Broadway Throwback: Tony winner Idina Menzel’s debut album
2021 marks a huge year for Tony Award winning powerhouse Idina Menzel. Last month, she celebrated her 50th Birthday & the 25th Anniversary of the professional gig that started it all….. her Broadway debut in Rent. What an unforgettable legacy she has left within those past 25 years. We all love her success on stage and on screen. However, Menzel’s also had an amazing career as a Pop star releasing 8 solo albums. Get ready for a THRILLIFYING rare seen performance like no other…. during the early era before her career even skyrocketed as a global phenomenon with WICKED, Glee, and of course Frozen. Here is the music video of her debut single MINUET from her 1998 cult smash hit album STILL I CAN’T BE STILL.
The music video itself for MINUET is soooooooo hot!!!! It features Menzel in an old Volkswagen van driving through an automatic car wash. It also features an appearance by her fellow RENT co-star and now ex-husband Taye Diggs.
In case anyone may not know the story, Menzel’s journey to becoming a solo artist began back while she was performing in her Tony nominated breakout Broadway debut as the original “Maureen” in Rent. While doing the show 8 times a week, she got offered a record deal with Hollywood Records. After departing RENT in 1997, Menzel went straight to work on the album. Recorded in upstate New York, she worked with some incredible musical talents, geniuses, and creators. It was produced by Milton Davis. All the songs together were written by Menzel and Davis.
STILL I CAN’T BE STILL was released on September 13th, 1998. MINUET became the only single from the album reaching #48 on Radio & Records’ CHR/Pop tracks chart. To promote the album, Idina did various performances including in-store events, singing at the Lilith Fair Music Festival, and went on tour serving as the Opening Act for Francis Dunnery. The album sadly failed to top the charts, sold less than 10,000 copies, and Menzel was dropped from Hollywood Records. The label put the album out of print.
For Menzel, she went to a moment of obscurity but still had the courage, passion, and drive to write music. She and Milton Davis continued working together for a 2nd album done independently.
However, when Idina’s career took off with her Tony winning performance as “Elphaba” in WICKED, her expanded fanbase (known as THE FANZELS) began demanding to re-release STILL I CAN’T BE STILL. Thanks to them, it was re-released in September 2005.
Today, STILL I CAN’T BE STILL is still available to download digitally. There are also physical copies on Amazon.com as well.
Today, Menzel has continued to perform songs from that debut album in her ongoing solo concerts around the world.
As of March 2018, STILL I CAN’T BE STILL has sold over 18,000 copies.
How amazing is this video?
Anyone have that original debut album of Idina’s?!!!
