To kick off the New Year, actor Taye Diggs and Broadway star Idina Menzel attended the Strip's favorite show ABSINTHE on January 1, 2012 to enjoy the raucous comedy from The Gazillionaire, Penny Pibbets and the rest of the eccentric gang. After taking in the show, the couple hung out with the cast afterwards for some laughs and photo fun!
Menzel has a diverse career on stage and in film, television, and music. She recently appeared in the television hit Glee, and is currently on a sold-out tour, performing with leading orchestras around the country. In 2009 Ms. Menzel co-starred with Josh Groban in the concert version of Chess: The Musical, recorded at London's Royal Albert Hall and broadcast on PBS. In December 2005 she completed her role as the misunderstood Elphaba in Broadway's Wicked, for which she received a Tony Award for Lead Actress in a Musical and a Drama Desk Award nomination.
She reprised the role in London's West End in September 2006, receiving the Theatregoers Choice Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She also starred in Michael John LaChiusa's musical See What I Wanna See, directed by Ted Sperling at The Public Theater, garnering Drama Desk and Drama League Award nominations. Other honors included a Tony nomination for her debut performance as Maureen in the original production of Rent, and a Drama Desk nomination for her performance as Kate in Manhattan Theater Club's Off-Broadway original musical, The Wild Party.
Diggs originated the role of the landlord Benny in Jonathan Larson's Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning Rent, which also starred his future wife - Menzel. After Rent he appeared as Mr. Black alongside Menzel's character of Kate in Andrew Lippa's off-Broadway production of The Wild Party. Diggs also played The Bandleader in the 2002 film version of the long-running Broadway revival of Chicago and Billy Flynn on Broadway. He also temporarily filled in for Norbert Leo Butz (an original Rent standby) as the love interest Fiyero to Menzel's Elphaba in Wicked.
Photo Credit: Joseph Sanders/Spiegelworld 2012
