If you’ve ever visited Muir Woods, the national monument just outside San Francisco, the self-described “cathedral of redwoods,” you probably remember looking up, up, up—gazing reverently at a giant redwood tree, taller than you could ever have imagined. It’s a humbling experience, to be in the presence of something so massive.
Amazingly, video designer Hana S. Kim manages to bring some of that splendor into the Nederlander Theatre for the new musical Redwood. When Jesse (played by Idina Menzel) enters a redwood forest, leaves and branches appear digitally, instantly wrapping the audience in their warmth. Our perspective shifts upward, along the massive trunk of a tree—the scenic design is by Jason Ardizzone-West—to a slice of sky, bright and blue and welcoming. It’s an awe-inspiring, emotion-filled moment, and one that the rest of the show never comes close to matching.
Granted, most of the ticket buyers are there for Menzel: It’s been 10 years since the big-voiced Menzel starred in a Broadway musical (Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s If/Then); more than 20 since she donned the green makeup and signature pointy black hat as the original Elphaba in Wicked (for which she won a best actress Tony Award); and nearly 30 since her breakout role as motorcycle-riding performance artist Maureen in Rent (also in the Nederlander). Let’s not forget her turn as ice queen Elsa in Disney’s animated movie musical Frozen. The Fan-zels have come out in full force to see her play Jesse, a grief-wracked New York gallerist seeking solace in the loving arms of Mother Nature.
[Read Frank Scheck’s ★★★☆☆ review here.]
Redwood—with music by film and TV composer Kate Diaz, lyrics by Diaz and Tina Landau (Floyd Collins), and book by Landau, who also directs—was written for Menzel; she conceived the show with Landau and is credited with additional contributions. Unable to cope with the sudden death of her son, Spencer (Zachary Noah Piser), Jesse drives to California, finds her way into a redwood forest in Humboldt County, and impulsively decides that she needs to climb that huge tree in the center of the stage. Thank goodness she meets a couple of canopy botanists: the protective, fatherly Finn (Michael Park, rocking a David Letterman beard and having a tree-rific time) and the overprotective, skeptical Becca (Khaila Wilcoxon).
Along the way they all sing a series of pleasant but indistinguishable power ballads full of generic, ponderous lyrics. (Exhibit A: “From here I see it all/ And I never knew that/ This world could look so small.”) With the notable exception of Finn, Becca, and Jesse’s rousing, bluesy “Big Tree Religion,” songs such as “The Stars,” “Great Escape,” and “The Fires” sound like they’re meant to be performed with an acoustic guitar at City Winery or Joe’s Pub. They’re musical interior monologues, not pieces that move the plot forward. Of course, the plot of Redwood can be summed up pretty simply—woman climbs tree. She faces a bit of conflict along the way: clashes with Becca, a character that seems to exist solely to put up roadblocks for Jesse; fights with her wife, Mel (Passing Strange’s De’Adre Aziza), who’s frustrated with how Jesse is—or, rather, isn’t—processing Spencer’s death. (At one point, the pair face off in a very “Take Me Or Leave Me” pose that must be an Easter egg for Rent-heads. Well played, Tina Landau.) Even fast-moving forest fires don’t appear to threaten Jesse or Stella—that’s what she named the tree—because, as Finn tells us in his first scene, “redwoods are one of the most fire-resistant species in the world.”
Menzel does get to do some gravity-defying climbing—the Bay Area–based troupe Bandaloop provided the show’s “vertical choreography”—and show off her impressive, rangey voice. But all the vocal pyrotechnics on Broadway can’t help this Redwood grow.
Redwood opened Feb. 13, 2025, at the Nederlander Theatre. Tickets and info: redwoodmusical.com
