{"id":1387,"date":"2025-02-19T19:00:41","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T00:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/?p=1387"},"modified":"2025-02-19T19:00:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T00:00:41","slug":"creating-a-cutting-edge-musical-with-redwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/creating-a-cutting-edge-musical-with-redwood\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating a \u2018cutting-edge\u2019 musical with \u2018Redwood\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Co-conceivers Tina Landau and Idina Menzel, producer Eva Price and other team members walk us through their unprecedented process.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the midst of the pandemic, director-writer Tina Landau reached out to producer Eva Price with an idea for a show. As Price recalled, \u201c[Tina] was like, \u2018I\u2019m pretty sure this show is unproducible, so I\u2019m calling you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Fifteen years prior, now-Tony Award-nominated Landau and Tony-winning actor Idina Menzel discussed a story set in a redwood forest. Menzel had learned about environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill<\/u>, who famously lived in a redwood<\/u> for 738 days. It made Menzel wonder: \u201cWhat does that take in someone, and could I escape my life and throw everything away and do something like that?\u201d The questions sparked Menzel and Landau\u2019s exploration into a story about survival, nature, introspection and healing.<\/p>\n

But life took the two artists in different directions, and they put the idea on pause \u2014 until the pandemic granted them unexpected time. They each spent more time in nature, reconnected, and pulled the redwood idea out of the drawer. \u201cWe knew we wanted to stay with the singular image of a woman in a tree,\u201d Landau said. \u201cWe were asking [ourselves]: What would cause someone to do that? And what would you find there, and why would you go there? What would you be running away from or towards?\u201d And then Landau experienced a death in her family.<\/p>\n

The breaking open that comes with a loss \u2014 and the need for healing from it \u2014 became the impetus for the musical\u2019s main character, Jesse (played by Menzel), to retreat and venture into the redwoods of Northern California. Their story begins as Jesse experiences a monumental tragedy and leaves her wife to drive across the country and seek out nature. They recruited composer-lyricist Kate Diaz whose music has a \u201cpop, alt rock, alt folk\u201d sound, Laundau described, and \u201cknows how to write cinematically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Landau and Menzel weren\u2019t sure if their show should take shape as an art installation, a concert or an outdoor theatrical experience. \u201cThey just knew that whatever form it took, the immersiveness of the production was integral to what the show was going to be,\u201d Price said. Price pushed for it to be a musical inside a traditional theater setting because, as she said, \u201cTo me, the most interesting things to produce inside a theater are the things that no one expects can exist inside that theater.\u201d The project would be a traditional musical \u2014 at least in the sense that it would take place in an indoor theater \u2014 and would be titled \u201cRedwood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the challenge is that the musical \u201cneeds flying, it needs projections, it needs climbing, it needs to feel like we\u2019re inside the redwoods. This is key,\u201d Price said. \u201cThis is as important as the book and the music.\u201d The trio needed to find a venue willing to develop a show with these extreme technological and physical requirements.<\/p>\n

San Diego\u2019s La Jolla Playhouse said yes.<\/p>\n

Choreographing the climb<\/strong><\/p>\n

The La Jolla Playhouse team was also crucial in \u201cRedwood\u201d\u2019s development.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was looking for aerial choreography and knew I didn\u2019t want traditional Flying by Foy<\/u><\/a>,\u201d Landau said, referencing the aerial choreography troupe responsible for Broadway shows like \u201cChitty Chitty Bang Bang\u201d and \u201cPeter Pan.\u201d \u201cIt wasn\u2019t about taking people through space.\u201d No, \u201cRedwood\u201d is about climbing and aerial work that would evoke the spirit of traversing the forest.<\/p>\n

La Jolla Playhouse executive producer Eric Keen-Louie suggested the aerial dance company bandaloop<\/u><\/a>. Established in 1991 by Amelia Rudolph, bandaloop innovates in and performs vertical dance. A combination of choreography and climbing, bandaloop has performed across six continents in theaters but also on buildings, skyscrapers, cliffs, trees and more. In 2020, Melecio Estrella succeeded Rudolph as the company\u2019s artistic director. Given the ensemble\u2019s unique combination of skill and performance surfaces, Landau recruited Estrella via bandaloop to choreograph \u201cRedwood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe core of the story \u2014 around the wisdom and the healing power of nature \u2014 couldn\u2019t be more perfect for us because that\u2019s really what we\u2019re all about,\u201d said Estrella of bandaloop. \u201cWe\u2019re also about wild land\/urban meshing and [bringing] people and social experiences into nature. That\u2019s part of the magic of this show.\u201d<\/p>\n

The movement Estrella staged for \u201cRedwood\u201d fluctuates between realistic climbing and metaphorical aerial dance. For the natural sequences, \u201cTina was very clear that we want to use the climbing systems that arborists would use,\u201d Estrella said. Bandaloop\u2019s lead rigger, Basil Tsimoyianis (who previously assisted U.C. Berkeley tree scientists scale sequoias) designed the system for \u201cRedwood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next, Estrella needed to acclimate the actors to it<\/a>. A \u201cculture of safety\u201d is Estrella\u2019s top priority before actors engaged in strength training (building the muscles they\u2019ll use eight shows a week), gear training (familiarizing with the equipment), mobility training (understanding the mechanics and feelings of swinging on the ropes) and awareness training (learning to use all five senses to orient in space). Menzel, Landau and Diaz even took a real redwood walk to experience in real life what they\u2019d want to translate to the stage.<\/p>\n

As Estrella noted, \u201cWhen you\u2019re dancing on a redwood tree, there\u2019s really nothing like it \u2014 in terms of the smell, the texture, that this [tree] is actually a living being that you\u2019re interacting and dancing with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once out of nature and in the theater, Estrella built movement inspired by the actors\u2019 personalities, natural movement signatures, character arcs and the physical design of \u201cRedwood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Designing the redwoods<\/strong><\/p>\n

The main relationship at the heart of \u201cRedwood\u201d is between Jesse and a tree named Stella. So getting Stella right was a top priority. While the musical follows Jesse\u2019s immersion into the redwood forest, the creative team decided there would be only one actual tree onstage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we were working on the design, it was the million-dollar question: How are we going to do the tree?\u201d Landau remembered. Scenic designer Jason Ardizzone-West added, \u201cOur challenge was to create a very realistic-looking piece of a redwood tree that was cinematically accurate, but existing in the context of a very abstract space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the team wanted to inspire awe in the moments when Jesse explores the forest and ascends Stella. The physicality of the rigging and the tree combine with media designer Hana S. Kim\u2019s video design to place audiences in Jesse\u2019s point of view. As she scales Stella\u2019s trunk, the video reflects greenery and height. But Landau and Kim were careful that the video didn\u2019t look like a nature documentary nor like the landscapes of Disney\u2019s theme park ride Soarin\u2019Around the World<\/u><\/a>. \u201cThe primary goal for the media in the piece was to tunnel to [Jesse\u2019s] mind,\u201d said Kim. \u201cRedwood\u201d is something new.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal was never to reproduce the Redwood Forest<\/u><\/a> onstage,\u201d Ardizzone-West explained, \u201cbut rather to let the audience understand Jesse\u2019s perspective \u2014 what her experience of the Redwood Forest was or her experience of grieving and memory. So the spatial, lighting and media design were all working together to try to achieve that goal of bringing the audience into her head.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat idea of a broken vessel \u2014 the broken emotional state of Jesse \u2014 informed the physical design of the space,\u201d said Ardizzone-West. The surfaces of the set are jagged and shard-like and extend into the audience space. In turn, the media projections appear in the playing space (on a back wall, on the floor) and bathe the audience, as well.<\/p>\n

The merger of all these disciplines creates a physical production unlike any these artists have seen.<\/p>\n

Testing it out<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing something cutting edge,\u201d said Menzel. \u201cWe weren\u2019t sure if it would work \u2014 to do the multimedia of this and make a very human story, told in this global majestic setting, and strike that balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Feb. 13, the new musical \u201cRedwood\u201d began its world-premiere run. Directed by Landau, \u201cRedwood\u201d features a book by Landau, additional contributions by Menzel, music by theater newcomer Diaz and lyrics by Diaz and Landau. (Landau and Menzel are also credited as co-conceivers.) Given the California audience response, Menzel said, \u201cWe weren\u2019t sure it would work \u2014 now we know for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next frontier is making it work on Broadway. \u201cRedwood\u201d will begin performances on Jan. 25, 2025, at the Nederlander Theatre. Price isn\u2019t worried; she\u2019s used to customizing one musical for multiple spaces. (Her Tony-winning revival of \u201cOklahoma!\u201d was redesigned five times to accommodate five different venues \u2014 and that was before a national tour.)<\/p>\n

The producer\u2019s unique challenge with \u201cRedwood\u201d will be communicating the immersive experience \u2014 which doesn\u2019t optimally translate to photo and video \u2014 to potential ticket buyers. \u201c\u2018Redwood\u2019 cannot be captured through any video or photo \u2014 that\u2019s what we learned [in La Jolla],\u201d Price said. \u201cPeople were like, \u2018I read about it,\u2019 or \u2018I saw that photo,\u2019 and then they came in like, \u2018What the hell? That was not even remotely what I was expecting.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

That response has bolstered Landau\u2019s and Menzel\u2019s confidence and hope. \u201cIt\u2019s very emotional to know you\u2019ve been working with someone, who I now love very much, and to be putting on a play together and people actually bought tickets, showed up, left [feeling] like they\u2019d been changed a little,\u201d Menzel marveled. \u201cIt\u2019s really exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Co-conceivers Tina Landau and Idina Menzel, producer Eva Price and other team members walk us through their unprecedented process. In the midst of the pandemic, director-writer Tina Landau reached out to producer Eva Price with an idea for a show. As Price recalled, \u201c[Tina] was like, \u2018I\u2019m pretty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[80,81],"class_list":["post-1387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-80","tag-redwood"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/RDWD-16-1-.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Srnq-mn","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1389,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387\/revisions\/1389"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}