REDWOOD Previews- Page 3

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 1/27/25 at 3:58pm

Claudia Draper said: "Does IDINA have an alternate or understudy listed for this show? Given the marquee has her namebigger than the title, I assume the show will just be cancelled.anyone know?"

Did you check the redwood website ?

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 1/27/25 at 3:58pm

Claudia Draper said: "Does IDINA have an alternate or understudy listed for this show? Given the marquee has her namebigger than the title, I assume the show will just be cancelled.anyone know?"

Her standby is Jessica Phillips.

[binau]

Posted: 1/27/25 at 4:12pm

Wow I didn't realise! I always thought Jessica Phillips sounded like Idina when she did next to normal. 

[Claudia Draper]

Posted: 1/27/25 at 4:19pm

Given the marquee has IDINA’s name bigger than the title, I assume the show would just be cancelled.. I think must people going to this show would want a refund..

[JSquared2]

Posted: 1/27/25 at 4:26pm

Claudia Draper said: "Given the marquee has IDINA’sname bigger than the title, I assume the show would just be cancelled.. I think must people going to this show would want a refund.."

 

Yes of course they will offer refunds.  No it's unlikely that they will cancel performances.  They still have to pay just about everyone else in the building -- plus they'll be saving Idina's salary for those performances.

[Kimbo]

Posted: 1/27/25 at 5:25pm

JSquared2 said: "Claudia Draper said: "Given the marquee has IDINA’sname bigger than the title, I assume the show would just be cancelled.. I think must people going to this show would want a refund.."



Yes of course they will offer refunds. No it's unlikely that they will cancel performances. They still have to pay just about everyone else in the building -- plus they'll be saving Idina's salary for those performances."

I don’t think that’s how Broadway works.  Has anyone ever heard of producers saving money because they dock the star their salary if they get sick?

 

[Ensemble1698878795]

Posted: 1/27/25 at 7:07pm

Idina’s performance on the Today show did not inspire a ticket purchase. If she wasn’t in the role this show would not be coming to Broadway. Yikes.

[Ensemble1665759202]

Posted: 1/27/25 at 7:30pm

Nice performance! I kinda like this song more than I like the other one they've been using to promote the show. Will get tickets to see this for sure, but will probably wait until after it opens so that the wrinkles get ironed out.

[CJRochester]

Posted: 1/27/25 at 7:52pm

Is "In the Leaves" the finale? The song certainly has that sort of rousing feeling. 

[MezzA101]

Posted: 1/28/25 at 9:32am

Idina Menzel Played Elphaba and Elsa. Now She’s Going Out on a Limb.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/theater/idina-menzel-redwood-broadway.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sk4.D5B6.cUETyml4-1k4

[Auggie27]

Posted: 1/28/25 at 1:23pm

I’m a sucker for any musical built from the ground up that isn’t a bio juke. If/Then was flawed but felt genuinely contemporary, and the score has lovely highlights. If this lands with similar elements, then it certainly has a shot. It’s hard to ascertain if the texture is more new age meditation or ecological fantasy; or both. But Menzel is a force on stage, and sells seats because she delivers. 

[JSquared2]

Posted: 1/28/25 at 2:18pm

Kimbo said: "JSquared2 said: "Claudia Draper said: "Given the marquee has IDINA’sname bigger than the title, I assume the show would just be cancelled.. I think must people going to this show would want a refund.."



Yes of course they will offer refunds. No it's unlikely that they will cancel performances. They still have to pay just about everyone else in the building -- plus they'll be saving Idina's salary for those performances."

I don’t think that’s how Broadway works. Has anyone ever heard of producers saving money because they dock the star their salary if they get sick?

Sorry doll -- but that IS how things work.  Actors being paid overscale (especially those making five figures per performance) are docked for any shows they miss.  

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/28/25 at 2:43pm

Same with TV work. You only get paid for the episodes you appear in. Even if you’re the lead of a series but have to miss a few episodes to film another committed project, you aren’t going to be paid for the episodes you weren’t on. Most who are in this dilema, try to schedule their other committed projects for their off days and weekends. No one wants to see their pay get cut regardless how big it is to the average person.

As mentioned above, regardless who you are, you miss a performance, you ain’t gonna get paid for that missed performance. If you’re an an understudy already playing another role, you get a bump in your weekly check for whatever performance you understudied. Actors are not on salary, folks. 

[binau]

Posted: 1/28/25 at 3:18pm

"I don’t think that’s how Broadway works.  Has anyone ever heard of producers saving money because they dock the star their salary if they get sick?"

I can't speak for all shows or all circumstances but I have heard that this can be indeed a contractual arrangement with high-paying stars as others have mentioned. 

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 1/28/25 at 3:38pm

Doesn't the union contract provide at least nominal sick leave coverage? Wasn't that one of the things that was new to the 2022 deal?

[JSquared2]

Posted: 1/28/25 at 4:38pm

carolinaguy said: "Doesn't the union contract provide at least nominal sick leave coverage? Wasn't that one of the things that was new to the 2022 deal?"

 

Yes, actors earning scale (and up to $6,000) get a certain number of paid sick and personal days on a sliding scale based on their salary.  Actors earning over $6,000 are not entitled to paid sick days or paid personal days.  That figure may have gone up slightly in the last contract negotiation. So if your Star is making $50,000 a week -- the producers save $6,250 for each performance that the Star misses.  Also, very often for A+ list Stars (like Jackman, Midler, Groban, etc.), the producer will likely have a Star Insurance policy, which helps them recover a portion of ticket sales should the Star be out, an understudy goes on, and half of the audience takes a refund.

 

[amiyagi]

Posted: 1/28/25 at 11:03pm

nightnic0012 said: "inception said: "veronicamae said:

As she is new to the musical, how was Khaila tonight?

Does the entire theatre still rumble during the forest fire sequence?

Although the score works for the most part, so I hear, there was one song in particular, “A Little Bit Wild,” that many people thought stuck out like a sore thumb in San Diego. Apparently, it did give some good insight for Michael Park’s character though; did they keep the song for Broadway?

Folx have also been singling out Piser’ssongthat he shares with Idina as a gorgeous highlight. Is that theone you had mentioned, Jordan?

Barely spoilerish answers to these quetsions:

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Khalia as the new Becca is a stellar recast imo.

Yes it still rumbles.

"A Little Bit Wild" was cut; Park has a different song and his character has been made a bit more serious (and less wild).

And Piser's solo (which Idina does join a bit) is definitely when those who were on the cusp of tears and managed to refrain will lose it.

"

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Good to hear that song is gone. It was embarrassing.

What about that short scene when she was watching the TV show Maude on her laptop?

 


Oh, that's there. Grinding the plot to a halt for 2 minutes."

 

I think it's been cut now. Was at the show tonight and she watched a climbing clip on the laptop but nothing else. Run time is still 2hr 5mins though. 

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 1/29/25 at 10:02am

BrodyFosse123 said: "Same with TV work. You only get paid for the episodes you appear in. Even if you’re the lead of a series but have to miss a few episodes to film another committed project, you aren’t going to be paid for the episodes you weren’t on. Most who are in this dilema, try to schedule their other committed projects for their off days and weekends. No one wants to see their pay get cut regardless how big it is to the average person.

That's not entirely true. Actors of a certain stature can negotiate an 'all episodes produced' provision into their series contracts that guarantee they are paid for all episodes produced rather than all episodes in which they appear.

And as noted below, actors on Broadway under a certain threshold are entitled to sick and personal leave. Actors may not be salaried, but contracts still guarantee these types of things. 

 

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 1/29/25 at 11:35pm

Saw this tonight, have not read a thing about it so I don’t know what the feedback on it is, but I hated it. Maybe the worst thing I’ve ever had to sit through. If I wasn’t sitting in the middle of a row I would have left early. They claim it’s 1:45 but it was over 2 hours. Just pointless garbage with lyrics I could barely even understand. Idina Menzel drives to CA and climbs a tree. There, that’s the plot. There are no stakes. Oh no! Will she be allowed up on the platform or not!? The character of Becca was insufferable and screamed almost every single line.
And we had to sit through the son doing a bad rap song. What were they thinking with that?

I guess the projections were cool. That’s the only positive I have about it. Now to read the thread and see if everyone else here loved it.

[ElephantLoveMedley]

Posted: 1/29/25 at 11:46pm

The less I write about this show, the better. One of the worst pieces of theatre I have ever seen.

Completely baffled how this made it to Broadway.

[BroadwayFanatic454]

Posted: 1/30/25 at 8:52am

Chiming in here to say that, while not perfect, this is far from the worst new musical to make it to Broadway this season. With the right cuts to get it down to the advertised runtime, this has the potential to be a really great and moving show. That great show is in there, it's just a matter of making the right cuts. I will echo what others have previously said on this board and say that Idina is in amazing voice and is giving a great performance. If your desire is to see her shine in a Broadway musical, you will not be disappointed.

(And just for the record, I have seen all of the new musicals from this season so far.) 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 1/30/25 at 12:28pm

And these reactions are from die hard Idina fans that go at the beginning of previews. I can't imagine where this show will be in six months for the casual theatergoer. I loved the projections in CA but it wasn't a good show by any means. And the fact that they posted that false running time before previews began was a bad move since people plan things based on it, such as catching a train on time.

This had potential. Shame. 

[Ensemble1665759202]

Posted: 1/30/25 at 1:00pm

Sutton Ross said: "And these reactions are from die hard Idina fans that go at the beginning of previews. I can't imagine where this show will be in six months for the casual theatergoer. I loved the projections in CA but it wasn't a good show by any means. And the fact that they posted that false running time before previews began was a bad move since people plan things based on it, such as catching a train on time.

This had potential. Shame."

Are we certain Idina/the show is looking to run longer than six months anyway? I'm seeing this a couple of days after opening and I'll be interested to see if the running time is accurate once the show officially opens, given they still have a few weeks before it opens to make cuts.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/30/25 at 2:25pm

I can’t imagine they’d be happy to close after only six months. The problem is like with so many shows that need a significant amount of work, it’s so expensive to do so and in this case I’m guessing the constant projections make it even more of a problem for them to do the work that’s so needed on this show. I really don’t think it’s a “bad” show (I’ve seen faaaar worse) but it’s far from being a really good one, as is. 

[DiscoCrows]

Posted: 1/30/25 at 2:46pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I can’t imagine they’d be happy to close after only six months. The problem is like with so many shows that need a significant amount of work, it’s so expensive to do so and in this case I’m guessing the constant projections make it even more of a problem for them to do the work that’s so needed on this show. I really don’t think it’s a “bad” show (I’ve seen faaaar worse) but it’s far from being a really good one, as is."

Agreed. I think between Tina, Idina, the other creatives behind this and Eva Price, this feels like a particularly sentimental project. I hate to use the word “vanity project” because I think it has some bits and pieces going for it. I don’t see this team letting the show close before the fall, they will find the investors who feel similarly and are willing to burn money if that’s what it takes.

I also think operating costs are probably a bit lower than what people are expecting. I certainly haven’t seen them myself, but it’s a smaller performing company with non A-list creatives. The show is being GM’ed in-house, which is a first for this producing office. I am sure they are finding ways to build a bit of a reserve.

Updated On: 1/30/25 at 02:46 PM