Idina Menzel connects with gay fans

It's usually not a good sign when a journalist begins an interview with a personal apology, but the one this writer owes Idina Menzel is more than a decade overdue. Indeed, speaking to Menzel, it's tempting not to remind her that we have met before, albeit briefly and under less pleasant circumstances.

"Oh my Gosh," chuckles Menzel, her soft-spoken phone voice worlds apart from the powerhouse vocals she displays on stage, screen and in her solo music career. "I honestly don't remember that," she adds, following a belated confession related to an event on July 1, 1997.

It was on that night that Menzel gave her last performance in "Rent" as Maureen, the spotlight-stealing, bisexual performance artist whose role she originated in one of Broadway's most influential shows; one that catapulted her career and earned her first Tony nomination, no less (she would later win in 2004, for her role as Elphaba in "Wicked"). The role also earned her a legion of die-hard fans: teenagers known as "Rent"-heads who would wait outside the theatre doors with commemorative programs and black magic markers in hand. Most waited respectfully for the opportunity to seize an autograph; but certain others, possibly overcome by the demigoddess vision of their adolescent, theatre geek fantasies, might... just might!... have clumsily bumped into Menzel and inadvertently streaked that autograph pen up the length of her arm, leaving an unsightly black smudge just as she entered the limousine that would whisk her away to celebrate her final performance.

Oops.

"If it makes you feel better, I have a story," says Menzel, graciously turning the attention to her own, presumably less frequent, experiences with inelegance. "Tom Cruise came in to see "Wicked" with his kids one night," she continues. "I invited them backstage to see how the makeup gets done."

"Tom Cruise was squatting down, leaning against the bathroom door... I got my cue, he stood up to go... and as he was going out the door I realized he had a rust tattoo in the shape of the grate!"

"I had this moment of, 'Should I tell him?'" she laughs. "But I let him go out the door."

Phew. With the ice broken and past transgressions forgiven (although Tom Cruise may feel differently about that), the conversation quickly turns to Menzel's upcoming show and her recent album "I Stand". Though the collection of self-penned songs was originally released at the start of the year, its title track in particular seems to have found recent rejuvenation in the height of election fever, not to mention a proliferation of fan-made YouTube video clips featuring the song alongside images of personal, and often political, meaning.

"It was a happy mistake [that started] pretty early in the primary season," says Menzel of the serendipitous way in which "I Stand," seems to have become an inspirational anthem for her fans. Among its lyrics: "I stand for the power to change, I believe in the perfect day... I stand for the strange and lonely, I believe there's a better place."

"It's been a nice coming together of a lot of different things," says Menzel. "I'm pretty blissful these days. I'm a huge Obama supporter. I'm so in awe of someone who can inspire so many people to think about their own lives, and want to participate in society."

And yet, for many years Menzel has been the inspirational voice speaking and singing to so many of her fans. In fact, Menzel could well be identified as Broadway's Diva of Choice for freaks and outcasts; from Maureen of "Rent" to Elphaba, the subversive, green-skinned rebel of "Wicked," her stage work seems to preference strong and forceful female characters even as her solo songwriting - especially on her angst-ridden debut album, 1998's "Still I Can't Be Still" - belies her own conflicted, occasionally insecure inner turmoil.

"That's the gift of being a performing artist," says Menzel. "I can be a confident, fearless persona, but I also have my moments where I can't get out of bed in the morning and I have a hard time believing in myself. I think that's true of everyone, it's just that I have a canvas where I can write about it."

So why the self-doubt?

"I actually think, having a voice at an early stage, I became very self conscious about showing off," says Menzel. "I didn't want people to feel that I was doing that. I was the last person to sing along to a radio in the bar. ... I think when you're young you want to fit in ... and I still have to really remind myself to come out of myself, take the stage, be assertive and allow myself to shine."

That experience, alongside her pivotal role in the pioneering, LGBT pop culture moment that was "Rent", has also imbued Menzel with a particular appreciation for her fans in the gay community.

"I definitely feel a special connection, like I've grown up with some of these fans," says Menzel of her gay fan base. "They were searching for their own identity, and "Rent" was a place for them to find people experiencing certain similarities that they had in their own lives. ... I also felt the support of the gay community throughout "Wicked", because something in 'the green girl' really resonated with them... and I've learned a lot through my gay fans, their compassion and their struggles. I've been inspired to write some of my own music about it."

And on the subject of writing: should this former "Rent" devotee pay homage at Menzel's next live show, might he best leave the magic markers at home?

"Aw, you can write all over me!" says Menzel.

Somehow, we suspect Menzel will be the one leaving her mark.

Idina Menzel performs on Mar 24, 2009 @ Birchmere Music Hall, Alexandria, VA. Mar 25, 2009 @ Keswick Theatre, Glenside/Philadelphia, PA. Mar 27, 2009, Grand Opera House, Wilmington, DE. And Mar 28, 2009, Tilles Center Concert Hall, Greenvale, NY.