Idina Joins Kristin, Ariana & Cynthia in Special Performance of “For Good”

Posted on by Heather

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!

Here’s a short clip:

 

You can watch the special and the full performance on NBC.com as well as on Peacock. Pus, Wicked: One Wonderful Night (Live) – The Soundtrack featuring this special quartet performance is streaming now on major platforms!

You can also listen on Youtube:

 

Finally, here are some photos:

REDWOOD Announces May 18 Closing Date

Posted on by Heather

Sad news! Redwood will end its Broadway run on Sunday, May 18, 2025 after playing 127 performances, including 17 preview performances. Tickets through the end of the run are on sale at the Nederlander box office and on BroadwayDirect.

Idina had this to say on Instagram:

Creating @RedwoodMusical with @TinaLandau and @KateDiazMusic has been my proudest professional accomplishment. It is an all-female-led team, who are fearless risk-takers and gorgeous human beings. I will be eternally grateful to our stunning cast whom I love so friggin’ much. I’ll be singing Kate’s music for years and years to come. You are all my family. Making music and telling this beautiful story with you has been the highlight of my career. In fact, being back in NYC with the entire Broadway community at the Nederlander, of all places, is my “little Idina’s” dream come true over and over again. Thank you to our entire crew.

We’ve made something exquisite that the Redwoods would be so proud of. Our heartwood is love abounding, sad yet stronger than ever. Our roots will connect us for miles and miles and we will hold each other up beyond the sadness of a show closing to the complicated scary world we are living in. And lastly. Let’s remember the Redwood has lived through fires, through pain, and through the most challenging times in history… and is still standing tall. That’s what I will do. So join us in the canopy one last time before May 18th. Because, like the roots, we need connection.

In keeping with one of the show’s messages of tikkun olam (repairing the world), Redwood partnered with several organizations to help raise awareness and funds to support the themes depicted in the show. Through these partnerships, the show helped raise more than $2,000,000 for these social impact organizations, including $1,500,000 for Save the Redwoods League, $250,000 for A BroaderWay, $180,000 for Broadway Cares and $40,000 for Julia Butterfly Hill’s nonprofit Circle of Life. In addition, through a collaboration with Redwood Empire Whiskey, more than 400 trees were planted in the month of April and separately, more than 50 redwood trees were planted at the Gateway to Big Basin Redwoods State Park in honor of the show’s cast and crew.

If you can’t make it to NYC before May 18, the 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.

If you have the chance to see the show, don’t miss out. Idina is INCREDIBLE. I promise you’ve never seen her like this and the show is so beautiful and touching. It’s such a cathartic theater experience and something I personally really needed. I’m so proud of her for starting with a seedling of an idea and making it all the way to the Nederlander Theatre for audiences around the world to experience it.

REDWOOD Announces Cast Album!

REDWOOD Announces Cast Album!

Posted on by Heather

 
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:

Idina Menzel Extends Broadway Run in REDWOOD

Posted on by Heather

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.

You do not want to miss the chance to see Idina break your heart and belt while performing upside down aerial choreography. The NY Times named the show a “Critic’s Pick” and called Idina “an awe-inspiring force of nature” while Variety called her performance “stunning”. I’ve already seen it a few times and I love it! I can’t wait to go back!

Tickets are available through the official ticket seller, BroadwayDirect or at the Nederlander box office! If you’re not sure where to sit, I posted some seating tips with photos on my Instagram.

I’ll leave you with this new commercial featuring a studio version of Idina’s “In The Leaves”:

REDWOOD Promo Recap!

Posted on by Heather

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.”

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