Until last week, I knew little about redwoods or ‘heartwood.” Then I went to see the world premiere of the play Redwood, starring the indomitable Idina Menzel, who co-created with director-playwright and co-lyricist Tina Landau, with music and lyrics by Kate Diaz. This transformative piece is full of love, loss, grief, and ultimately redemption, and is set in the majestic Redwood forest Idina plays Jesse, a successful businesswoman, mother, and wife. She seems to have it all together, and yet her heart is broken like so many moms whose sons have accidentally overdosed and died. Not being able to bear the brunt of her grief-stricken tragedy (a phone call in the middle of the night she manages to shuttle back and forth for two years, not being able to look at pictures, not able to process her grief her guilt, not being able to move on she suddenly packs bags gets into her car and travels thousands of miles away till she ends up in the Redwood forest. Here is a chance meeting and a leap of faith in the presence of towering redwoods; Jesse finds strange and powerful connections, an unexpected sense of community with two unlikely people, and a […]
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