Review: Idina Menzel Sings, Swings, and Sits in a Tree in Redwood on Broadway

The last time Idina Menzel took the stage at the Nederlander, she was making her Broadway debut as Maureen in Rent. Fans are likely to see a kind of full circle in her return to the venue for Redwood, her first Broadway show since If/Then about a decade ago. But they may not come away quite as enthused as they were when she first performed there.

Tina Landau (book and lyrics) and Kate Diaz (music and lyrics) have written a story about a woman’s grief that will leave only the hardest of hearts unmoved. There are a few musical gems, as well as eye-popping visual effects and even some supporting performances that rival Menzel’s. But the show itself hangs from a story that’s as thin as a reed, making for a sometimes-lumbering musical that tends to sag under the weight of its nearly two-hour runtime.

At the outset we’re plunged into the chaotic mind of Jesse (Menzel), a middle-aged woman and self-described “horticultural hitman” from Long Island who’s driving like a maniac across the country to escape some horrible event in her life. We see her mind racing past memories of her wife, Mel (De’Adre Aziza), and their son, Spencer (Zachary Noah Piser), with frenetic speed (Scott Zielinski’s flashing lights and Jonathan Deans’s sound effects signal quick shifts from past to present). Suddenly, she finds herself looking up at a majestic redwood in Eureka, California, and her panic immediately melts away.

She’s awakened from her reverie of the sublime by Finn (Michael Park) and Becca (Khaila Wilcoxon), two canopy botanists studying the very tree she’s been lying under. Jesse’s not supposed to be there, but she charms Finn into letting her stick around and even convinces him to let her climb that big redwood and tree-sit for a while, à la environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill. While high above the ground, Jesse has a heated exchange with Becca that reveals the source of her grief, and she later escapes a wildfire (a startingly timely scene in the wake of the Los Angeles devastation). When she finally returns to earth, she discovers the tree’s strength inside her.

As stories go, Redwood is about as inspirational (and straightforward) as you’re going to get, and Landau, who also directs, does a fine job translating Jesse’s awe of the redwood forest to the stage in a visually captivating way. Jason Ardizzone-West’s set comprises a series of enormous white panels that reach out into the orchestra like an oversized Imax screen. This is the background that brings Hana S. Kim’s stunning video design to life as Jesse takes in the breathtaking grandeur of the forest. So all-consuming is the effect of the projections that at one point I had the sensation that the theater was moving, and for a moment I even felt a little dizzy (keep that in mind if you get motion sick easily).

One of the panels in the set rotates to reveal the gigantic redwood that Jesse falls in love with. It’s a stunning piece of scenery, and the site of some of the show’s most memorable moments, though not always in a way that contributes to the story. During the song “Great Escape,” which sees Menzel rising high above the stage on a platform with arms outstretched as she sings “Here I am, I’m up a mile high,” you’ll be reminded of a certain witch defying gravity. It’s one of several seemingly deliberate allusions to Menzel’s past performances that Landau has planted like Easter eggs throughout (a reference to a “Disney princess” also gets a winking response).

Then there are other scenes that are notable for their head-smacking awkwardness. In the song “In the Leaves”—Jesse’s duet with Stella (her name for the tree)—Menzel hangs from a rope as she propels herself inelegantly from one side of the redwood to another while singing “You spin me ’round / Dip me down. … Sing to me, Stella!” (vertical movement and choreography by Melecio Estrella, BANDALOOP). Menzel looks like a bird trapped in a net as she flails about in her harness, turning herself upside down while doing her best to hold a note that doesn’t sound like a cry for help. Stella does indeed sing back in a gentle rustling of leaves and strange synth voice, as though quietly calling out to Becca and Finn to come rescue Jesse from her precarious swinging.

While we get to know a lot about Jesse, we learn less about the other characters. Still, the cast delivers outstanding performances that in a couple of cases outshine Menzel’s, which was noticeably pitchy the evening I attended. As Mel, Aziza is underutilized, with her solo “Looking Through This Lens” leaving us wanting more. Park gets a moment to shine in “Big Tree Religion,” his rustic tenor capturing the enthusiasm of a true believer. Wilcoxon knocks our socks off in “Becca’s Song,” delivering the kind of belting I expected to hear from Menzel. But the true highlight is Piser’s incredibly stirring performance of “Still”; his gentle but passionate voice turns the song into a full-on showstopper.

In the end, Redwood does get us back on the ground with an important message to cherish the ones we love while they are with us. Maybe that’s worth the climb.