Idina Menzel jump-started her career as a musical stage actress with her Tony-nominated turn as bisexual performance artist Maureen Johnson in Rent. Several years and many singing roles later, Menzel got her first taste of fame when she starred as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, in the 2003 Broadway premiere of Wicked. The musical broke box office records, earned Menzel a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical and landed her work in a variety of films, including the big screen adaptation of Rent, where she reprised her role as Maureen and met future husband Taye Diggs. The past few years have seen Menzel focused on her solo singing career, and in January, she made her Warner Bros. debut with I Stand, an adult contemporary pop album produced and cowritten by Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette, No Doubt, Dave Matthews Band). Menzel is currently supporting the album with a national tour, which makes a Sunday evening stop at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Sun., July 27, 7:30 p.m., Ferguson Hall, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, downtown Tampa, $38.50, 813-229-7827, tbpac.org.
This article appears in Jul 23-29, 2008.