Idina Menzel on Return to Broadway, 21 Years of Wicked

A few days before Halloween, Idina Menzel found herself 200 feet in the air, sitting in the canopy of a redwood forest.

Outfitted in a bulky safety harness, puffer vest, climbing gloves and a bright red helmet, the voice of Elphaba and Elsa couldn’t help but break into song in the breathtaking moment: “From here, I see it all…” she sang, before letting her famous voice trail off into the forest’s leafy ceiling.

The reason the Tony winner was summiting the redwoods? Some seriously above-the-ground research for her leading role in Redwood, the new original musical that will mark her return to Broadway for the first time in nearly a decade.

Four days later, Menzel is safely back on the ground, curled up at home and reflecting on her time in the trees. “I’m used to climbing from our La Jolla production, so I’m comfortable in the harness. And I’m not afraid of heights, so it was fine,” she laughs. And yes, for the record, the Broadway legend sees the parallel between climbing a 200-foot redwood and defying gravity, too.

“There’s a little theme goin’ on,” she says, a knowing smile lighting up her face. “I’m not sure why it happened, but I’m definitely drawn to characters who get to fly in some sense of the word.”

In the new show, which is set to begin performances on January 24 at the Nederlander Theatre, Menzel plays Jesse, a successful New Yorker whose life is irrevocably altered when an unexpected tragedy strikes. Desperately searching for meaning in the wake of such a cataclysmic event, she hits the road and doesn’t stop until she finds herself at the foot of the mystical, magical redwoods of Northern California.

The story is an idea that Menzel has been developing for more than a decade, after learning about the life of Julia Butterfly Hill, an environmental activist who lived in a 1,000-foot redwood for 738 days in the late 1990s to save the tree from being cut down by the Pacific Lumber Company.

Both inspired by Hill’s story and fascinated by the idea of forsaking modern life to live in a tree, Menzel partnered with Tina Landau, the veteran director behind Broadway hits like Superior Donuts (2009), Spongebob Squarepants: The Musical (2017) and Mother Play (2024) to bring Redwood to life — starting with Jesse, a character that the three-time Tony nominee sees much of herself in.

“I relate to the feeling of feeling so low, and my anxiety issues and this need or desire to try to clean the slate and get away from all of the noise that goes on in my head,” Menzel says. “And so, she’s doing very much the same thing. She’s a mother. She’s funny. She’s self-absorbed. She’s strong-willed. And… she’s searching. I think that’s what I love about her and identify with so much.”

With Menzel set to star and Landau pulling double duty as playwright and director, the duo went out on a limb to enlist Kate Diaz, a young composer with a background in film scoring, to write the music for the show.

“Kate is many things,” Menzel gushes about the musical wunderkind, who boasts dual degrees from Berklee College of Music and Harvard University and happens to be, as the actress puts it, “a really great rhythm guitar player.”

“She writes really soulful, organic, earthy-sounding music. And she writes, I think, sort of cinematically as well. So there’s an intimacy in her writing and an acoustic, unplugged vibe, and then, she can write with huge wonder and grandeur and an epic quality,” she continues. “Which is what our whole show is, it’s the juxtaposition of a very simple, intimate story of a woman going through something in… this immersive, transportive experience in the redwoods.”

The first taste of the musical’s unique organic-meets-cinematic sound comes in the form of “Great Escape,” which Menzel recorded live during Redwood’s out-of-town run at La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, California. The soaring ballad takes place during Act I, as Jesse experiences the peace and tranquility of climbing high into the redwoods for the first time.

The song is, at turns, funny (“Oh my god, it’s kinda hard to breathe/ Will you remember me? The city girl who died hugging a tree,” Jesse panics during her initial ascent), moving and utterly transportive, as Diaz’s orchestration builds to a cathartic, crescendoing climax and Menzel wails, “But from here, I can see it clearly/ Far away from the pain/ I’ll stay, I’ll stay/ ‘Cause I found my great escape.” (Turns out it’s the same song she couldn’t resist singing when she sat in the canopy for the first time in real life.)

While it’s likely that not many theatergoers will have climbed a redwood in their lives, Menzel is hopeful that Jesse’s journey toward healing will resonate with audiences. “It’s sort of a return to her innocence that I think people will really relate to,” she says. “All the things that theater is meant to do about [creating] a communal experience, people being together in a theater and experiencing something for that one night only, in that one special way — it seems like that happens in our show. Everybody feels really seen and really heard when they leave.”

Helping audiences feel seen by the stories she tells on stage has been a hallmark of Menzel’s celebrated career from the time she made her Broadway debut nearly three decades ago in Rent. As bohemian lesbian performance artist Maureen, the actress not only earned her first Tony nomination and helped add modern classics like “Seasons of Love,” “La Vie Boheme” and “Take Me or Leave Me” to the canon of great American show tunes, but she played a central role in the musical that defined a generation.

So it seems fitting — like some magical full-circle moment, really — that Menzel’s long-awaited return to Broadway will be in the very same theater that Rent revitalized, playing for over 5,000 performances from 1996 to 2008.

“This is actually very emotional for me when I’ve talked about it,” she says, shaking her head in wonder at the thought of stepping back onto the Nederlander’s stage. “It feels really right. It’s the right place and it’s the right size of theater for this show, and it’s got good juju. And I’m gonna take my old dressing room. You know, it’s like coming home.”

Then, of course, there’s Wicked. Playing Elphaba, the green-skinned dreamer-turned-Wicked Witch of the West, in the beloved prequel to The Wizard of Oz catapulted Menzel into the stratosphere as Broadway royalty, winning her a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and indelibly changing her life (for good).

Somehow, it’s been more than two decades since Wicked first premiered at the Gershwin Theatre — the show just celebrated its 21st anniversary and has become the fourth longest-running production in Broadway history. And yet, for a subject she’s spent the better part of the 20th century being asked about, Menzel remains thoughtful, candid and visibly emotional when it comes to the special handprint Elphaba has left on her heart.

“I can only speak for myself and that I feel an immense amount of pride having been a part of this incredible legacy,” she says before taking a long pause to collect her thoughts. “I just know that I’m a better person having played that character. And even more so for being able to sing her music every time I get on stage to do a concert.

“You know, as a woman who second guesses herself and when it’s OK to be loud and powerful and opinionated and strong, and angry,” she continues, “I’m just so proud that this character sort of speaks to that and tells all of us — whether you’re a woman or not — that by embracing our power and what makes us really special, we can change the world.”

More than two decades later, Menzel is watching a new wave of Wicked mania take over the world as the musical finally makes its way to the silver screen for the long-clamored-for film adaptation starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

Naturally, she’s seen the movie ahead of its Nov 22 premiere (“It’s wonderful… it’s actually very respectful of the musical, so it translates beautifully”). And yes, there’s a defin-ish chance fans may spot her somewhere in Jon M. Chu’s Technicolor version of Oz (“I think if you went on socials and did not even a deep dig, you might find the answer to that question”) as she ceremoniously passes her broomstick to Erivo as a new generation’s Elphaba.

 

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“I already know from spending time with the two of them how much it’s changed them and how wonderful of an experience they had,” she says of Erivo and Grande, whom she and original Glinda Kristin Chenoweth will pose arm-in-arm with at the film’s Los Angeles premiere just a few days after our interview. “It sort of bonds all of us. So I’m excited for them, that they’re having this experience, and that everyone’s going to see their contribution to this story and these women and celebrate them. I’m also excited that more people, a wider audience, will get to be introduced to the story.”

And while the ever-popular story of Elphaba and Glinda takes on a new life, Menzel will return to the stage to tell Jesse’s healing, hopeful story of flying among the redwoods.

“I love to create original roles,” she says, “and be a part of a creative group of people that want to make new work and tell stories that haven’t been told… I always say my favorite thing in the world is to stand at a piano with a composer who’s just written something new for the show. With you in mind, with me in mind. And to hear it for the first time and then learn how to sing it: that’s the magic for me.”

Tickets to Redwood are available on Ticketmaster.