Ready for a great escape? Travel no further than the Nederlander Theatre, where Tony winner Idina Menzel is making her Broadway return in Redwood. The new, original musical arrives with direction by Tony Award nominee Tina Landau, music by Kate Diaz, and lyrics by Diaz and Landau.
Menzel does not just star in the show. She also co-conceived the project with Landau. The musical premiered in early 2024 in a sold-out run at La Jolla Playhouse. Redwood marks her first return to Broadway since starring in If/Then in 2014.
What's it all about? Redwood is a transportive new musical about one woman’s journey into the precious and precarious world of the redwood forest. Jesse is a successful businesswoman, mother and wife who seems to have it all, but inside, her heart is broken. Finding herself at a turning point, Jesse leaves everyone and everything behind, gets in her car and drives… Thousands of miles later, she hits the majestic forests of Northern California, where a chance meeting and a leap of faith change her life forever.
With its deeply personal story, refreshingly contemporary sound, and awe-inspiring design, Redwood explores the lengths –and heights– one travels to find strength, resilience and healing.
Looking for nature's remedy? It's on Broadway in Redwood!
Still, there are so few shows not derived from IP now, and the challenge of mounting anything so steeply uphill, that is difficult to root against what is ultimately a tough sell. Menzel, once a prize fighter of Broadway, takes a lot of swings and only connects some of them. The whole enterprise has the air of chasing ghosts, but there are moments – in a moving track about the impossibility of full healing, or an anxious breakdown – where the magic flickers again. Not enough, though, for a subject as monumental as a redwood, nor to convert New York audiences to, as one song puts it, Big Tree Religion.
For nearly two hours, the Tony Award-winning icon -- surrounded by a superlative supporting cast of four – gets to frequently show off her still-breathtaking belt to tremendous effect. Unfortunately, it’s too often in the service of a generic pop-sounding, lyrically banal score by musical theatre newcomer Kate Diaz, with too many songs that simply reinforce emotions that have already been expressed and do little to advance the barely-there plot. Indeed, no matter how strikingly songs like “Great Escape” or “No Repair” are performed, there’s no number here like “Defying Gravity” or “Over the Moon” that Menzel’s admirers will want to hear for years (or decades) to come. Further, librettist and director Tina Landau’s frustrating, oddly structured book basically dares us to sympathize with Menzel’s self-absorbed, self-pitying character.
| 2025 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Projection and Video Design | Hana S. Kim |
| 2025 | Drama League Awards | DISTINGUISHED PERFORMANCE | Idina Menzel |
| 2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Video/Projections | Hana S. Kim |
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