Idina Menzel Oscar Performance Jewelry - P 2014
Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesIdina Menzel didn’t just become one of the stars of the Oscars after presenter John Travolta flubbed her name, her success continued back in New York, where the first week of previews for her new musical If/Then grossed nearly $1 million in ticket sales.
For the seven preview performances during the week ending Sunday, If/Then pulled in $909,159, according to the Broadway League.
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The musical already took advantage of Travolta referring to its star as “Adele Nazeem” on the Oscars telecast by sending out the following tweet on March 3.
You know her name! @idinamenzel stars in the new musical If/Then on Broadway starting March 5th. pic.twitter.com/TpdfRdm3t3
— IF/THEN (@IfThenMusical) March 3, 2014
The show is Menzel’s first major Broadway role in 10 years, following her performance as Elphaba in the original cast of Wicked, which turned her into a star and won her a 2004 Tony Award for best actress in a musical. Prior to that, she originated the role of Maureen in the 1996 Broadway production of Rent.
Since then, she has appeared in a recurring role on Glee, and made concert appearances, including a Carnegie Hall show early last year. She lent her voice to the hit Disney animated film Frozen, singing its signature song, “Let It Go,” which won the Oscar for best original song following Menzel’s Academy Awards performance.
Menzel also performed the song with school instruments on the March 3 edition of The Tonight Show, a video that has since racked up more than 7.5 million hits on YouTube.
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Ticket sales for Rent hovered around the $450,000-a-week mark for its two weeks of Broadway previews in April 1996. Wicked grossed an average of $738,704 during its three weeks of previews in October 2003. But both of those shows debuted before Menzel had established her current wide fan base. They also commanded a far lower average ticket price than the $106.93 paid for If/Then last week, given that premium-price seating was less diffuse back then.
The new show is a contemporary musical that follows Menzel’s character, Elizabeth, as she faces divergent paths while looking to rebuild her life in New York after the end of her marriage.
Featuring a score by Tom Kitt and book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, the Pulitzer-winning team behind Next to Normal, If/Then continues in previews at the Richard Rodgers Theatre through the end of the month, with official opening night set for March 30. The musical reunites Menzel with Michael Greif and Anthony Rapp, her director and co-star on Rent, respectively.
David Rooney contributed to this report.
