REDWOOD Previews — Page 2

EDSOSLO858 said: "When REDWOODplayed out of town, an artificial “tree” was set up in the lobby, and its “leaves” were hanging sticky notes where people wrote down messages, comments, well wishes, thoughts on the show, etc.

I wonder if they’ll recreate that at the Nederlander."

the Nederlander lobby is tiny, so this would have to be adjusted somewhat but it sounds like if done right, it could set quite the scene upon entry. that said its hardly original---feels like something a civil rights/atrocity-focused museum might do. I know there are a bunch of these "trees" in Berlin museums, for example.

Looks similar to how it was in La Jolla, just that theatre is all sort of stadium seating instead of a separated orchestra/mezz etc

Link to Redwood merch: https://www.broadwaymerchandiseshop.com/collections/redwood?srsltid=AfmBOorea8mFugSAXN0KXiSBqhwnRzzySeG38DyrtIiQSENFAyOWmmO_

I like the 'In the Leaves' tee and the tote bag.

According to Reddit, there was about a 4-5 minute stoppage tonight due to technical issues. Idina came out to do a Q&A with the audience.

Updated On: 1/24/25 at 10:29 PM

EDSOSLO858 said: "So what'd we think? How was Dazeem?"

Adele was in phenomenal voice. The show? Woof.

This was an interesting one for me tonight. My friend and I left both saying she's phenomenal but the material is way too uneven and clunky (as is) to really serve her as well as it should. Some of the music is excellent, some is just downright bad. Some scenes are beautiful, some go on way too long and feel unnecessary. But this is why I love first previews, when the work hopefully starts and the hacksaws come out which they definitely need to, here.

I agree with my friend that this could maybe even be a one woman song cycle meditation on loss and grief and cut out all of the other stuff surrounding it that just doesn't serve the plot of this story. But as is, the two tree people (whatever they're called) played by Khaila Wilcoxon & Michael Park are two characters that seem to BEG to be cut into one. We don't need both of their backstories, one would be more than enough. I even think the character of Idina's wife could be entirely cut with nothing lost and we can hear about her in phone calls just from Idina's side. Maybe I'm wrong about that one but at this moment It seems like it would be a good cut for time and just moving the story forward.

The scenic design with the projections is really beautiful, some of the best I've ever seen with these types of things. If you're wondering where to sit, if you can sit close to try to feel immersed in what they've created. Again, some of the music is really beautiful and I can't wait to hear it again. The 11 o'clock number did have me in tears so good on them for that.

But overall again, this is entirely too long. With the show stop tonight, we got out at 10:50 so this show regularly would be a little over two hours with no intermission and that's just way too much for this one and it does start to drag at quite a few points throughout.

That scene and song she shares with Idina is so weird because yeah it’s good but it comes at the end of the show when it kind of needs to be towards the beginning and all I could think was how this is so out of place.


Is that Michael Park’s song toward the beginning? If so it made me wish I had scissors to cut it from the score right then and there.

veronicamae said:

"

I had high hopes for this, and was genuinely excited going in. I am one of the few people who loved If/Then, and consider myself an Idina fan. That being said, I found Redwood to be a brutal two plus hour chore to sit through.

The first (noticeable) issue is the appallingly bad sound design. I could not make out about 75% of the lyrics in the opening number due to the sound mix and this weird “echo” effect I think they may have been trying to go for?

The use of projections to move through the forest and capture the scaling of trees is an interesting one, but it is poorly executed. It just looks like cheap CGI most of the time.

The less said about the book and score the better. There are countless eye roll inducing “jokes” and moments of outright sappiness. The rap song the son sings has got to go. The penultimate number is touching, but comes way too late in the evening.

Most shocking is Idina’s rough performance. Her voice sounds completely garbled and shot. Matters are not helped by the awful material she is saddled with delivering.

I was reminded of Jagged Little Pill quite a few times with the barely glossed over myriad of hot button issues wrapped up in a Lifetime Movie Network plot. At least that show had the great tunes of Alanis Morissette to power audiences through all the mundane sentimentality…

All in all, a giant miss and boring slog of a show for me. I can’t think of anyone I’d recommend this to - diehard fellow theatre fans included.

bwayphreak234 said: "I was reminded of Jagged Little Pill quite a few times with the barely glossed over myriad of hot button issues wrapped up in a Lifetime Movie Network plot. At least that show had the great tunes of Alanis Morissette to power audiences through all the mundane sentimentality…"

Idina did early workshops of Jagged Little Pill, and Redwood and Jagged share a lead producer.

carolinaguy said: "There was a big feature on Idina and the show on CBS Sunday Morning today. I believe she is on Today sometime this week as well, so the publicity wheel has started turning."

Extended version:

Idina was on TODAY this morning and premiered one of the new songs written for the Broadway iteration, "In the Leaves":

https://www.today.com/video/idina-menzel-performs-in-the-leaves-from-new-show-redwood-230346821727