Idina Menzel appeared on NBC’s “Wicked: One Wonderful Night” special on Thursday! She was joined by Kristin Chenoweth, Stephen Schwartz, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo for a performance of “For Good” at the Gershwin Theatre in NYC! The performance was top secret and such a great surprise!
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.
Very exciting news! Idina Menzel has extended her run in Redwood, and will now star in her new Broadway musical through August 17, 2025! Tickets were previously on sale through July 6.
Redwood is a transportive new musical about one woman’s journey into the precious and precarious world of the redwoods. Jesse (Idina) seems to have it all — a successful career and devoted family — until a life-altering event drives her far from everyone and everything she knows. When she finds herself at the foot of the redwoods in Northern California, a chance encounter and a leap of faith will change her life forever. Redwood explores the lengths — and heights — one travels to find strength, resilience and healing.
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.”
“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.”
[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.”
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.”
REDWOOD starring Idina Menzel begins previews at the Nederlander Theatre in NYC in less than 8 weeks! Promo is starting to ramp up & Idina & the REDWOOD team have been hard at work behind the scenes, so I figured it was a good time to recap! Idina appeared on Morning Joe to talk about the show on Wednesday. You can watch that interview on her Instagram.
