'Dream Girl' from Amazon’s Cinderella aimed to show the vulnerable side of Idina Menzel's evil stepmother
about their collaborative process and how Menzel’s acting experiences have empowered her as a songwriter.
Idina, what were your initial thoughts on your character, and how did they make their way into “Dream Girl”?Kay wrote the role with humanity, humor and complexity. It wasn’t the stereotypical, cliched version of the stepmother that we’ve seen a million times. I would have taken the role whether I was able to write a song or not, but Kay was always supportive of me having the opportunity to be artistically involved.
For me, it was the next natural progression in my career. [I’ve been involved in] originating so many roles in musicals, but to actually get to write the lyrics and the melody … Melody is even more important to me sometimes because, as a singer, that’s how I communicate with the world. When the melody doesn’t feel like it’s coming from the right place, emotionally, then as the actor it doesn’t feel like it all comes together.
Was it empowering to write this big showstopping number yourself, rather than singing someone else’s lyrics?It’s my job to take anyone’s words and melody and find a way to sing them literally. That’s what I love. I’m an interpreter, but I am a songwriter deep down. I haven’t had the chance to show what I can do — or at least people haven’t seen it as much. My acting experience [enables me] to get at what feels right cosmically, spiritually and musically for a moment. It’s an intangible thing.