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By Ligia Fernandez
To access past Entertainers columns, click on the Entertainers archive
link to the left.
A true triple threat and one of today's brightest musical
theatre stars, Idina Menzel made an auspicious Broadway debut as
free-spirited performance artist Maureen Johnson in the landmark musical
RENT, earning a Tony nomination for her work.
While working in RENT, Idina met your future husband,
actor Taye Diggs. They were married in 2003. She and Taye were
among the few Broadway actors chosen to reprise their original roles in the
RENT feature film.
Then came WICKED. She won legions of loyal fans (and
a Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Circle Award) for playing misunderstood Oz
witch Elphaba opposite Kristin Chenoweth. Her WICKED duet with Chenoweth,
Defying Gravity, is still one of the most downloaded showtunes on iTunes.
Off-Broadway she has appeared in the John Michael LaChuisa
musicals THE WILD PARTY and SEE WHAT I WANNA TO SEE as well the York Theatre
production of SUMMER OF '42. In May 2008, she performed the role of Florence
in a concert version of CHESS at London's Royal Albert Hall.
In addition to the RENT film, she played Nancy in last
year's Disney musical fantasy hit ENCHANTED.
She is currently on the concert circuit performing an
evening of her own compositions as well as selections from her Broadway
repertoire. Her latest CD, I STAND, is available at Amazon (see below) and
other online retailers.
For more than half a century Robert Goulet stood as the
symbol of the sophisticated baritone crooner.
Broadway audiences first took notice of the handsome Canadian as Lancelot in
the original production of Lerner & Loewe's CAMELOT, introducing one of the
show's biggest hits -- the haunting love ballad If Ever I Would Leave
You. It would become his signature song for the rest of his career.
He won a Tony Award for playing a photographer who returns
to his French-Canadian family after an extended absence in Kander & Ebb's
THE HAPPY TIME. His only other Broadway musical credits were playing
King Arthur in the '93 revival of CAMELOT and Georges in the '05 revival of
LA CAGE AUX FOLLES.
Most of his career was devoted to performing to adoring
audiences in concert halls around the world, recording more than 60 albums
and appearing in on film and television. During the 1960s, he starred in
television versions of the musicals BRIGADOON, CAROUSEL and KISS ME KATE.
He will be remembered as one of the greatest, most
charismatic vocalists of his generation.
Next update to this page: Sunday, September 7, 2008
