Category: Interviews

REDWOOD Announces Cast Album!

REDWOOD Announces Cast Album!

 
Redwood has announced that their Original Broadway Cast Recording will be released digitally on May 13th! The CD will be released on June 13 and the vinyl will arrive on July 25! Pre-order all versions here. One of Idina’s big numbers, “In The Leaves”, is streaming now and they also released a music video, which you can watch above. This is one of my favorite parts in the show and so incredibly special to watch live!

Here’s the official tracklist, which also includes some of the beautiful instrumental parts of the show:

1. Drive
2. The Trees
3. Climb
4. Little Redwood
5. The Stars
6. Big Tree Religion
7. Back Then
8. The Ascent
9. Great Escape
10. Roots
11. Little Redwood (Reprise)
12. Looking Through This Lens
13. In the Leaves
14. Becca’s Song
15. No Repair
16. The Fires
17. The Rain
18. Still
19. Finale

Redwood tickets are available through the official ticket seller, BroadwayDirect, or at the Nederlander box office! There is a digital lottery via Broadway Direct with a limited number of $54 tickets available for each performance, beginning at 10 am ET and closing at 4 pm ET the day before each performance. There is also an in-person rush policy, with a limited number of tickets available for purchase at the time of box opening each day for $44.00 each, based on availability, on a first-come first-served basis.

P.S. Idina has been SUPER busy promoting the show and I’ve added lots of photos to the gallery. Make sure you’re following me on Instagram & Twitter to stay up-to-date on all her appearances and interviews. I’m also regularly updating the REDWOOD Playlist on my Youtube channel!

Here are some of the recently added photo albums:

REDWOOD Promo Recap!

It’s been a very busy few weeks for Idina Menzel! REDWOOD began previews at the Nederlander Theatre on January 24 and will officially open on February 13. (Get tickets here & don’t forget to use code FIRSTLOOK for specially-priced tickets.)
 
 
 
A couple of weeks ago she appeared on CBS Sunday Morning to discuss the show. You can watch the portion that aired, which also includes some footage from the show & rehearsal, here. There is also her extended interview- which is also worth a watch – here. I’ve also got a Redwood playlist on Youtube that includes her miscellaneous video interviews.

Idina also stopped by TODAY to perform “In The Leaves”:

 
While there, she spoke with Jenna and Kelsea Ballerini. Last week, she stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Idina also did a number of print interviews and new photoshoots!

The New York Times:

How does she square her considerable accomplishments with her persistent angst? “I’m getting a little tired of my self-deprecation,” she said. “In a way, it’s been a crutch. It’s a way of naming a shortcoming in my life before someone else can say it. But I also recognize that it makes me vulnerable, and that being vulnerable is so important to being a great performer and being able to connect with your audience. Making mistakes and being fallible are the things that draw people to you.”

Parade:

“When I played Maureen, I didn’t know all the stuff that comes along with the theater community and the politics and the awards. I had no idea about all of that because I was kind of preoccupied with wanting a record deal and writing my own music and wanting to be a rock star for a minute,” Menzel explains. “Maureen was just full of all of that levity and abandonment and rebelliousness and my humorous side and my sexy side. Then unfortunately, like I said, [as] you become more and more known, you start to go inward and become a little bit more fearful.”

“Being here [at the Nederlander],” she says, “I miss her, and it’s wonderful because I am trying to channel that again.”“was an extraordinary experience for me,” she says, from her dressing room at the Nederlander (the same dressing room she used 29 years ago in Rent). “Getting to feel a real connection to the world in a very different way. It felt like being in a sanctuary. There’s a unique silence there and you feel like a pea. You feel so small but in the best way. It’s humbling and freeing.”

Playbill:

[Climbing a redwood] “was an extraordinary experience for me,” she says, from her dressing room at the Nederlander (the same dressing room she used 29 years ago in Rent). “Getting to feel a real connection to the world in a very different way. It felt like being in a sanctuary. There’s a unique silence there and you feel like a pea. You feel so small but in the best way. It’s humbling and freeing.”

Vanity Fair:

The show is Menzel’s first time working with an all-female creative team. “It’s a relief to be able to support each other in being extremely powerful, speaking our minds, and not having to apologize for that, while also being very sensitive and empathetic individuals who look out for each other.”

How WICKED’s Special Cameos Came Together

Many years we have waited for…a WICKED movie! WICKED was officially released in theaters on November 22, more than 21 years after the Broadway musical opened at the Gershwin Theatre. As we all know, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande have stepped into the shoes of Elphaba and Glinda but I know I wasn’t alone in hoping for a cameo from our original leading ladies.

So, do Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth have a cameo? The answer is:

Continue reading “How WICKED’s Special Cameos Came Together”

Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth Reunite for Wicked’s 20th Anniversary!

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Wicked is celebrating its 20th Anniversary on October 30! Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth reunited for a new photoshoot and interview with New York Magazine. Their feature is in the October 23 edition of the magazine and is also available to read online on Vulture.com!

There’s something familiar about watching Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth have a conversation — the way that one of them tends to be a bubbling extrovert, the other more introspective but observant and ready with a joke. After a long day in workshops for their respective musical projects, the two of them slip into the familiar language of longtime collaborators, with inside jokes and catch-ups. You may have seen it onstage before, in a musical called Wicked.

Magazine:

Idina has been posting memories on Instagram, and so has Kristin, so make sure you follow them!

More Proud Mouse / Drama Queen Promo!

Idina Menzel and Cara Mentzel went on what must’ve been an exhausting promo tour to promote PROUD MOUSE last week. They appeared on The View, spoke with D23 and visited many many book stores and schools in New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Illinois and California! I added some photos to the gallery:

   

I put together a PROUD MOUSE promo playlist and will add interviews as they pop up.

On a related note, Idina and Cara both signed an open letter condemning book bans and calling for an end to this oppressive attack on artistic freedom:

“It’s on all of us to support all kids against book bans. We must come together and continue to advocate for children of all backgrounds, races, genders and sexual orientations so they know they are loved, valued and that we will stop at nothing to protect their rights.” – Idina Menzel and Cara Mentzel

You can support the cause and sign here!

Idina also had some great podcast conversations that I highly recommend listening to: Armchair Expert (really great one!), Childproof (with Cara!), and On Purpose with Jay Shetty

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