Idina Menzel Goes Barefoot

On her new CD Live Barefoot At The Symphony, Tony Award winner Idina Menzel doesn’t just showcase the powerhouse vocals audiences have come to know from her star turns in shows like Rent and Wicked, she also displays a terrifically dry, wry sense of humor. It’s a seductive combination and one which makes this new album, recorded during a concert she gave last November at Koerner Hall in Toronto, an utter joy from start to finish.

The songlist for the concert is remarkably well-calibrated, drawing from a diverse slice of Menzel’s career. It includes two songs from Wicked, not only the soaring “Defying Gravity,” but also “For Good,” which Menzel delivers a cappella to spine-tingling effect.

Menzel also offers up “No Day But Today” from Jonathan Larson’s Rent which she imbues with a passion that’s refreshingly unsentimental, even when the song’s final phrase becomes a sing-along with the audience, along with “Life of the Party” (from Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party), and “Heaven Help My Heart” (from Chess).

From the world of pop, Menzel includes Jimmy Webb’s “Asleep at the Wheel,” Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” (which she performed with Lea Michele on FOX’s Glee), and Sting’s “Roxanne,” which is cleverly paired with Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale,” in an appropriately driving arrangement from Bob Mounsey.

As a special treat, Menzel is joined by her husband (and former Rent co-star) Taye Diggs for one track, a sublime rendition of Rodgers and Hart’s “Where or When.” You can feel the couple’s chemistry even without seeing them together, and given the smooth combination of their voices, it’s not difficult to imagine them as a 21st-century equivalent of such duos as Steve and Eydie, or even (given their playfulness), Sonny and Cher.

Menzel’s patter from the concert — which impressively never sounds rehearsed — enhances many of the offerings. Her tales of her experiences during the Kennedy Center Honors tribute to Barbra Streisand are particularly funny, gently cutting, and beautifully frame a delightful medley of songs made famous by the legendary singer: “Funny Girl” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Jule Styne and Bob Merrill’s Funny Girl.

Also adding to the CD’s excellence is the 52-pierce Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, which magnificently supports her vocals, thanks to conductor Marvin Hamlisch’s expert and sensitive work.