A lot of school children will be watching the film. Did you ever struggle in school?
Idina Menzel: Yeah, there were a lot of girls in school with whom I had a hard time. One of them was an aspiring singer, in the third grade. (laughs) We were both up for Dorothy; we were always up for the same roles, even though she was a year older than me. She was so mean to me, because she felt threatened by me.
I was always looking for places in my life where I could find that home and company of people where I could be myself. So a lot of times I would pretend that I wasn’t singing or going to my voice lessons. Even as I was getting older, I was doing wedding and bar mitzvahs to make some cash. I started that early, when I was about 15-years-old. I’d lie about my age, and do these gigs. (laughs)
The kids at school were having keg parties on the weekends, and I was doing a wedding or bar mitzvah in some temple on Long Island. I came into my own, and built a confidence as a performer. I did that through having to stand up with people who weren’t paying much attention, and a band of older men and women. But the people at school didn’t know that part of my life.
It’s not until now, and in the past 10 years, honestly, that I’m finally not apologizing for all the different things that I do. My first gig was in the off-Broadway show Rent. Even when it was a rock musical, people in the rock and music worlds were thinking of it as a Broadway show. We weren’t getting the street cred of working with the rock-n-roll producers and songwriters.
So I’ve always been caught in these different worlds. It hasn’t been until the last couple years of my life that I’ve been comfortable saying, this is my resume, and this is where I’ve been. Now I feel like I’ve made a name for myself.
Going along with the film’s theme of true love, what was the last romantic thing your husband did for you?
Idina Menzel: He just sent me flowers to my dressing room for my new play in Washington, D.C. I’m starting a new musical, called If/ Then. We’re in D.C. to develop and work on it, before we bring it to Broadway. It’s the first theatrical thing I’ve done in a long time that I’m really excited about. So Taye knew I was excited about it, and he sent me flowers.
We’re not perfect together, but I think we make a good couple because we push the right and wrong buttons, and we learn from each other. We’ve been together 17 years, and we teach each other about ourselves. We have joyous and very troubling days, but we keep growing as people.