'Redwood' review — Idina Menzel climbs to the treetops

Read our review of Redwood on Broadway, a new musical starring Tony Award winner Idina Menzel and co-created by Menzel, director Tina Landau, and songwriter Kate Diaz.

In the wake of the wildfires that devastated the greater Los Angeles area just last month, the new Broadway musical Redwood takes on an extra gravity. At the show's climax, flames threaten to engulf the redwood forest where a woman named Jesse (Idina Menzel) is all but trapped on a platform high in a tree. I was gripped with perhaps even more terror than Jesse, who, after spending 90 minutes running from grief and guilt over her only son's death, becomes determined to stick firmly by that tree, which has become her new lifeline.

The fact that my emotional response was inspired by January's events, however, rather than from the action as played out on stage, is evidence of a weakness that extends throughout Redwood: It largely tells its characters' struggles rather than showing them. Anyone can sympathize with Jesse's unimaginably deep sorrow, which propels her on an impulsive cross-country trip to California — but one wishes the musical showed more of the relationship between Jesse, her son, Spencer (Zachary Noah Piser), and her wife, Mel (De'Adre Aziza), whom she left behind. We get one extended flashback in which Spencer and Mel perform a homespun rap for Jesse's birthday, which proves one of the show's most effective moments.

So, too, are the two noteworthy songs in Kate Diaz's score, both sung by Becca, one of two botanists who meets Jesse in the forest and introduces her to the world of the redwoods. In the role, a standout Khaila Wilcoxon is just as tender when guiding Jesse, and us, through arboreal history in "Little Redwood" as she is fiercely firm in "Becca's Song," where she shares her motivations for pursuing a career in conservation.

Becca, wary of letting the inexperienced Jesse join their climbing efforts, is a foil to her colleague Finn (Michael Park), who is willing to bend the rules to do so. Their respective motivations — Becca's struggles as a Black woman in her industry despite her intelligence, Finn's own troubled relationship with his son and experience of familial loss — too, hint at character depth but are just as soon glossed over. Redwood broaches many potentially compelling topics, but, like the redwood tree, as we learn, its roots remain shallow.

Redwood summary

Still unable to cope nearly a year after the sudden death of her son, the once-thriving Jesse leaves her wife and career behind in New York and seeks escape. She finds it in the California redwood forests, where scholar-scientists Finn and Becca teach her about the trees — including how to climb one — giving her a newfound sense of purpose and connection with the living.

Tony Award winner Menzel co-wrote the script with director Tina Landau. Their collaborator, Kate Diaz, makes her Broadway debut as Redwood's composer/lyricist.

What to expect at Redwood

Redwood is as much a cinematic experience as it is a live Broadway show, with screens that wrap around the stage and extend across the Nederlander Theatre's walls. Video design by Hana S. Kim envelops audiences in places both natural — like amid the redwoods, from the forest floor to hundreds of feet in the air — and abstract — like Jesse's headspace, in which we see memories of her family — through the main character's eyes.

It does ring odd that the world of a show so rooted in nature comes to life almost entirely digitally, with visual and aural design (lighting is by Scott Zielinski, sound by Jonathan Deans) firing at all cylinders to manufacture awe on cue. The one exception (created by set designer Jason Ardizzone-West) is Jesse's redwood tree, hewn to look like actual bark on the back of the central screen. It makes an unassuming, silent debut while our attention is on a chattering Finn, such that I almost didn't notice the massive trunk until its full grandeur towered before me.

What audiences are saying about Redwood

Audience responses to Redwood branch out in various directions, with over 80 reviews that averaged to a 73% audience approval rating on the review aggregator Show-Score at the time of publication.

• "Finally, a Broadway musical that answers the burning question: Can Idina Menzel hit those high notes while hanging upside down in a harness?... What this show lacks in narrative drive it more than makes up for with breathtaking near-immersive visuals, a strong vocal cast and a hard-hitting emotional core about dealing with loss." - Show-Score user GreatAvi
• "Best thing: projections of Redwoods, but theatrically this misses the forest for the trees." - Show-Score user Bruce 6
• "The innovative production design is neat, but you feel shortchanged if you sit midway or further back in the orchestra, since the mezzanine is flanked by screens that make the design more immersive." - Show-Score user Ashowgoer
• "IMAX meets Broadway." - Show-Score user Jeffrey Goldberg
• "The story drags a bit, but the last 20 minutes bring it home." - Show-Score user ELON 6085
• "Come for Idina Menzel, stay for De'Adre Aziza, Michael Park, [Zachary Noah Piser] and [Khaila] Wilcoxon." - Show-Score user SC

Read more audience reviews of Redwood on Show-Score.

Who should see Redwood

• Fans of Idina Menzel won't want to miss her first return to the stage in a decade — not least of all because one of her big songs, "Great Escape," has the high-flying vibe of her Wicked signature "Defying Gravity."
• Packed with fun facts about redwoods, this show will appeal to those who like nature documentaries or are otherwise interested in topics like environmentalism and wildlife conservation.
• If you were endeared by HwaBoon, the scene-stealing plant from the hit fall musical Maybe Happy Ending, you'll love the mighty Stella, the tree at the literal center of Redwood.
• Anyone who has experienced loss or sought comfort after grief might see themselves in Jesse's journey to process her own emotions.

Learn more about Redwood on Broadway

Redwood has the seeds of a moving story about finding healing and community among the most unexpected people (and trees), but it still has room to grow.

Learn more and get Redwood tickets on New York Theatre Guide. Redwood is at the Nederlander Theatre.