<p>I’ve just lost the battle with my better judgment and decided to share a related story. Not trying to take anything away from the shine of the moment for the voice teacher. I LOVED that video. I watched it probably a half a dozen times today and it made me so happy that I got a bit teary. That teacher knocked it out of the park. It was perfect in every way.</p>
<p>Last year Idina Menzel also had a concert tour. Our city was an early stop on the tour and I attended with my daughter. Like Kristin, Idina is also really warm and wonderful in concert (go see her if you ever get a chance). So, she’s doing all of the amazing songs she’s known for as well as some new ones. Eventually you hear the start of “Take Me or Leave Me” from Rent. My daughter leans over to me and says, “who is going to sing the Joanne part?” I whisper to her, “maybe we’re about to see a special guest?” She whispers back, “or they could just call me up on stage to sing it with her”. We exchange glances and chuckle then continue to watch.</p>
<p>A beat later Idina says to the audience, “does anybody out there know the Joanne part?” Of course lots of hands go up but at this point, not my daughter’s. I of course am elbowing her and she hisses at me in true nervous teenager-y, my mom is so embarrassing fashion “Mom, I’m sick no way”. Now this was true. She had a terrible head cold that night and could barely speak. Meanwhile Idina comes down into the audience and tries a few verses here and there with two absolutely delightful volunteers with tons of chutzpah but not much in the way of vocal chops. Idina eventually says, “how about someone that is majoring in performing arts?” Finally my daughter thinks: sickness be damned this is just too good to pass up and raises her hand. Like a scene from a made-for-TV movie where things like that happen (but normally don’t really happen in real life), Idina looks at her, walks over, takes her by the hand and says “let’s go do this on stage”. Well the rest pretty much amounted to the equivalent of a surreal voice teacher moment of her own.</p>
<p>I of course was gobsmacked. I could not get my act together fast enough to figure out how the heck to turn on my phone never mind use the camera (which admittedly I don’t really know how to use). But luckily through the kindness of total strangers that were sitting in the audience nearby, they shot it for me and we exchanged emails etc. and I ended up not only with pictures but a video clip of a little snip of the tail end of the duet shot by someone in the front row. It was a night to remember. No… it won’t go YouTube viral any time soon, but believe me, it was pretty darn awesome and a night I will never forget. </p>
<p>Hats off to big Broadway stars like Kristin and Idina who are willing to share the spotlight with people out there that really care and admire the work they do. It’s fantastic and heartwarming. Yay theatre people. They are the best.</p>