**Redwood

Arboreal therapy, jumbo size

Khaila Wilcoxon and Idina Menzel. Credit Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

We interrupt this nature documentary to bring you a domestic drama … No, wait – maybe the reverse?

It’s difficult to determine the focal point of this soap-operatic mishmash about a grieving mother who, hoping to assuage her pain, goes on a solo walkabout in a redwood forest near Eureka, California. A massive revolving tree trunk devised by scenic designer Jason Ardizonne-West dwarfs the performers’ occasional airborne acrobatics; meanwhile, Hana S. Kim’s glorious video surround further distracts from the human drama unfurling onstage.

Tina Landau (book), Kate Diaz (music), and the two together (lyrics) can’t seem to make up their joint minds as to which track to favor: message or melodrama. As co-conceiver/muse, Idina Menzel – playing Jesse, a plucky New York gallerist – isn’t much help. Menzel’s solos, though bedazzled with money notes, tend to trudge horizontally, melody-wise, and as entertaining as it may be initially to watch her ecstatically rappelling and twirling, the thrill quickly turns one-sided. She’s clearly having a blast, while getting a workout. Meanwhile we’re stuck with a turgid plot and a zoetrope of stock characters.

Only two roles rise above cliché: De’ Adre Aziza, as Jesse’s shut-out photo-journalist wife, at least gets a laidback jazzy solo (“Looking through This Lens”). Khaila Wilcoxon shines as Becca, a prickly young field researcher not keen on letting a moony amateur intrude on her turf.

Like Becca, the audience may have a hard time warming to Jesse, who, though ostensibly in deep mourning, has a bad case of the cutes. Toward the end, Wilcoxon aces “Becca’s Song,” with its allusion to the Jewish concept of tikkun olam: the impulse – the obligation – to rebuild and repair. Becca’s credo stands in strong relief against the overlong, alternately maudlin and didactic script.

Is it cool to learn that the towering redwoods have puny roots (only five or six feet deep) and must rely on their neighbors to keep growing and thriving? Or that forest fires actually encourage the trees’ growth by disseminating seeds? Sure. But do we need veritable billboards screeching “metaphor alert”?

Menzel’s heart is clearly in the right place, but any onlooker who’s not captivated by the impressive stage effects will perhaps wonder whether this high-wattage endeavor might not undermine the musical’s eco-trendy message.

Broadway, to May 8, 2025