Patriotic Song of the Week

"God Bless the USA"

Monday

Listening Example:  "Don't Rain On My Parade"
Idina Menzel is a Tony Award-winning singer and actress known for her roles in 'Rent' and 'Wicked.' She is also the voice of the Top 10 hit "Let It Go," from the animated Disney film 'Frozen.'
Idina Kim Mentzel was born in Syosset, New York on May 30, 1971.  Her mother was a therapist and her father was a pajama salesman.  Idina’s parents divorced when she was 15 years old.  She decided she needed to make some money, and she found a job doing what she loved, singing.  She began singing at weddings and bar mitvah’s. A bar mitvah is kind of like a special birthday party for Jewish kids.  
Today’s listening example is from a show honoring Barbara Streisand.  Idina is singing the iconic “Don’t Rain On My Parade” from the musical “Funny Girl”.  Barbara made this musical extremely famous, and successful. Barbara Streisand has always been a musician that Idina has looked up to and wanted to be like.

Tuesday

Listening Example:  "No Day But Today" from Rent

​If Idina was born with the name Idina Kim MenTzel, why do we call her Menzel?  Idina changed the spelling of her last name to Menzel to better reflect the the way the Mentzel family decided to pronounce their name when they came to America.  
In 1993, Idina Menzel graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.  She received a Bachelors of Fine Arts.
In 1995, Idina auditioned for a Broadway musical called, “Rent.”  “Rent” was very popular and being in the cast of that show made Idina very famous.  She played a character named Maureen. She did such a good job playing this character that she was nominated for a big award called a Tony Award.  
Today’s Listening Example is “No Day But Today” from Rent.  This was one of the signature songs from the musical.  It's a song about learning to live your life without regret.  This performance is from her live concert for the PBS station.  

Wednesday

Listening Example:  "For Good" from Wicked
I’m going to tell you a summary of a story, and I want you to guess what story it is.  There’s a little girl who gets swept up by a tornado. Her house lands on a lady and she takes the lady’s shoes.  She meets a tin man, a lion, and a scarecrow and they follow a yellow brick road to see a wizard. Do you know what story I’m talking about?
“The Wizard of Oz” was a true classic.  Broadway turned it into an award winning musical.  And, can you guess who was in that musical? That’s right, Idina Menzel.
Idina played the wicked witch whose real name is Elphaba.  She and Kristin Chenoweth, who played Glinda the good witch, made the musical “Wicked” a smash hit.  In fact, Idina won a Tony award for her performance in “Wicked.”
During her performance of Wicked on January 8, 2005, she fell through a trap door and cracked a lower rib. The injury prevented her from performing in her final show on January 9. Menzel did, however, make a special out-of-costume appearance at that performance, performed her final song, and received a five-minute standing ovation.
Today’s Listening Example is “For Good” from the musical “Wicked”.  In this clip of the musical, you will get to see Idina and Kristin as Glinda and Elphaba.  If you think back to the end of the year last school year, when we talked about teacher’s favorite songs, you might find this song familiar.  Do you remember whose favorite song this was?

Thursday

Listening Example:  "Somewhere" from Westside Story as performed on the TV Show Glee
“Glee” was a tv show on the Fox channel about a bunch of high school kids that sang and danced together.  They faced lots of challenges, like bullying and friendships. Idina Menzel made a long-running guest appearance on Glee as the mother of the main character, Rachel.  
After “Wicked”, Idina did several off Broadway musicals.  She later did a revival of “Wicked” in London, where she was paid $30,000 a WEEK!!!  
People who LOVE the show Glee are called “Gleeks.”  When Idina came on the show to play Rachel Berry’s mother, she and Rachel looked so much alike that rumors started the two were actually mother and daughter!  But, it’s not true! In real life, Idina has a little boy named Walker.
When Idina was on the show Glee, she did several duets with Lea Michele, as well as other characters on the show. Today’s Listening Example is “Somewhere”.  This is a song from the musical “Westside Story”. You would think that Idina was the most confident person in the whole world when it comes to performing, but she has stage fright just like anyone else.  Here’s what she has to say about that. “All performers get on stage because they need to feel love from an audience. I might appear confident, but those three seconds before I get out there, I'm a mess. But I have to take the risk; otherwise, I'd be miserable and would feel like I wasn't seeing through my personal destiny.”

Friday

Listening Example:  "Let It Go" from Frozen
After her role on “Glee”, Idina was asked to do another really cool project.  I’ll give you a hint…..she built her own castle made of ice and brought a snowman to life.  Do you know what it is?  In 2013, Idina was asked to be the voice of Elsa in Disney’s “Frozen.”  And guess what? She was really good at being Elsa! All the critics praised her for the work she did in the film.

“Frozen” made more money than any animated movie ever, and then, it beat all the other movies in that area too!  Idina won BIG awards for her performance as Elsa. She won a Grammy Award, for singing, AND an Academy Award, for acting!  People were simply amazed by Idina Menzel.
Today’s Listening Example is the ever popular, “Let It Go” from Frozen.  This is the song that launched Idina’s stardom into the stratosphere. Sing along to this song that I know you all love!

References

Idina Menzel Official Website
Wikipedia Article
The Famous People
Biography