Idina Menzel Enchants Manila

Monday, June 08, 2015 Alexis Mendoza 0 Comments

The Tony Award-winning Broadway superstar Idina Menzel recently launched her very first world tour titled 'Idina Menzel World Tour' and it officially kicked off its Asian leg last May at Seoul, South Korea. After performing sold out shows in Korea & Japan, she finally flew to the Philippines for the Manila leg of her tour.

Idina Menzel fans who eagerly waited for so long trouped to the Mall of Asia Arena last June 7th to finally witness the one-night-only concert of the musical star in Manila. Idina opened the night with Defying Gravity from the hit musical Wicked where she performed as Elphaba - The Wicked Witch of the West. Wicked had a run last year in Manila and witnessing the original lead perform the song live is such a treat for the musical's fans. She also performed another song from the show titled The Wizard and I.

The show's stage set-up was fairly simple compared to other international artists that performed in the Philippines but that doesn't mean the show is underwhelming. Idina Menzel proved that concerts sometimes doesn't need elaborate high-tech stage set-up, effects, and costumes because at the end of the day, the fans came for the music. The laid-back set-up made the concert more intimate.

Aside from the regular show tunes that Idina performs, she also mixed her setlist with interesting songs such as Creep from Radiohead where she went barefoot and even performed lying on the stage.

During the concert, Idina decided to head down to meet the audience and pick a few very lucky fans who got the chance to sing Take Me or Leave Me from the musical Rent with her, the Broadway star was amazed that every pinoy fan she picked sings well. They ended the impromptu singing session with a nice selfie as souvenir.

Emotions filled the arena during her performance of No Day But Today where she introduced the song by telling the story when she started her career and how the late creator of RENT helped her where she is today in the industry. The Arena glowed during the performance as everyone lifted up their phones, just like little stars in the night sky.

Some of the other songs Idina performed throughout the night are Brave, Always Starting Over, Love For Sale / Roxanne, There's No Business Like Show Business, and of course Let It Go from the hit 2013 animated Disney musical Frozen, Idina even showed off her language skill by singing a part of the song in Tagalog.

She also showed her gratitude to the people who has always been there with her with an acapella version of the song For Good, the arena went dead silent while her voice still fills the arena even without using a microphone.

The two-hour long Manila concert ended with an encore performance of Tomorrow which Idina said a song she sings way back when she was a little girl. A standing ovation from the Manila crowd was given to Idina as she exits the stage.

The Idina Menzel Live in Manila is presented by PULP Live World.

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