REDWOOD Reviews- Page 4

[hayden6]

Posted: 2/26/25 at 11:23pm

CurtainPullDowner said: "Did someone get hurt or not?"

No understudies on at tonight’s performance!

[Jonathan Cohen]

Posted: 3/8/25 at 5:28pm

After SpongeBob SquarePants, Redwood is the second Tina Landau directed musical I was kind of shocked how much I liked it. The immersive spectacle aspect of the show, isn't an obvious fit given the subject matter of grief, but was genuinely impressive. I also think it's commendable Menzel focused on a project so physically demanding and commercially risky when doing a revival would probably be easier money.   

Some additional thoughts: 

#1. When it comes to Broadway songs about people in trees, Sondheim did more for the genre in 7 minutes than Redwood does devoting nearly 2 hours to the topic. There are way too many songs in the Defying Gravity/Let It Go belting power ballad mode, and while it's what Menzel is best known for, it gets very musically repetitive. I often think the songs featuring Michael Park and Khaila Wilcoxon sounded better, in part because they broke up the monotony. 

#2. With a lot of great singers, they make singing look effortless. With Menzel, and I've seen her live a couple of times, it's often impressive but she makes hitting the right note seem like a lot of work. This role would be a huge challenge to do 8 times a week even if there wasn't any singing. 

#3. Between the main cast and standbys, 4 of the actors appeared in Dear Evan Hansen, another show largely about coping with grief. 

[BETTY22]

Posted: 3/9/25 at 2:49pm

‘Redwood’ Soars: Idina Menzel Leads a Breathtaking, Heart-Stirring Broadway Triumph The title character of Redwood is nothing short of majestic—a towering Northern California tree that becomes a breathtaking centerpiece of both the story and the production itself.

Onstage, the centuries-old redwood makes a grand entrance, an awe-inspiring marvel brought to life by the visionary set designer Jason Ardizzone-West. The sheer scale of this masterpiece allows Idina Menzel and her castmates to ascend its mighty branches with ropes and harnesses, creating a dazzling, gravity-defying spectacle that must be seen to be believed. And at the heart of it all?

Menzel, delivering a performance of raw, electrifying power. Under the masterful direction of Tina Landau, Redwood is a deeply moving meditation on grief, healing, and the ways nature reminds us of our own resilience. The book’s metaphors—rooted in the idea of growth, strength, and connection—are woven into the story, culminating in a breathtaking ascent as Jesse, once afraid to let go, literally and figuratively reaches new heights.

Menzel is luminous, delivering soaring vocals that shake the rafters and tender moments that leave the audience in hushed reverence. Opposite her, De’Adre Aziza as Jesse’s wife, Mel, brings depth and quiet heartbreak to a love tested by distance. Meanwhile, Michael Park as Finn, an endearing tree-climbing optimist, and the powerhouse Khaila Wilcoxon as the no-nonsense scientist Becca, ground the production with warmth and humor.

And the music! Composer Kate Diaz has crafted a score that is the weakest part of the show.

The aerial choreography, paired with Landau’s ethereal staging, turns the act of climbing into an emotional catharsis. As the cast spirals through the air, accompanied by lush orchestrations, the moment is nothing short of transformative. It’s the kind of theatrical magic that Broadway was made for. Redwood is not just a musical—it’s an experience. Visually stunning, emotionally resonant, and anchored by Menzel at the peak of her powers.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 3/9/25 at 2:53pm

John Hemphill has replaced the injured Bradley Dean as the standby for Finn. 

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 3/16/25 at 7:28am

i can see how this team got seduced. the aerial work, the projections and lighting-- Tony worthy. The moments in the sky, the way the Tree becomes a central character, the metaphor of tree roots/support---its beautiful. 

but around this core beauty, no one bothered to hire a writer that can deliver compelling dialogue or any semblance of humor. Menzel has a few moments of some personality but its overall pretty tough going, with cliche after cliche after cliche. Jesse's wife is one of the most poorly written characters we have seen in a long while, and her scenes are dead weight. Whenever we get something interesting, its tossed in our direction briefly without exploration--Becca barks out some Hebrew and Finn has a teenager and then those plot points flicker out. Is it really safe to be in the sky during a forest fire? If it is, why? The story about Jesse's son- tragic enough to make us all sniffle, but there very little background/explanation let alone insight into the character. 

Given these epic failures, its pretty impressive what this cast is able to do here. Piser is given 4 minutes to create someone we care about, and sells it well. Park is charismatic in a one-note role, and Wilcoxon is doing some of the best singing on Broadway, full stop. And while I clearly was no fan of this mess, kudos to Menzel: she keeps bringing original works to Broadway, and via vehicles that require her to be central stage and singing her face off for 2 hours at a clip. Its impressive before you even take into account how she sounds pretty dang great.  Her voice is raw power, for better/worse, and its a pleasure listening to her muscle through so many (sadly dull) numbers.

I should reiterate that the projections/staging was a delight, and took my breath away from the front mezz (which seems ideal seating spot for this). Give them all the awards for that. 

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 3/19/25 at 11:05am

The show announced today that Menzel has "extended her run" through August 17. I mean, I wasn't aware that it was anything other than open-ended from the start. Is this their way of saying it is closing on August 17, or was there some "limited engagement" verbiage I missed?

[Ensemble1665759202]

Posted: 3/19/25 at 11:43am

carolinaguy said: "The show announced today that Menzel has "extended her run" through August 17. I mean, I wasn't aware that it was anything other than open-ended from the start. Is this their way of saying it is closing on August 17, or was there some "limited engagement" verbiage I missed?"

They were only selling tickets through early July before this announcement. It's only "open-ended" in the sense that it'll run for as long as Idina wants to/is able to do the show 8 times a week. I'm rooting for it (no pun intended) to run all of 2025. The more new musicals on Broadway the better, even if they're not everyone's favorite shows. At least this announcement takes the wind out of the sails of the folks who death ride shows from the minute previews start.

[MezzA101]

Posted: 3/21/25 at 5:05am

Her First Theater Gig: Writing Songs For Idina Menzel And The Broadway Show ‘Redwood’

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jerylbrunner/2025/03/18/her-first-theater-gig-writing-songs-for-idina-menzel-and-the-broadway-show-redwood/

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 3/23/25 at 3:24pm

I normally would not leave mid-performance (except at intermission), but I fled at the one hour mark today. The writing is terrible. Beyond amateur. And  while some of the staging is nice to look at, I just could not stand the characters.

Idina’s voice is shot. I frankly think her understudy should have been on today. Had her singing been more pleasant, i might’ve stayed.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 3/26/25 at 5:20pm

Apparently the band headed to Power Station to record a cast album this week. 

[shomeika]

Posted: 3/26/25 at 7:46pm

  Idina played Atlanta just a few months ago, and sounded great!  

 

iluvtheatertrash said: "I normally would not leave mid-performance (except at intermission), but I fled at the one hour mark today. The writing is terrible. Beyond amateur. And while some of the staging is nice to look at, I just could not stand the characters.

Idina’s voice is shot. I frankly think her understudy should have been on today. Had her singing been more pleasant, i might’ve stayed."

 

Updated On: 4/4/25 at 07:46 PM

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 3/26/25 at 9:51pm

I saw this a few weeks ago and enjoyed it more than I thought I would, but will definitely agree that her voice is shot.

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 3/27/25 at 4:26am

fwiw i saw it a few weeks ago, did not like it at all but idina sounded excellent.

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 3/27/25 at 2:37pm

Idina sounded great yesterday, but it feels like she's enunciating less than she did before in her songs?  The opening was almost impossible to decipher what she was saying (granted some of it was also audio issues that they seemed to have figured out as the show went along), and I wonder if she was specifically directed to sing that way to match the more pop style of the music.

As for the show, I feel like I can see at a high level what story they were trying to tell--a grief-stricken woman finds solace in nature and the ability to pick up her life again after tragedy.  But the writing was honestly pretty terrible. It seems to beat you over the head with metaphors that it doesn't trust the audience to figure out for themselves, and I don't feel like I walked away understanding or empathizing with anything about the kind of grieving process that Jesse (or any of the other characters) went through.  Though it DID get me wanting to climb a redwood, so maybe that's a win for them.

The biggest problem though is that despite having just experienced a loss, Jesse really isn't sympathetic at all.  She tells the foresters that she's "not usually like this" but I feel like we don't see enough interiority of her mindframe to be able to understand that, and we don't see just why she's suddenly so adamant about climbing the tree and what draws her to that to begin with.  She feels manic but uptight in a way that wouldn't be out of place for a high-achieving NYC woman.

The other characters feel a little more well-rounded but simultaneously also more shallow.  Khaila Wilcoxon comes off the best but her character also has a couple random swings (her weird hang up with being seen as "knowing everything" comes out of nowhere and also doesn't really seem to make any sense), and De'Adre Aziza while also good just seems to be relegated to the thankless role of nagging wife who Jesse ignores.

The score feels very uneven as well, as it does what a lot of pop composers do, creating more of a mood with the music rather than songs that help tell the story or uncover something in the characters, especially in Jesse's songs.  To be fair, there were more songs than expected that I felt were actually integrated into the storytelling (both of Becca's songs in particular), and the first song (while I couldn't understand any of the words) did manage to catch my attention just by how different of a sound it had (coupled with seeing how they used the projections, it got me a lot more excited about the trajectory of the musical than I should have been).  But for the most part it seems like they just wanted to have an excuse for Idina to belt and that's what they wrote without checking to see if it served the story.  I don't mind a song that's intended to be a vocal showcase, but when you get to the fifth such song in the show, it does get a little old.

Despite so many projection heavy shows recently, it still feels like the set does something different, but I also can't get over the feeling that I'm at a theme park ride.  There are a lot of impressive moments with the climbing and aerial dance, but that just made me think how much I wanted it to be a ballet or cirque du soleil show instead.

[MezzA101]

Posted: 3/28/25 at 12:06pm

Inside Idina Menzel’s Magical Redwood Dressing Room

 

https://www.elledecor.com/celebrity-style/a64300189/idina-menzel-dressing-room-photos/

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 3/28/25 at 12:08pm

I think they will get nominated for some technical awards and maybe she will get one, but overall this is an unremarkable show by any stretch. Bummer. Awesome dressing room tho. 

[BalconyClub]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 4:32pm

The Monday, June 2 performance has been cancelled. Received an email notification within the last hour.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 11:12pm

Looks like Kristin was there tonight and joined Idina onstage for a duet of “For Good.”

[ACL2006]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 7:51am

 

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 7:53am

Throwing anything at the wall to see if it sticks.


Edit *the video simply said it was an “impromptu performance,” I didn’t know it was for a cause of some sort

Updated On: 4/4/25 at 07:53 AM

[BroadwayFanatic454]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 9:11am

TotallyEffed said: "Throwing anything at the wall to see if it sticks."

Or just, I don’t know, raising a lot of money for a good cause? 

[veronicamae]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 10:10am

Since this info has still not made it into this thread:

The duet (being on stage with them for it, meeting them etc) was auctioned for the BC/EFA red bucket fundraising campaign, and they raised $16,000.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 12:57pm

ACL2006 said: "

Oooooof, Idina sounds ROUGH lol.

"

 

[rg7759]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 4:31pm

She does seem tired at the end of the show. I hope they include the oh **** in the film version 

[fosterfan2]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 6:27pm

I love Idina; I've seen her in concert twice. But I kind of wish she would change voice coaches to Joan Lader--who coaches Kristin,Patti LuPone, Sutton Foster, Katrina Lenk,and many others that I can't think of off the top of my head. Lenk began working with her before Company returned to the stage after the shutdown,and her vocals had improved.