Broadway superstar coming to Alabama, singing classics from ‘Wicked,’ ‘Rent’ and more

You know her as a Broadway star famed for her work in “Wicked,” “Rent” and other musicals. Your kids love her as the voice of Elsa in the “Frozen” franchise. Maybe you’ve seen her on television in “Glee,” or in movies such as “Enchanted” and “Disenchanted.” And yes, there was the time John Travolta messed up her name at the 2014 Oscars ceremony.

Idina Menzel, the acclaimed singer and actress, is coming to Alabama this summer, as part of her “Take Me or Leave Me Tour.” It’s a rare concert here for Menzel, set for Aug. 6 at the Gogue Performing Arts Center in Auburn, in the center’s Woltosz Theatre. Tickets for the 8 p.m. concert are $125 plus service charges, on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, April 26, via the Gogue Center website.

Three VIP packages are available for the Auburn show, priced at $125, $225 and $349. Various perks are included in the packages, such as photos, commemorative merchandise, a Q&A with Menzel, a group photo with her and an “intimate pre-show performance” with the star. The $349 package includes a ticket with seating in the first 10 rows of the theatre. The other packages don’t include a ticket to the show, just the additional perks.

A fan presale is underway, and an access code for that can be found on Menzel’s website.

Menzel, 52, has announced 21 dates for her 2024 tour, starting on July 19 and ending on Aug. 18. The Auburn show is the only stop she’ll make in Alabama. Menzel hasn’t performed often in the state, but she did make a visit to Birmingham in August 2017, appearing at the BJCC Concert Hall.

Menzel, a mezzo-soprano, won a 2004 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical her role as Elphaba in “Wicked.” She also earned Tony nominations for her work in “Rent” and “If/Then.” Menzel also has seven studio albums to her credit, including 2023′s “Drama Queen.”

Menzel has voiced the character of Elsa in two “Frozen” movies — that’s her powering through the anthem “Let It Go” — and she’ll perform again in “Frozen III,” reportedly set for release in 2026. She received a Disney Legend Award in 2022, a top honor from the Walt Disney Co.

Menzel promises a career-spanning setlist on her summer tour, including jazz standards, album tracks and songs from musicals such as “Wicked,” “Rent” and “Frozen.”

“I often wrestle with the fact that I often assume that people will be bored if I sing the same songs over and over, like ‘Let It Go’ or ‘Defying Gravity,’” Menzel said in a recent interview with Billboard. “I’m always trying to rewrite things, discover or cover new songs, reinterpret them and then I always get this feedback of ‘No, we want to hear these songs!’ I’m trying to strike a balance between performing songs the way I think my audience would want to hear them and feeling like, as an artist, that I’m growing and singing the songs in a way that their lyrics resonate with me. I juggle it and then I sit with my band and we play with it and assess it and sort of see what kind of floats to the top.”

The name of her tour, of course, is a reference to the song “Take Me or Leave Me” from “Rent.” Menzel made her Broadway debut in the musical in 1996, earning fame for her role as Maureen Johnson.