Idina menzel gets candid about insecurities | members only

Idina Menzel, 53, is a Tony award–winning Broadway star, but she admits that she battles self-doubt and performance anxiety. As she prepares to hit the road on a musical tour, she told AARP,

“I confide in my husband [Aaron Lohr] who’s my best friend, about all insecurities and neuroses, because I start to think, _Oh, I don’t know, what am I offering the audience? _And _I don’t

know, my voice isn’t as good anymore._ And he says, ‘You do this every single time that you’re starting a new project.’ ” Her “Take Me or Leave Me” tour, kicking off July 19, will feature

fan favorites from _Wicked_ and _Rent_, plus newer songs from her recent dance album, _Drama Queen_. In our interview, she explains how she’s curating the new material, the challenges of

parenting a teenager while on tour and how she’s coming to terms with the aging process. _This interview has been edited for length and clarity._ HOW DO YOU START CONCEPTUALIZING A TOUR? I

start imagining and thinking about new songs and talking to my music director about arrangements and thinking about the band and what kind of instrumentation I want to have. A lot of

dreaming about things. And also what I want to divulge — what kind of stories I want to tell that underscore the music. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR THE CHALLENGES OF A SOLO CONCERT? I prepare

vocally. I’m pretty regimented about that. I build up to being able to be on stage for two hours and sing 20 songs and have fun with it and not feel exhausted vocally and physically. I have

a coach I’ve had for over 30 years. I start to look at all the music with her and any of the pitfalls or parts of the songs that are more challenging and can tire me out if I don’t think

about them technically right. Menzel, performing here at the 2020 Academy Awards ceremony, kicks off her North American "Take Me or Leave Me" tour on July 19 in Seattle. Kevin

Winter/Getty Images HOW DO YOU JUGGLE TOURING AND PARENTHOOD? [MENZEL HAS A 14-YEAR-OLD SON, WALKER NATHANIEL, WITH EX-HUSBAND, ACTOR TAYE DIGGS, 53.] Each tour is a different stage of my

son’s life. In the beginning, I had a little baby on the road and I was breastfeeding, and two years from that, I had a toddler and I was fitting in children’s museums and the proper park to

coincide with the city. Now he’s a teenager and probably just wants to bring a friend or two on the bus because that’s cool to be on a tour bus. I have to figure in: _How often can I run

home in between shows so I can make a basketball game or a parent-teacher conference or something?_ So that juggling has a lot to do with it.