Not Skinny But Not Fat - Which Way to the Stage? w/ Idina Menzel

Episode Date: December 27, 2022

I’m so honored to chat with the talented Idina Menzel. From her days as Maureen in the long-standing iconic and important Broadway play RENT, to playing Elphaba in Wicked, and the voice of Elsa in Frozen- there’s nothing she can’t do. We discuss her path, motherhood, what she thinks of Ariana Grande in Wicked, co-parenting, her new husband, & her new Disney+ doc Which Way to The Stage?   Produced by Dear Media This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The following podcast is a dear media production. Hey guys, it's me, Kressel Lim, co-founder and CMO of Bumo. As a busy working parent myself, I felt like there was a lack of options for parents, and I personally needed more support. So that's what we're doing here on Being Bumo. We're here to make your life easier, a little less stressful, and help you navigate through this complex thing called Parenting. So subscribe now to Being Bumo at Applepodcast.com slash Being Bumo, or wherever you listen to

podcast. Oh, got to go. See you guys soon. This is Amanda Hirsch from the Not Skinny but Not Fat podcast. You might know me from Not Skinny Bonifut on Instagram where I spend my time talking about reality TV, celebrities, everything happening and pop culture. I also talk to some of our favorite celebs and reality TV stars. We talk about what's going on. Tune in every Tuesday. And just feel like you're talking to go with your best friends in your living room. Adina Mendel is here on the podcast. What a honor for me.

Your new doc came out on Disney Plus. Yeah. Which way to the stage? Literally it brought me back watching it that I'm a rent head. Like I snuck in. I mean, I don't advise this, but like Broadway was expensive for being in high school. I like snuck into like two rent shows in the city, which by the way, it was easy then. You just go during the manet.

You go during the intermission. How did you sneak in? Like during the intermission. Wow. Isn't that smart? Yeah. I know. Funny, one time with rent for six months, not one of us missed a show.

if we were so sick, we did not miss a show, which is, I don't think that happens with other Broadway shows. I don't mean to be like, pat us in the back, but it was like, it was because Jonathan Larson had passed away. Remember that whole thing? And so it kind of felt disrespectful to ever miss a show, you know? And then I was having a lot of vocal troubles. I hadn't really learned how to do eight shows a week and take care of my voice at that time. And I had stopped singing my voice teach seeing my voice teacher because I was so busy and I just got careless so I went to the doctor and he was like you have to go on voice rest otherwise you're going to get notes so I was like so upset so there's a thing where certain stage managers encourage the cast to what do they call it

sub out so that you can actually watch the show that you're in and have pride about it and appreciate it because you know there's no objectivity when you're in a show as to what you've experienced what people are experiencing. But our stage manager didn't believe in that because we had become such like New York City's celebrities and been on the cover of the arts section in New York Times and each one of us had these little headshots there. And he was like, if people come to the show and see that you're not in it, they're going to be annoyed. And not just me, like the whole cast. So when the doctor told me, I couldn't come, I couldn't be in the show and I had to take off. I was so upset. I remember we'd had to do Rosie O'Donnell at the time, Rosie's talk show. And I just lip singed. And everybody

else was singing. But I just want, you know, they wanted me to be on, but I wasn't supposed to. So that was weird to me because I never lip sing. And then Jesse Martin said, you got to come to the show and watch it. Just like put it on a disguise and come. And our stage manager overheard him. And he was like, Adina, do not do that. I'm telling you. I'll kick you out. So I remember I'd gone to intermix. Was that still around that? And I did like a depressed shopping spray for myself. And I bought these like, I was, I don't know what made me think that wearing a red zip-up hoodie and like these cool red platform sandals with jeans was like going to be incognito.

But I wore that thinking I'm like Madonna going to the theater, the Meterlander, and I put the hoodie on. And I went in, I snuck by the by the ushers. And then I sat, where did I sit? In the back row and I was like hiding, even in the back row. I think I sat on the stairs near the refreshment stand. And I watched the whole first act. And, you know, Maureen doesn't come in until the very end.

And then I saw my understudy do it. She was so great. So that made me feel horrible. And then. I thought you were going to say good. No. And then the stage manager saw me and he came out. He went, Dina, get the fuck out of here.

So I left. And then I was with Tay at that time, weren't married, but we were dating. And so I texted him. I'm in the area. When the show gets out, I can pick you up. I'll be in a taxi. So I was in a taxi and he came out and was doing stage door signing. And I was down the street.

And I like, stuck my hand out. I was like, and I motioned for him to come over. And he always remembers this because I look like an idiot with my hood. And I was just like sneaking. And that was the thing. It was a horrible experience for me. And I never forgot all the things that Kristen Lee Kelly did amazing that I wasn't doing. And it's so hard to get those things out of your head and then not to feel like, well,

I don't want to copy what she's doing. But it's just, you know, when you originate a role, you bring to it what you do. And then everyone else that plays it adds on to what you've been doing. You know, you set the foundation. They do you. And then they add on to that, which is you can't have that when you're originating a role. You just are studying the first take of it, you know? So that happens with the singing too.

I'll see, I'll, I'll, I'll hear an understudy practicing and they take all the stuff I have and then they add even higher notes to it and other riffs and stuff. And I'm like, why don't I think that? You know, maybe it's, I'm just too competitive. No, I think it's, it's true. I think like today is, I mean, in general, like a parallel to that is like I had just said on a podcast that I don't look at other people that are do similar. things to me on Instagram and not because I don't support them. It's because I don't want to copy them without realizing because like we're human nature is like you'll start talking like someone if you watch them too much or you'll take like mannerism.

So I totally totally get that. But it's it's it's shocking that he was so that the stage manager was so strict about that rule that they wouldn't let you watch. It went to see me because if you had paid a lot of money to come to the show and you saw see Nadina Vintel hiding in the background, they'd be like, well, she's not sick enough to get out of bed and come to the theater, you know, so they'd be a no one. So when you got the role of Maureen and rent, did you realize then, like, how big of a thing you were in and what it would mean to people and everything?

Not at all. It was just this little off-Brawaway show at the time and there was casting. And I had my rock band and I was trying to get signed to a record deal. I was writing all this music and I hadn't like being in a Broadway show, that dream had sort of left me since I was a little kid and I moved on to like wanting to be the next Alana Smorecette, you know. And so, but I wasn't working a lot. So I had a boyfriend at the time who was working at an agency and they said they want like raw new unknown talent to discover somebody new. You should go in. It's a rock musical.

So it's like, well, it's a rock musical. so he like submitted my headshot and my resume which by the way was filled with so many lives and then I went in for this audition and I kept getting called back and I remember I wore that patchwork suede skirt that ended up the director said you have that skirt you wore in the audition and then the costume designer said use your own clothes for this scene and then from then on they would make they would copy that suede skirt for all the other Marines which I was very proud of but they did that with Daphne's outfits too because her style was so individual to her, you know,

and it created that character of Mimi. So they would make those blue pants were hers. And then they would copy those for years and years after. For years and years? Because rent went on in 90. Five. Your last show was in 90. So we were on for 96.

I stayed for a year and a half. So 97, maybe 98. Yeah. And then I mean, when I was seeing it in high school, that was like 2000 and 2000. Thousands. You didn't see me. No, I didn't see you. I saw you in the movie. Yeah. Oh, in the movie. Yeah. Well, thank God they brought you back for the movie. So how did that work? So you were in the show. So when the movie idea came along, was it like, did you just get Marine? No, because it was 10 years later. And I think they want to see if I was too old looking on camera. So, but then I got it. Thank you. And yeah, where was I had been in Wicked? Oh, yeah, I remember because I was in Wicked. Yeah, you did Wicked in 2003, so you were doing that for another year and a half. So, and then I had fallen on my last weekend of Wicked and broke my ribs.

And I fell through this hole in the stage. And then I remember I was terrified that I wouldn't be, I had to learn the tango more than like six weeks later on set for the rent movie. And I was terrified that they would fire me because I was injured and I couldn't rehearse that well. And God knows I'm not a dancer and learning the tango was, was. very challenging for me. So all of that, I remember all that stress, but it worked out and we had such a great time. It was so much fun to revisit it. 10 years later, having really worked through Wicked and coming up more with a process of how I like to work as a performer and actress, as opposed to when I first got rent and I kind of was just flying by the seat of my pants. Yeah, and especially you were,

I heard you say that you thought after rent, that especially getting all that recognition in New York and stuff, that you would, you know, get famous and everyone would know you. But you were talking, you talked about like falling into obscurity for a few years. Yeah, it was because what I did was I got the record deal that I'd always wanted to get. I was signed to Hollywood Records. And I was writing music and making my album that I'm still to this day pretty proud of. It's called Still. I can't be still. Then it didn't sell well.

So then the record labeled the president had changed and the leadership changed. So then I got dropped. And so my whole momentum from rent, I could have been like what people do now is they, they come out here to L.A. and they start hitting TV and film and everybody, you know, if you're the hot shit, like you start getting work. But I was like, I'm not a T. Back then, you couldn't be a rock star, pop star, and also be known for

Broadway. It was weird. It wasn't to like glee, I feel like, where all of a sudden they're doing musicals and then they could all make popular, you know, music. It's like back then they thought that we weren't cool enough. There was this divide, you know. So I'd even try to work with certain producers and they'd be like, well, you know, she's from the theater. And I could totally like switch gears for that kind of stuff. So it was pretty frustrating. I think I talk about that in the documentary. But yeah, you talk a lot about, which I I feel like it's so relatable to a lot of different, you know, whatever industry you're in, just the idea that people want to put you in a box and don't want to accept.

What was frustrating was rent was a rock musical. So it's like I wasn't singing, you know what I mean? I was singing stylistically, you know, authentic to myself. I mean, the role was built around all of the roles were built around us as who we, we really were, you know, in a lot of ways. Did it bum you out then? Were you like, shit, why did I do? do yeah because then it felt like my momentum was gone and it was just trying to start over and you know I did this indie film and I flashed my tits and it was like all of a sudden

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Marians. But you weren't, you weren't interested in moving out to L.A. at that point and no, I'm hardcore New York City girl at that time. At that time. Like I was not going to, you know, not going to sell my soul and come out here. But you what you did, but you did. No, just said to people know, now you're in Los Angeles. I do. I live in Los Angeles that I would come out here a lot with say my first husband because he became this big movie start. And I'd come out and I was sort of like red carpeting, like, could we have Tay on his own for a picture? So I'd have be moved to the side. And I'd come out and I would go to auditions, but then like never get them and then see billboards for the things. Because like when you're in L.A., you're always in

your car. So then you see the billboard for things that you didn't get. You're constantly reminded of rejection. I remember I did get one lead in a sitcom and then I got fired off of that, which I was told as a right of passage. I remember my manager said that Lisa Kudrow got fired from her first sitcom that was her way of making me feel better but yeah so I just hated it I just felt so such like such a loser and then I went home to New York and I got the wild party thing and then I took it but that didn't feel that great that felt like I needed the money because I replaced I was the third replacement having gone from being an original role in rent I didn't think I would take like a third I took I replaced Taylor Dane so but I was happy to be working and

And then 9-11 happened. And that was so, so crazy to be, you know, Broadway closed down for a while. And then when it reopened, it was really, the attendance was really just not good. And you'd play to like these half open houses and half-filled houses and all of that. But then I went for Wicked and I sang the song from Aida called I Know the Truth. And then I remember Mark Platt had seen me in Aida and said she could come in for Wicke. again and then I was just so excited once once I didn't get my hopes up but then once you get a call back then you're like I really want this you know yeah you learn to find gravity and I was like

this is my shit you know I can I can do this I love this character and then I came in again and I just was so excited and then it and then it was like four years of workshopping and developing wicked so it it wasn't like right away you keep doing these incarnations and they keep working and they write a million songs and rewrite them and you know cut scenes and rewrite scenes and so it's it's not like that was a dumb deal you know how does it work when you finish playing your role because in rent you said you left 97 wicked your final performance we know the the story with the rib that happened right before your final performance do you decide I'm done or does there come a point where they look for someone new?

No, you decide. Oh, you just. Yeah. No, they would have been happy if I stayed in. Yeah. Yeah. You decide that it's just time. When you start being able to like think about your errand checklist while you're

singing defying gravity, like I have to go get my dry cleaning done. What am I going to buy it? Whole food. You know, it's like time, time to go. When you're not like really in it and really passionate about it. The movie, they're working on on the new Wicked, right? With Ariana Grande. I saw that you said that it's that it's a little bit hard for you to not be in it and that's a little bit sad.

Yeah. That's my. That's my. I mean, I'm honest about it. It's my true feelings. I mean, if I was, if I went out there and just started saying, oh, I'm so happy for everyone that's in it. now. I mean, I believe in them and I support them and I've talked to Cynthia and Ariana and like, giving them my love and, and, you know, told them they could always call me if they ever sort of

wanted to hear why something is what it is. But, I mean, they're, they're so talented. They don't need my help and they want to make it their own anyway. But it was more hard because it was my age, you know, and that's just really hard to deal with when someone's telling you you're too old, especially if you're going to cover your face in green makeup. I mean, how old can you be? Right. What were you, did you start having conversations? Like, were you in the mix at the beginning? No, my producers always told me. I would say to them, come on, like avatar is out. Like the completely like CGI, everybody's faces, you know? And then like Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci played themselves. and the Irishmen, like, and they did all that, you know, work on their faces to make them look young. Or at the time, it was Benjamin Button member with Brad Pitt. And so I'd say to Mark Platt, come on, you can do that to Kristen and me. Like, let's, like, give us the role.

What's the big deal? But he'd say, you're not going to get it. You're going to be too old. So I was like, fun. So I knew for a long time it wasn't going to happen. But that doesn't mean it's easy to hear when you're, you know, in your 40s and you're self-conscious about about getting older you know that's just the real truth if i'm no i love i love how real you are in the documentary too about everything about the putting you in a box about you know

your IVF struggles about about about this even though it is wild watching you have these moments of like insecurity and whatever where you're seeing yourself that way but like the way we see you is so different i mean you're a megastar you've been in huge productions but you're, you still have this feeling of, you know, which I think, I don't know, I mean, not that a therapist would tell you this. I like it. I feel like a therapist would want to work on it, you know, and be like, you know, realize who you are. But I think obviously keeps somebody, you know, relatable and, and, and down to earth and, and not too big for your britches. So I appreciate that about you, but also want you to know that, I mean, we see you as, you know,

I do work on it with my therapies and I try to fake it till I make it kind of thing and when I start to get self deprecating I I try to turn that narrative for myself because I do feel like it's too it is too pitying and I also think it gets tiring like it can be endearing at first but then I think it's like get over yourself you have all this stuff to be proud of so it's actually my son points that out to be now you know I'll say something like, well, this didn't work or mommy's song, something will come up and then I'll be like, mom, let it go has more streams and Taylor Swift songs. You're an icon. I don't like when you talk about yourself like that. So now I want to mirror like better behavior for him, you know, like that kind of knocking myself down. Well, you had that moment in the documentary where you come to play.

Was it in L.A.? Yeah, and they didn't notice me at this. Yeah. And they were asking about Josh Grobin's wife or something. And I could totally understand how that would be so annoying. But you got, you got pretty emotional about that moment and your husband Aaron. I was also hormonal from all the,

the shots I was taking for IVF. And, yeah. And L.A. also plays into that because of that old stuff I was talking about with you. It's like, you know, coming out here all the time. and never being able to prove yourself. And that still was triggering to me,

even though I had earned my respect down here. It's still like brought me back, you know. Yeah, like this would happen in L.A. Like it couldn't happen in, you know, Milwaukee. Exactly. Yeah. But your husband, Aaron, was so sweet the way he, you know, consult you.

And in general, your relationship, I mean, I'm sure gives hope to a lot of people going on their second marriage. and you tell the story about how you met and he was like no wedding no whatever no whatever and somehow what did you do what magic did you we both were like we don't need to get married you know I don't even know if I believe in that anymore he was like I don't I don't think I'm father material and I was like cool you know I got my son and I don't need to be pregnant again and then like a year we totally falling in love and he's like, I don't know, maybe, maybe we should get married. And then I saw how incredible he was with my son and they had this super, super bond that just

happened organically. And I think he started to see and become more confident in the kind of father he could be. And then you start to want that for him. And then my son was saying you want a sibling. And then I was feeling like I still. had those maternal feelings that pull so then then we tried but it was just too late to try but that but the doctors would say you know well actually for your age you still you still really have a good count of like eggs and follicles and all that stuff are so annoying to talk about it

sounds so clinical but so they kept my hope going a little bit I thought I see that like small percentage of women that get pregnant when they're older So you gave up on that, on that. Yeah. So I had some miscarriages and, you know, so many cycles where it just didn't take. And it's a lot for your body to go through. You also were crazy and did it like right before MSG, you did like an egg retrieval in New York. Yeah.

Because you can't. If your body like has the count, you want to grab it. You know, you have these eggs that are looking viable to the doctors or, you know, whatever it is going on. They think, you know, you might have a good site. and they can get a bunch of eggs that, you know, might be good. You don't want to miss out on that month. I mean, it just is what it is. So, so, yeah, I was like, okay, I have to do this.

But, you know, women are strong. I know. I was going to say the things women do. And Aaron wasn't even with you, right? You were, were you at that point alone? He might have been, but then he flew in for the MHG thing. Right, right, right. Yeah, the things women do.

So did you guys give up on that? Are you thinking of going another route to... Oh, no, no, now I'm super old. No, no, we're good. The fact that we tried meant so hard meant so much to him. And it just, it wears you down to the point. You're like, eh, you know, this wasn't meant to be. And I have this incredible sun.

And so just, you know, incrementally, you just start to change your view on what you want in life. And if you're starting to push something that isn't there. So we're definitely, we've reconciled. that feeling and we're good. I love to see that him and your ex-husband, Taye Deg, I'm sure you guys know who that is, which you met on Rent, that they, they like go to Walker's games together and are like, cool. They're cool.

They don't drive in the same car and, like, we get a beer together. But my co-parenting situation is something I'm pretty proud of, you know, we don't speak discouragingly of one another. And because of that, I think, to Tay's Christ. he, you know, is so supportive of their relationship that Walker can kind of go back and forth between houses and hug them both in front of each other and say, love you. And, and he doesn't feel that kind of guilt or awkwardness, you know. I feel like we're good on that, on that front. That's great. That's amazing. So the documentary was filmed because I remember you saying 47. I was like,

oh my god was this because it was film it started filming four years ago in 2018 four years ago yeah wow so how did that come to be like the the documentary well i found out i was going to be at the garden and i i knew i had all this archival footage of a gig that i used to do and i had this bit where i would sort of do this monologue over music that was from a song that was from the first album that was all about like my life and my dreams and how I saw myself. And I talked about Madison Square Garden. I would really like relive what I thought that moment would feel like even to the point that I'd say like.

And then Lenny Kravitz comes out because I had such a crush on him. Lenny Kravitz comes out and duets with me. And then I'd go into like, are you going to go my way? I'd go into that. It was really cool kind of like. It was like when I start to thinking that maybe I'd do like a one woman show. And so I was working on material. I was going to say, it seemed like stand-upy.

Like, were you doing music at those shows or was it just? I was always based on music. Been weaved in and out of songs. So what was I saying with that? And you were wearing really low-cut pants. I feel like this is very vital to the story, which looked so cool on you. I had good abs for a long time. It runs in my family.

My mom still, she's 74 and she's got great-up. Great-up. Yeah. so I knew I had all this archival footage that I could say like look at this dream you know I was talking about it years ago and I could show that and I just I don't know I just feel like maybe because of the stuff we talked about that things are fleeting and like your career has all these highs and lows and you never know what's going to happen that you can't lose sight of that stuff when you get more successful you know it's just stupid you got to like really appreciate all of the different moments and complex. along the way. So I said, I just want to document this. I didn't have funds necessarily. And I, the timing was off to like get like Disney Plus involved at that time or there probably wasn't even Disney Plus in time. But you know. And so I just threw my own money into it and believe that someone would like it after. And then. Oh, so you got your own production going and everything. And then you sold it. Yeah, exactly. And yeah, anytime I'd bet on myself. it's like I do well, you know, I just, it's like Wicked. I remember I had gotten this TV show that was really, had some really good people involved with it,

but it was like two years before Wicked was, was going, ended up going to Broadway. And I remember that my manager and I had to make the decision because the wicked people were like, you can't miss this workshop or recast it if you do that sitcom. And I, and I thought,

you know what? I believe that Wicked's going to be something really special at that time. And so I didn't do the TV show. And so I feel like when I bet on certain things, it puts out a certain energy, you know. And you have good, like, intuition. I guess so. My manager's good at that with me, too. And people would say the MSG thing, the fact that you had that bit,

that today there's a name for that, like manifesting. Like you manifested MSG. Why was MSG? I mean, I know you're in New York. New York, Lauren. And I don't know. That to me was the pinnacle gig. And I had played Carnegie Hall and I played the Sydney Opera House in Australia.

And I had played Radio City even. But, you know, I'm just a competitive person at heart. And I wanted to fulfill that dream that I had. And then when it was happening, I just said, let's document this. And I thought it would be more like a typical tour documentary, kind of following the routing of the tour to the garden. But it ended up just being more about being a mom and trying to have this crazy life of going back and forth and trying to make the little things in life that are important to me, trying to fit them in and not miss important milestones in my son's life, but still hold on to the journey. and be somewhat of a human being on stage, you know, and have that be able to be myopic at that moment. And it just became more about that. And then IVF and it's just like I was running around

like the chicken with a head off. And then this map that was supposed to go from A to B, you know, like they route it so that your bus goes conveniently to places that you're not driving too far and going like this, you know, zigzagging all over the place, ended up being zigzagging all over the place. Yeah, I was like, oh, my, how long was that whole tour? How long were you on? It was 17 shows in one month. Yeah.

But that's something I'm used to. Like, that's the creature of theater that I've become. The more shows, the better. I get in like a really good rhythm. My voice gets really strong now because I've worked ever since that one rent thing. I understand how to keep my voice, you know, in good shape. even if I get a cold or getting my period, which ends up like drawing out your voice that once a month.

Like I know how to, I'm a little sleep. I know how to navigate around things like that. I may not sing as many high notes, but I know how to navigate so that I can get through it. I also learn that there's been times where my cold set in and I just couldn't really sing that much, but I'd go out on stage and I would just be honest with the audience

instead of trying to hit all the notes. And I'd stick the microphone out into the audience, which is a great feeling when you have songs that people actually can sing along with you. And sometimes I'd let people sing the high note of let it go or a little girl would come on stage, like, why don't you take that? You know, I have this bad cold.

And I'd also learn that people just loved it. You know, when you're yourself, you don't, and you commit to telling the story of the songs, you don't have to hit the high notes for people, to feel things, you know. So that's something I've really learned because I think, I think I was saying that in the documentary. I was so invested in the acrobatics of my voice and that that was the only way I would impress people and that I had nothing else really to offer special that made me special in the world. And so having Walker made me feel really special and realizing that the

songs didn't always have to be everything that people expected that if I really wasn't connecting and telling being a storyteller that it was about who I was inside, not the notes that I was hitting. Okay, guys, I, you know, as you know, I have a partnership with Macy's. Macy's sponsors my podcast. I feel hashtag blessed that that's the case. I mean, Macy's was, you know, my go-to department stores. I was a young girl going to Macy's at Herald Square was like, you know, just looking up at the high ceiling and realizing there's this huge place that has everything to offer, everything to offer.

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shows? Yeah. I was. Yeah. And your family was there and your dad. who, like, remembered the amount of times he saw you and watched you. He's like, 250, I saw rent, 227 times, wicked, too. Yeah, because he was a pajama salesman before he retired, and he used to bring his buyers to try to, like, impress them. So they'd buy, like, millions of dozens of, like, feedy pajamas from Kmart. Oh, my God, that's so funny. So he'd bring his clients all the time to my shows.

And then he speaks the guy on the airplanes to this day that is the annoying guy that strikes up a conversation with people that they're like, I wish this guy would just let me sleep. He always finds a way into bragging a puppy. Your daughter, my daughter. Yeah. That's so cute. I mean, you could tell just how proud he was. And do you know, because usually whenever there, you know, our documentaries about singers, we always see, you know, the home tapes. of being, you know, really young.

And so I wanted to know because I feel like I didn't see that in, in yours, like, no, there are. There are. There's that one in the backyard where I'm singing tomorrow and Edelweiss. So, I mean, I definitely had that. But go ahead. I just. Yeah, there was that moment.

Like, when did you or your parents realize that, like, whoa, she has a voice? And how do you find out? In a talent show up in the Catskill Mountains, like dirty dancing style, you know, Our parents back then used to throw us in a day camp so they could go and party and do God knows what with their friends. And the camp would put together a talent show. And I remember I sang cats in the cradle and I was harmonizing, which there are no harmonies in that song. But I was harmonizing and the counselors were like, wow, I can't believe your ear.

I was little like, I don't know, seven years old or so. And then I got on the stage and I sang the way we were to. And that's when a lot of people were sitting around my mom. And they were like, Helene, she's really got something. You should get her voice lessons. And so that was kind of the start of it. Oh, wow. And did you like it?

Were you like, wait, and I like this? Like, this is fun for me. Of course, yeah. And liked being like the center of attention. I know that you said, you said another relatable thing that you said, and the doc was like, you know, all those girls in high school that were mean to me. Like, look at me now, bitch. So, well, I was dating a guy older than me that was in their grade. And, you know, those girls hate that one of the guys. So, so many of them came to the show backstage and would see me between rent and Wicked. And we would like connect. And they'd act like they never bullied me. But that was fine. It got past that. But there's one girl and I'm not going to mention her name that never came back. And she would always really mean to me. So, but, you know, whatever. She's doing what she's doing. Wait. So. So, so.

were you not were you popular they were mean to you because you were dating the guy or i was that person that was sort of popular i think some people would think i was popular but i was doing the weddings and bar mitzvahs on the weekends and so i never would i didn't go to a lot of parties so i just always felt like i didn't i don't know i didn't fit and then i also did something called Forensics, which is a speech and debate team, and they'd have a drama. They had oratory speaking and then like a drama category. And that would be with all the debate guys and like the valedictorian. And so it's like the breakfast club for me. I'd go with the quote nerdy guys who now are ruling the world. And we go, we travel all over the place and do this. And I love them. And then there'd be theater club, you know, then there'd be the school plays. It never felt like a fit in one particular group. Yeah. I mean, I guess that goes along with what you. you know kept saying like she's versatile she doesn't fit in one box so there's not you know you were popular dating the the older guy but also in the in the nerdy team but also i love that i also loved that we got a mention of your rollin on cut gems because that was such a chef's kiss

role like even that clip that you put in just brought me back to wanting to watch the movie again how was that for you was that that was sort of like a surprised wasn't it also while you were doing a gazillion other things in the beginning during my rehearsals yeah my rehearsals for the tour but adam samler is just like he's like an angel so i just i just loved it i love working with him and um he's just this great actor you know he's i think he's just starting to get his due you know but like people always thought of him as just you know comedians have a hard time feeling like they get the the respect that they deserve and And he was just, he's so talented.

So I really enjoyed that experience. Did he call you up for it? No, what happened with that? I think my agent, I was in a play called Skin Tight. And there was a sort of East Coast mentality about the character. And that's what they were looking for. And then the Safdi brothers came. Yeah.

And then I got it. And I actually didn't have to audition for that. They gave it to me. which is so rare. If you get an offer and you don't have to audition, it's the best feeling of it. I hate auditioning, by the way. Some people, like, love it and they're really good at it.

I choke all the time. But, like, it's, yeah. Did it give you, like, the bug to do more on screen stuff? Yeah. Yeah, I really like it. I like being able to go back and forth because, like, obviously, eight shows a week in theater is so hard and exhaust. and exhausting and you know there's both their sides to there's pose and cons to it all but then when

you leave that you're ready to try something else so then there's a sort of solitary feeling of being in a recording studio and writing music which is really nice for a while and then film and tv is a whole different feeling although the crew feels similar to putting on a play with your cast this like a whole group of people joining together to make something and I think I think that's That's my. Oh, and then there's touring with a band and playing, you know, your own music. And then there's also what you did in Frozen. What would you call that? Oh, yeah. And then there's graceover work. That's the best because I can show up like this with no makeup. And that's, that's just so much fun. I mean, yeah, let's not forget, I mean, Frozen, which is, I mean, the soundtrack.

If you have kids, even if you don't have kids, but I mean, you just, I was going to ask you, do you get sick of, you know how parents are like, putting on the song, their kid wants again. I was wondering if you get sick of, you know, singing those songs that, you know, you sang a million times in these movies. No, I don't. People think, people think I'm lying when I say that,

but I really don't because once again, it's one of those moments to say, wow, like, this happened for me, you know, and to look back in retrospect. And I just think that that would be really shitty of me, you know, is it hard to sing sometimes on a day when I'm really tired And I say, oh, God, am I going to be? But it also, especially let it go and defying gravity, these really rangy songs, they're

songs that, even the rent stuff, they're always, they've always been songs that really appeal to a young generation. And they're just, they're bigger than, than any regular song. They're like, they just have such a magnitude of how they affect people and, and how they sort of, the audience associates those songs with things in their own life and, you know, the empowerment of those songs. So depending on the night, sometimes it's like I'm singing it for a little girl or boy. Other times I'm singing it for myself to like get my shit together. Sometimes I'm singing it just thinking musically and like enjoying the way the band plays it, which that's

part of the theater part of me because if you're doing eight shows a week in order to not suffer from monotony, I've always wanted to find new things. so that's that's the magic of it to me so there's always a way to tune into the song differently and find something new with that oh my god i listened to the the song from rent last night i had a dream i met a cow oh over the moon over the moon i mean you're like what are you singing because i don't have any but you're like what are you right last night i had a dream i met a cow elsie i was singing it to my sister she was like shocked she's young So she wasn't.

Then there's Elphaba and then there's Elsa. That is weird. Yeah. That is weird. Okay. So this interview wouldn't be complete. You mentioned the documentary. I'm sure you, you know, get asked about this a lot.

I'm sure that's annoying too. Is the, you know, John Travolta at the Oscars in 2014, Adel DeZeme, which I thought about it yesterday. Was no one concerned like he was having a stroke? Because that's not even like. that's not even that's like a first sign you know like saying something really fucked up because it wasn't even close yeah i don't know i think people felt for me more than they felt for him i i'm embarrassed to say that i'm sorry mr travola i know no one was you know no one

told him to pick his hands up there's like a whole thing you do adele de zim i mean first of all if anyone needs a stage name then exactly and then you had to go into your performance Yeah. But there's about four bars, which amounts to about eight seconds of time before I actually come in with the first line. And you'd be amazed at what can go through your mind. What was going through your mind? It was, did he just say my name wrong? And then it was, oh my God, I'm at the Oscars and he said my name wrong. And then it was, stop feeling sorry for yourself bitch like just sing the song and then it was sing to walker sing to work because that was my whole i had meditated on trying to once again stay in the moment and appreciate it and not be

overcome with nerves so my thing was if you're really nervous just sing to your kid you know and so all of those things came into play and then there was a look at brad pitt and mary adams who I'd known from the first enchanted. So I remember her beautiful face, like giving me this energy. And all of that happened in that eight seconds. And then you say that you like thanked him. Do you mean that? Like, do you really feel like that gave you like a boost?

And you're really? Well, I came off stage and I had like 40,000 more followers or something on Twitter. And then I was like, oh. And then I realized that like the love. I got from all the fans, the theater fans, was so powerful. But then all the people that weren't theater, sort of my niche, you know, fans that didn't know who I was, were like, what's the big deal with this girl? And they said the name, like, who is this girl?

So that kind of gave me more of a, you know, what do they call it, a household name. And so, yeah, so I was like, cool. And he said, apologize like, and it's a good story. You know, at the end of the day, we're collecting stories. And it's a good freaking story. Adina, you're amazing. And, you know, I know that you have talked about age being a barrier in some ways. I feel like age is just doing good for you.

I mean, you're doing so many cool things. You have a book out loud mouse. Yeah, with my sister. I know. Can't wait to get it. so I can read to Noah. It's been out since September. You have a QVC clothing line on core.

I mean... I had all these dreams during the pandemic. Like, so I just got busy. And then they all culminated at the same time. It's been the most crazy fall ever. She's doing all the things. Are you an Instagram girly or a TikTok girly? More an Instagram.

I'm trying to get the TikTok together. I'm not a big social media person really. The idea of the presumption. that people want to see what I'm doing at every minute of the day has been hard for me. So I try, you know, like, but I have to push myself. Yeah. Well, at least we get, you know, a peek into your life in this documentary, which way to the stage. Out now in Disney Plus.

Adina, thank you so much for coming on my show. It's an honor. An honor to be on your show. Thank you. Thank you so much. Everyone go watch, which way of the stage. It's such a fun watch too. We're getting to like see your show.

and kind of get these backstage moments which tell us about your life. So I love that. Thank you. Well, thank you. If you wanted to like. Have a happy holiday. I'm forbidden to produce. That sounds good.

Inside the land, they only drink. It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make, do you know that I was like the worst performance. artist ever. I was thinking it because I think back then, you know, I just accepted the lyrics and and when I was listening to it again this week, I was like, random. What? Yeah.

Yeah. But so cool. Thank you again, Adina. It's such a pleasure to meet you. Thank you. Have a happy holiday. Thank you guys so much for listening to this episode of Not Skinny but Not Fat. Follow me on Instagram at Not Skinny but Not Fat.

Subscribe to the podcast. so you don't miss any episodes. Rate the podcast that you love so much on Apple Podcasts and write a little review. If you tell me you did, I'll give you a big virtual smoocharoo. Thank you guys so much for listening. And I'll see you next Tuesday. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect finance.

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