,
you know?
And be here. Right now.
I think that everyone tries to survive
in this world and make their way.
We all find different ways to do that,
and some of us feel like
we have to take the safer path,
and other people feel
a bit more comfortable
at certain times in their life
taking risks.
This is my story now
It's always been so up and down
This tour taught me so much
about who I am as a person.
What I have to offer.
And this is my story now
But, most importantly, I just wanna be as
honest and real as I can in my life and
make a real connection.
I'm a bit more tired now
I made it through, I don't know how
Maybe next we'll have a little girl
She can start with a dream
Just like me
We tried many times to have a baby,
but it just wasn't meant to be.
It's always been so up and down
Never went the way I thought
And that's okay, you know, because
I have a beautiful son and husband,
and this is my family.
But damn, life is good
We're gonna go home and getting home
in time to pick up Walker from school.
-And just, you know, keeping it real, man.
-[Aaron] We have to take him to practice?
-Do we have to take him to a practice?
-Mondays we got basketball practice.
Just life goes on.
[interviewer] Sunday night you play
Madison Square Garden.
And then I show up and say, "Hi, Mrs. Wu.
How was your weekend?" [laughs]
[crowd cheering]
["Seasons of Love" playing]
This used to be my bus stop.
Right across the street.
This is the dumpster.
This one-- One--
Yeah, my dad was right. 137.
All right, help me out now, okay?
Everything looks small when you return
to it when you're a grown-up, right?
Should we knock on the door?
It doesn't look like anybody's home.
Five hundred
Twenty-five thousand moments
For some reason,
I thought I was gonna be like a--
Like an alternative rock star
or something.
A mosh pit would be there,
and I'd just stage dive into the audience.
We're gonna try to stage dive.
He's having a heart attack about it
every night.
measure a year?
In daylights
We're walking in the backyard.
I'm gonna get arrested at my own house.
[assistant] We're totally trespassing.
[Menzel] I know. I'm trespassing.
-Hello, doggy. Hello, dog.
-[dog barking]
In five hundred, twenty-five thousand
There's, like, a big trench here,
and there's some 11-year-old girls
that will drop me.
-They don't go up to the stage.
-[person] Some are four years old.
They're not all standing.
-Some are like four or five years old.
-[person] Like four.
So, I don't know how
they're gonna hold me.
Some are large, muscular gay men
that are very in shape.
-[chattering]
-[laughing]
[vocalizing]
Seasons of love
Whoa! Whoa!
Seasons of love
I'm fine. I'm fine.
Five hundred, twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
Five hundred, twenty-five thousand
Journeys to plan
Five hundred, twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure the life
Of a woman or a man?
In truths that she learned
Or in times that she cried
In bridges she burned
Or the way that she died
It's time now to sing out
Though the story never ends
Let's celebrate, remember a year
In the life of friends
-Remember the love
-You got to remember the love, yeah
-Remember the love
-Oh, give love, oh
-Remember the love
-Give love, spread love
Measure in love
Measure
Measure your life in love
Seasons of love
[vocalizing]
-Seasons of love
-Oh, yeah, come on
Seasons of love
Seasons of love
Love, love
One more time. Come on!
Seasons of love
Seasons of love
[crowd cheering]