Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth performed in Wicked together over 20 years ago, but their joint powers remain stronger than ever. How strong? Well, we’d approximate the price tag at around $16,000. Chenoweth joined Menzel onstage on April 3 after a performance of Menzel’s musical Redwood to help raise money for Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS. The offer? To get onstage with Chenoweth and Menzel, take photos with them, and be next to them as they sang “For Good” from Wicked again. Ultimately, the bidding capped off at $8,000 for the experience, with two people winning, bringing the total to $16,000. “We’ve sung this song, both of us, with other singers, but I’ve just gotta say,” Chenoweth intoned before the singing began, “there’s no place like home.” Then came the (for) good stuff.
During the performance, Chenoweth held hands with Menzel, who had just finished a two-hour show in which she sings her heart out, upside-down, in a harness, to a tree. “Who can say,” Menzel sang at one point, before realizing, “That was flat,” and starting the note over. At the end, there was much confusion about who was singing when — “Do we sing that together?” — but, as shown by the two auction winners mouthing along onstage, small fumbles don’t matter to the audience members who have obsessed over the original Broadway cast recording for years.
