By Gennaro Virtuoso. We are catapulted into a racing car. We feel an intense sensation that we are on the run, trying to escape, a feeling that something bad has happened, but we don’t know what. The stage is dark but flashing images of white appear on a screen with pictures resembling an old-fashioned reel, leaving us to paint our own picture of what we are driving away from or toward. We soon learn that this becomes her conflict, the trauma embodied in Jesse, played by Idina Menzel, whose physical and spiritual journey we accompany her on in the new musical Redwood. From the start Menzel pulls us in, carrying us along with her on her journey of healing.
When we next we see Menzel, she is sitting on the floor of the forest dressed in black jeans with boots, with a water bottle and small red Coleman cooler next to her. In the beautiful forest of trees that surround her, she is just staring trying to find her serenity. Jesse is a workaholic mom from New York City, grieving the loss of her teenage son Spencer who died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl. After an argument with her wife, Jesse gets into her car without letting anyone know where she is going. Jesse ends up in the redwood forest in Eureka in Northern California, where she meets two botanists who become her lifeline. They show us the power of compassion and how it can heal not only one person, but a whole society.
This is the first time Idina Menzel is back to Broadway in nearly a decade since originating the role of Elphaba in “Wicked” (2003). Loyal fans may also remember Menzel from Rent (1996) where she earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress for her role as Maureen. Once again, through her powerful voice, Menzel inspires us to feel hopeful and not afraid to confront our challenges, much as she did in Wicked’s “Defying Gravity.” Though the song “Great Escape” (written by Kate Diaz), sung from high up in the redwood tree, Jesse is set free. Just like in defying gravity ‘something has changed in her “She has found the courage and strength within herself to let go. “In the Leaves” is a beautiful song, too, that allows Jesse to walk through her grief rather than avoid it. In the lyrics, a verse reads, “When you ask me, who I am What is my vision? and do I have a plan? Where is my Strength? Have I nothing to say? I hear the words in my head, but I push them away.” Menzel’s powerful voice `empowers us to feel vulnerable at the same time safe and confident.
Redwood is playing at the Nederlander Theater and has a run time of one hour and forty-five minutes with no intermission. Tina Landau, Redwood’s writer and director, is a Tony nominee and Drama Desk winner who has directed several Broadway musicals, including a 2001 revival of Bells are Ringing that Menzel auditioned for but was not cast in.
Redwood grew from a seed planted during Covid when Menzel told Landau that she was obsessed with the story of the real live activist Julia Butterfly Hill. Landau responded with curiosity as to why and how people could live in trees. She also was grieving through a loss of close friend.
“The roots are actually very shallow,” one of the botanists, Finn (Michael Park) explains of redwoods. “The roots intertwine and support each other and humans need similar connections to survive.” A redwood has a heart that could help to heal Jesse, he tells her.
It’s ironic that redwood trees grow to be so strong and tall because of fire. They cannot reproduce without fire this is how they are born. Redwood trees have what are called cones. What a cone is are reproductive organs. There are male and female cones. The female produces the seeds that are held them tightly till a fire comes and they are released to eventually germinate and grow into a tree. Redwood trees communicate that even born out of such traumatic conditions they can grow to be big, strong and beautiful. Redwood trees also have a shallow root but what makes them able to be so tall and strong is the power of the other trees because they are intertwines with a lot of little roots, they are all bonded as one tall tree. We can learn from redwoods the power to overcome trauma and be resilient.
We all tend to push the uncomfortable feeling that we have when we feel sad or angry instead of allowing them to filter like through the power of music. Redwood’s message is one especially needed today, when we are so divided as a country. It speaks to what it takes to overcome trauma and be resilient. In our society, asking for help is often seen as a weakness, not a strength. I share Redwood’s hope is that we can all one day stand tall together and give each other the strength we need to stand tall.
Landau says, “My favorite part in the Great Escape is the part when Jesse looks down and says, ‘from here I see it all…how small our world is.’ That is my favorite moment … the OMG, look at how small the world is.”
