Mamma Mia! Idina Menzel Returns To Glee

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If all the Glee fans jump up and down at once, will we experience an earthquake? You’d better brace yourself just in case, because today’s Glee update is a whopper. The gorgeous and talented actress, Idina Menzel, is reprising her role on the Fox series. Mamma Mia? I should say, “Mamma Lea!”

Of course, Menzel plays actress Lea Michelle’s birth mom, Shelby, on the song and dance show. So, this is potentially very big news for Rachel Berry. The world even got the announcement from the star herself, via Twitter, when Lea Michelle typed, “I spy @idinamenzel at #Glee today! So excited to have my mama back!” You’ve gotta love it when stars Tweet news like this.

As Shelby, Menzel isn’t only the absentee mamma to Rachel, who was raised by her two adoptive fathers, but she shocked audiences when she adopted the baby of Quinn, as acted by Dianna Agron, and Puck, as acted by Mark Salling. Rachel probably has good reason to be a little jealous of the girl, Beth, because Shelby was ready for parenthood this time, but wasn’t when

We last saw Shelby was in episode 8 of season 3, when she had a scandalous fling with Puck. So, the next Menzel showing, the one Lea is Tweeting about, will air sometime in the middle of April. It’ll be Menzekl’s first episode for the current season, the show’s 4th. Don’t forget stars like Kate Hudson and Whoopi Goldberg have also guest starred this season.

On the Broadway side, Menzel was Elphaba in the original cast of Wicked. She was Maureen Johnson in Rent, a role she reprised for the 2005 film, and played Amneris in Aida. You’ve seen her in TV’s Private Practice, Sesame Street and The Glee Project. I still have her shared performance with Lea of “Poker Face” on my favorite iTunes playlist.

Glee airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on Fox.