Idina Menzel brought the highs and lows Thursday night – both in her powerhouse vocals and in stories of her marriage, her Broadway fame and her current solo venture.

Menzel, the Tony-award winning singer, actress and songwriter, performed before a crowd of approximately 1,400 people in Goldstein Auditorium of the Schine Student Center Thursday night.

Her 90-minute set included songs off her January 2008 solo album, ‘I Stand,’ and a few of her trademark Broadway ballads. Menzel is best known for her lead Broadway roles starring as Elphaba in 2003’s ‘Wicked’ and Maureen in the stage and film versions of ‘Rent.’

‘I was feeling a bit sad today, so it was great to be able to come out here and just sing my own stuff at my own pace,’ Menzel said after the show. ‘I had a great time. It made me feel better.’

Menzel is married to fellow actor and ‘Rent’ star Taye Diggs, who is a 1993 alumnus of Syracuse University’s drama program.

‘I feel so honored to be here,’ Menzel said of her husband’s alma mater. ‘He can’t stop talking about (SU), really. There’s something really special up here. I hope you guys are getting as much out of it as he did.’

Menzel opened the show with the title song from ‘I Stand,’ introducing her pop sound to audience members only familiar with her musical theater work. The album is her third solo venture, and the first of her albums to make mainstream music charts.

One of the more popular performances of the night included ‘Brave,’ the third track off her album. Menzel sat on the edge of the stage, belting the power ballad with closed eyes.

Nick Smiroldo, a sophomore political science major at SU, said ‘Brave’ was his favorite song. He skipped his music and judicial process classes to be the first person in line, and had been sitting outside the doors to Goldstein Auditorium since 10 a.m. for the 8 p.m. show.

‘It was absolutely amazing,’ Smiroldo said. ‘To be front row center, and have her make eye contact with me for five full seconds. It was amazing.’

Before performing ‘Heaven Help My Heart,’ Menzel told of a trip to London she took last year to record a concert version of the musical ‘Chess’ with country singer Josh Groban and actor Adam Pascal. He’s her ‘buddy from ‘Rent,” she said.

Menzel’s free-spirited personality shined through – joking with the audience, and taking cracks at singer Britney Spears.

‘At least I’m not riding around in the front seat with my babies on my lap. I sing without assistance,’ Menzel joked. ‘I told you I was in a mood today.’

But the show didn’t end without its somber moments. After singing the Hebrew ‘Song of Deborah,’ Menzel talked about her sister, a single mother and third-grade teacher raising two children. Her sister wanted to sing, but Menzel had already begun to establish herself as the family’s aspiring performer. Years later, she listened while her sister sang one of her sons to sleep.

‘She has such a beautiful, angelic voice,’ Menzel said. ‘I felt all those years, I’d stolen something from her.’

Menzel became a wedding singer after she realized she wasn’t good at working at the local deli, she said. She said she enjoyed the times when it was just her singing with the keyboard, and she returned to those roots with covers of Frank Sinatra’s ‘Embraceable You’ and Judy Garland’s ‘The Man That Got Away.’

She didn’t shy away from the Broadway classics that brought her to fame. A single spotlight shone down as she sang an a cappella version of ‘For Good,’ a ballad from ‘Wicked.’ She ended the main set with ‘Gorgeous,’ a single from her album.

After a standing ovation from the audience, Menzel returned to the stage for a few more songs. Samara Finkle, a 14-year-old from Niskayuna, N.Y., had left a green faux fur scarf on the stage. Menzel called her up to thank her and give her a hug, joking that she’ll get made fun of when video of her wearing the scarf surfaces on YouTube.

‘I’m still trembling,’ Finkle said after the show. She’d also given her a gift at another show in Albany.

Audience members called for Menzel to sing ‘Defying Gravity,’ the powerhouse ballad from ‘Wicked.’

‘We don’t know that one! I get all the verses confused,’ Menzel joked, before singing a cover of Rickie Lee Jones’ song ‘Company.’ ‘We worked hard on this today at rehearsal, and by God, we’re gonna play it for you!’

But Menzel finally relented, closing the show with another standing ovation after singing a pop version of ‘Defying Gravity.’

‘She was really great,’ said Ann Clarke, dean of Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. ‘It’s interesting that she’s so popular, not just with the theater community. And she’s so real on stage. Very personable.’

shmelike@syr.edu

Published on March 19, 2009 at 12:00 pm