“Ever since Lease, I’ve made it a precedence to originate roles and shine a lightweight on new work,” Idina Menzel tells Billboard. “It takes plenty of endurance and fortitude, however there may be actually nothing as rewarding as seeing your kernel of an thought absolutely realized with a bunch of individuals you’re keen on and admire so deeply.”
The Broadway icon’s newest undertaking in that vein is the brand new musical Redwood, presently enjoying at La Jolla Playhouse in California. For Menzel — who performs Jesse, a profitable businesswoman, mom and spouse who finds herself as a private crossroads and finds surprising solutions within the forests of Northern California — the present is an particularly private artistic endeavor. “The story of a lady at a turning level in her life paralleled with the resilience, knowledge and power of the redwood tree was one which spoke to me deep in my soul,” Menzel says. “Nature’s energy to heal and join us as human beings is crucial on this turbulent world we live in.”
Idina Menzel backstage throughout REDWOOD at La Jolla Playhouse.
Courtesy of Idina Menzel
Menzel, who launched her newest album Drama Queen in August of final yr, isn’t simply the star of the manufacturing. She co-conceived Redwood with director, author and co-lyricist Tina Landau (lately of Broadway’s creative SpongeBob SquarePants musical) over the course of a few years, delving deeply into the event of Jesse as a personality.
Menzel and Landau additionally “knew we needed to discover a new younger composer who may convey a recent take to musical theater” for the present, bringing in Kate Diaz for a rating that Menzel describes as having “a ravishing, earthy and soulful high quality in addition to expansive and cinematic. Once I carry out Kate’s music, I’m able to use all of the completely different colours in my voice. I’m not simply taking pictures for the rafters. I’m expressing myself equally to how I specific myself in my very own songwriting.” (Diaz additionally co-wrote the lyrics with Landau).
Whereas the La Jolla run of Redwood ends March 31, the present has its sights set on Broadway — which definitely appears extra probably than not with Menzel and her artistic collaborators on board. “We knew we needed the manufacturing to be leading edge and unconventional,” Menzel says. “We’ve inspired each other to dream huge, break guidelines, and never compromise our artistic concepts. There’s a deep sense of artistic freedom and belief in how we work.”
Right here, Menzel completely shares with Billboard a stay recording of her performing “Nice Escape,” recorded throughout a efficiency of Redwood.
