Idina Menzel is a Tony Award-winning, powerhouse multi-hyphenate: a singer, an actress in film and TV, a songwriter, a Broadway star, and a philanthropist. Menzel was among the recipients of the 2023 National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the federal government, which was presented by President Joe Biden.

She rose to fame for her role as Maureen in the popular Broadway musical Rent, and her career took off when she won a Tony Award for her role as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, in the smash musical Wicked. Her voice can be heard as Elsa in Disney’s Oscar-winning Frozen and Disney’s Frozen 2.

In January 2017, Menzel was seen in Lifetime’s remake of Beaches, in which she portrays the role made famous by Bette Midler. Her other film credits include Disney’s Enchanted and its sequel Enchanted 2: Disenchanted, Netflix’s You’re So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, Chris Columbus’s film version of Rent, and Robert Towne’s Ask the Dust.

On television, Menzel appeared in the recurring role of Shelby Corcoran on Fox’s Glee. In late 2022, Menzel released the personal Disney+ documentary Which Way to the Stage?

Menzel was seen on Broadway in the original production If/Then, for which she earned her third Tony nomination; appeared as Sheila in the Encores! production of Hair; and starred as Amneris in Broadway’s Aida. In 2025, she made her return to Broadway to star in Redwood, which she co-conceived with Tina Landau. In a true full-circle moment, the show played the Nederlander Theatre, where Menzel made her Broadway debut in Rent. She received a Distinguished Performance Award from the 2025 Drama League Awards for her performance.

A skillful songwriter, Menzel has a prolific recording career which includes multiple cast albums and the solo albums Still I Can’t Be Still; Here, I Stand; and idina, which landed in the Top 30 on Billboard’s Top 200 charts.

Outside of music, stage, and screen, Menzel has also authored two books, released a clothing line, and co-founded the A BroaderWay Foundation.

Steven Reineke is one of North America's leading conductors of popular music and is in his second decade as Music Director of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. He is the Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Principal Pops Conductor of the Houston and Toronto Symphony Orchestras.

Reineke is a frequent guest conductor and can be seen on the podium with the Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras.

On stage, Mr. Reineke creates and collaborates with a range of leading artists in hip-hop, R & B, Broadway, television, and rock including Killer Mike, Maxwell, Common, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Ne-Yo, Bob Weir, Trey Anastasio, Barry Manilow, Cynthia Erivo, Ben Rector, Cody Fry, Sutton Foster, Amos Lee, Dispatch, Jason Mraz, and Ben Folds, amongst others. In 2024, he led the NSO on PBS’ Next at the Kennedy Center featuring Ben Folds DeClassified with Jacob Collier, Laufey, and dodie. He was previously seen with the NSO on PBS’ Great Performances with hip-hop legend Nas performing his seminal album “Illmatic." Reineke is the conductor on “Ben Folds Live with The National Symphony Orchestra and William Shatner’s “So Fragile, So Blue” with The National Symphony Orchestra.

As the creator of hundreds of orchestral arrangements, Reineke’s work is performed worldwide and can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings. His symphonic works “Celebration Fanfare,” “Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and “Casey at the Bat” are performed frequently in North America, including performances by the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic. His “Sun Valley Festival Fanfare” was used to commemorate the Sun Valley Summer Symphony’s pavilion, and his pieces “Festival Te Deum” and “Swan’s Island Sojourn” were debuted by the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops Orchestras. His numerous wind ensemble compositions are published by the C.L. Barnhouse Company and are performed by concert bands perennially.

A native of Ohio, Reineke is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio (2020 Alumnus Distinguished Achievement Medal) where he earned Bachelor of Music degrees with honors in both trumpet performance and music composition. He currently resides in New York City with his husband Eric Gabbard.

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