Idina Menzel is heading out on a career-spanning tour this summer.
Similar to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, Menzel will be exploring the many roles and releases of her storied career, complete with songs from Wicked, Frozen, and her latest pop album, Drama Queen. While the Tony-winner says she is often concerned that people grow tired of her big hits, she is always searching for new ways to re-approach them as an artist.
"I often wrestle with the fact that I often assume that people will be bored if I sing the same songs over and over, like 'Let It Go' or 'Defying Gravity,'" she tells Billboard. "I'm always trying to rewrite things, discover or cover new songs, reinterpret them and then I always get this feedback of 'No, we want to hear these songs!'"
The new tour will seemingly honor audience wishes while still allowing Menzel to reinvent the classics. She reveals that she is using the new tour to develop her iconic musical catalog, tailoring it to who she is as an artist today.
"I'm trying to strike a balance between performing songs the way I think my audience would want to hear them and feeling like, as an artist, that I'm growing and singing the songs in a way that their lyrics resonate with me. I juggle it and then I sit with my band and we play with it and assess it and sort of see what kind of floats to the top."
Menzel's Take Me Or Leave Me Tour kicks off in Seattle in July. Her first concert run in eight years, the tour is inspired by a song sung by her Rent character, Maureen. While she admits to missing the "uninhibited" character that she played on Broadway and on film, she says that she's viewing the song title from a different standpoint during her upcoming shows.
"Obviously, many, many years later, it's about who I am in this point in my life. I haven't seen my fans in a long time, and I want to show them how I've changed, and how I haven't. I want to show them my experiences and hopefully, they'll love me no matter what."
The Glee alum says she has been "up all night thinking about" the setlist for the tour, but it is currently shaping up to be a mix of her musical roles, along with some jazz standards and an "eclectic mix" of tracks from her solo studio albums.
Last year, she released the disco-infused Drama Queen, a 10-track record of pop bliss, featuring production from Nile Rodgers.
Pre-sale tickets and VIP packages for the tour will go on sale Wednesday, April 24 at 10 a.m. local time. General tickets will then be available on Friday, April 26 at 10 a.m. local. The full list of tour dates is below.
Idina Menzel Take Me or Leave Me Tour Dates
July 19 - Seattle, Washington
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
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