Alright WHAT is this Idina Menzel musical about trees?
Idina Menzel is a Broadway legend and rightfully so! She’s been in some classic shows, originated a Disney queen, and now she’s…singing with a tree?
The musical Redwood stars Menzel as a woman named Jesse. It is based on the real life story of Julia Butterfly Hill who lived in a Redwood for 700 days and features Menzel singing while suspended in air (as she is wont to do). But out of context, the musical is just Menzel singing to a tree. Which has made many online question whether or not this is a real musical or a joke from the hit NBC series 30 Rock.
A clip from Menzel’s interview with CBS Sunday Morning was shared on X with one user writing “Idina Menzel is currently starring in a Broadway show called Redwood and it looks and sounds like a 30 Rock cutaway.” That alone is funny. But somehow, it got worse.
Now, I have not seen this show and I will say that I am now intrigued because another user wrote “What if I told you this press clip actively cuts out the part where the tree starts singing back to her?” So wait you’re saying the tree is a character?
Look, I love the Redwood forest. You mean the inspiration behind the planet of Endor in Star Wars? Home to my favorite little Ewok, Wicket W. Warrick? They’re great! And the actual story of Hill and the Redwood trees is beautiful and I am sure the show honors that. But you have to admit that Menzel singing along with a tree is kind of funny to think about out of context.
She loves to be suspended in air while singing
Whenever something Broadway adjacent goes viral online, I have to remind myself that not everyone is as tuned into the Great White Way as I am. One user responded to the video, writing “Idina Menzel is an AMAZEBALLS singer but is she actually singing upside down, on a harness?” Famously, Menzel plays Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway. A role that forces the actress to be suspended in air while singing.
Fellow journalist Brandon Lewis said that the clip was akin to a Saturday Night Live sketch and he’s not wrong. “It’s giving SNL digital short…it’s just missing a voice cameo from Morgan Freeman or someone as the tree.”
Whether or not the musical is good, I cannot say. Again, I have not seen Redwood. But I do think it is interesting when things like this clip reach social media and people are forced to engage with theatre. Oh you think a musical about trees is weird? Have you heard of half of the musicals we put up on Broadway?
Menzel could sing the back of a phonebook and we’d all pay to see it but it is really fascinating how Redwood kind of exists and I learn something new about it every single day. I hope the tree is like Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors.
(featured image: Bruce Glikas/WireImage)
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