Review: Idina Menzel concert shares her news, musically

Idina Menzel’s homecoming Friday night at the newly renovated Nassau Coliseum was like sharing personal news with old friends you hadn’t seen in two years.

The news has been out on social media, just as it had been last time Menzel played Long Island at Jones Beach in 2015. Back then, the Tony and Grammy award-winning singer-actress shared her pain over the dissolution of her 10-year marriage to Taye Diggs.

This time, she exclaimed, “Listen up, I’m in love again. . . . I’m getting married.” That would be to Aaron Lohr of Disney “Newsies” fame. Making it more personal, her next song was one she wrote, a sexy and soulful “Cake” (wedding?), backed by her nine-piece band.

The homecoming concert was delayed nearly 40 minutes due to ticketing issues regarding the seating configuration. Menzel sang straight through her 90-minute set with no intermission, hitting the high points of her career, starting with “Seasons of Love” from “Rent.” She met her first husband in the original cast.

Later in the concert, she relayed the now-familiar tragedy of creator Jonathan Larson’s sudden death on “Rent’s” Off-Broadway opening night. It served as a fitting intro to her emotional “No Day But Today.”