A good number of years ago I discovered Wicked, and totally fell in love with the Broadway show. I listened to the original Broadway recording, featuring Idina Menzel as Elphaba, over and over. I’ve since seen Wicked a few more times, including once on Broadway, which was phenomenol.
Then, several years later, along came Frozen, with Idina voicing one of the main characters, Elsa, and singing the hit song “Let It Go.”
Ever since then, it’s been high on my bucket list to see Idina Menzel perform live, and to hear her sing Defying Gravity live. So, you can imagine my delight when, shortly after moving from the UK to Seattle, she announced a US summer tour – Take Me Or Leave Me – that would be starting in our new home city!
On Wednesday April 24, at 10am I was sat in front of my computer, fingers at the ready to secure tickets for my daughter and myself. We got the tickets, no problem, as they didn’t sell too fast. Mezzanine 14, row A, seats 11 & 12 at the Paramount Theater, Seattle, on July 19th. These turned out to be great seats, with a perfect, unobstructed view of the stage.
On the night, the doors opened at 7pm, and after eating dinner (mostly cheesecake!) at the Cheesecake Factory, we got in the very short line, went through security and (not very good) bag check.
It was already quite busy in the foyer, and with the usual overpriced merch on sale, complete with long line. If you missed out at the show, or couldn’t make it, you can also buy it online on Idina’s website.
On the way in I asked what time the show was due to end, and was told 9:45pm.
The Show
This was the stage curtain before the show started. It was due to start at 8pm, but actually only started at 8:10pm. The last song they played before it started was Etta James’ “At Last.” Idina started singing before the curtain went up. Huge cheers erupted once the crowd saw her in her magnificent gown.
As the show went on, Idina took different parts of the dress off. So, firstly it was the large ruff from the top half of her dress. Then layers came away, until at the end she was just left with a very simple, but still beautiful dress. She started off Belle-style, and ended more Cinderella-style (pre-ball)!
Although I love Idina Menzel, I’m not one of those diehard fans that knows every single song she sings, especially the music from Rent, and songs she’s done at previous tours. So, admittedly, I didn’t know all of the songs she sang, but still enjoyed most. I’m not a fan of jazz music, so have to say that I didn’t totally enjoy the couple of jazz songs she did.
In between most of the songs she did a lot of talking, and I mean a lot! It was good to hear about her life, and she was very candid about her mental health struggles. Something I appreciated as a sufferer of anxiety myself. Could have maybe done without the bits where she was talking about her new Redwood musical! We were due to catch the 10:30pm ferry back across the Puget Sound, so had one eye on the clock for the last half of the show, as the next ferry was only at 12:50am.
Just to note, there was no intermission, Idina said at the start of the show that she doesn’t like them.
The biggest cheers of the night were the most well know songs, especially Do You Want to Build a Snowman, and Let It Go.
When she sang Take Me Or Leave Me, she invited three different audience members to sing with her, although not on stage. A member of her crew took microphones out to them. She chose two females and one male, and I have to say they had outstanding voices.
After she’d sang Heart on My Sleeve / Brave, she thanked everyone for coming and said good night. Now, I’d told my family that if she didn’t sing Defying Gravity I’d be storming the stage! You can imagine how relieved we were when Idina and her band came back on stage! But then the disappointment when she started singing No Day But Today! But then as soon as she’d finished that song, she launched straight into Defying Gravity – I could have cried with relief!
Take Me Or Leave Me Tour Setlist
Here’s the setlist from Idina Menzel’s Take Me Or Leave Me 2024 Tour-
1 – Dramatic
2 – Everybody Knows
3 – The Life of the Party
4 – Do you Want to Build a Snowman? / Dear Prudence
5 – Great Escape (Redwood Musical)
6 – Unknown song from Redwood Musical
7 – Buenos Aires (Evita)
8 – Let It Go
9 – That’s All
10 – Twisted
11 – Why
12 – Take Me Or Leave Me
13 – You Learn to Live Without
14 – No One Mourns the Wicked
15 – Heart on My Sleeve / Brave
Encore
16 – No Day But Today
17 – Defying Gravity
My Thoughts on the Tour
It really was a dream come true to see Idina sing live, especially Let It Go, and Defying Gravity. Personally, I would have to loved to hear her sing For Good, or The Wizard & I, maybe some other more well known songs.
It was 10:20pm when the concert finally finished, by which time we’d missed our 10:30 ferry, as it was a 25 minute walk to the ferry dock. Can’t help feeling that if she’d have skipped some of the talking about Redwood trees, and the several minutes she spent signing a piece of paper for someone to use to get a tattoo, mid-concert, we would have caught that ferry. But hey-ho!
Does Idina Menzel do Stage Door Meets?
Given that we now had over two hours to kill before we could get the last ferry of the night, we decided to head over to the stage door, via the restrooms. She had two tour buses parked outside of the stage door. Not sure if that will be possible at every venue, but if it is, that’s where you should head to.
By the time we got there, there was already a decent sized crowd for such a small area. Note to self – skip the restrooms next time, and head straight to the stage door!
We waited…and waited…and waited…! It was around 11:40pm when she finally came out. She was wearing a mask to protect herself from germs, understandable when she has several weeks of her tour to complete. She very quickly signed autographs for people at the front, and posed for a couple of selfies. Note to people at the front – once you’ve met her, please move out of the way and give others behind you a chance. Idina was literally there for just a few minutes before boarding the bus. Although we didn’t get an autograph, or selfie, it was still nice to see her up close.
The Rest of The Tour
Here are the remaining dates for Idina Menzel’s Take Me Or Leave Me Tour 2024-
July 21 – Oakland, California
July 23 – Los Angeles, California
July 25 – Mesa, Arizona
July 26 – Highland, California
July 27 – Las Vegas, Nevada
July 30 – Austin, Texas
July 31 – Dallas, Texas
August 2 – Atlanta, Georgia
August 3 – Charleston, South Carolina
August 4 – Orlando, Florida
August 6 – Auburn, Alabama
August 7 – Greenville, South Carolina
August 9 – Chicago, Illinois
August 10 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
August 11 – Detroit, Michigan
August 13 – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
August 15 – New York, New York
August 16 – Hershey, Pennsylvania
August 17 – Washington, DC
August 18 – Greensboro, North Carolina
If any of you reading this are going to one of the date – enjoy!!
For any Wicked fans out there, check out our gorgeous Wicked The Musical Prints!
Wicked Musical Quotes Print
For Good Lyrics Print