With the massive projection screens being used in the new musical Redwood, I had an unexpected flashback to my childhood. I remember seeing a 360-degree immersive documentary in Walt Disney World.  As I recall, it was some sort of travelogue (was it about Canada? America?). It was a little dizzying and confusing because you did not know which way to look and with no narrative (or none I can remember) I recall tiring of it after a bit.  The coolness of the experience wore off.

I may have left Redwood a similar sense of diminishing returns.  The new musical may try to surround its audience with an awesome sense of nature via screens, but it becomes a visual crutch that does not make up for the weak storytelling and baffling score.

Jesse (Idina Menzel who co-conceived the musical) is literally running away as flashes of her past chase her.  Her wife Mel (De’Adre Aziza) is begging her to come to therapy with her.  Her son Spencer (Zachary Noah Piser) has passed away and her solution is to keep driving until she cannot drive any further.  This escape leads her to the redwood forest in California where she meets Finn (Michael Park) and Becca (Khaila Wilcoxon) who are scientists studying the forest canopy and must climb the redwood trees to do their work.  Suddenly, she becomes obsessed with climbing the trees with them and spending time on a platform high up the redwood tree.

The musical is directed by Tina Landau who also wrote the book, co-wrote the lyrics with Kate Diaz, and co-conceived of the project with Menzel.  Diaz also provides the music.

While the musical is attempting to address serious topics of grief, parenting, and climate change with sincerity, it ends up packaged more like a digital Hallmark card. The glittering awe of the tree canopy is pixels and can only create a fabricated sense of wonder (the projections do move up the tree and in different angles such that you might get a little dizzy or seasick like on an amusement ride).

But the emotional immersion the musical offers never gets very deep.  Jesse declares herself some kind of broken and she think she cannot be healed and she is running away. There’s not much more to it.

It is a surface treatment of grief and we are on the outside.  We just have to patiently wait as Jesse annoys and badgers lots of people around her until she is ready to heal.  Now, that is what you do when you love someone who is in pain. But I just met the lady.

I find grief such a difficult subject on stage because it is so weirdly particular to the person experiencing it (and their personal loss), but what is presented here is the CliffsNotes of grief.  As expected here, you hear the line (I’m paraphrasing) that you cannot know the grief of a parent who has a lost a child.  Ok sure. But you’re not really giving me any rich insight into that except through manic tree hugging and ghost chats.

Most of the musical is literal ghost memory haunting stuff (Spencer frequently appears to her as much as she resists it) with some awkward tree harness ballet thrown in.

And if that is the route you are going—ghost memory—there has to be more poetry to it both visually and emotionally.  I understand that Jesse’s mental health and process of grief is evolving so the style of expressing that may change over time but it was incoherent and confusing at times.

Sound and lighting effects are like cracks of lightning in Jesse’s psyche every time memories of Spencer overwhelm her. But this again was somehow still emotionally remote.

In a musical, this is where the music should step in to do some of the heavy dramatic lifting but the songs are all over the place.  It’s revolving door of music genres pasted together with predictable lyrics that match the musical’s visual obviousness (the song Drive…all about driving). Menzel did not even look comfortable singing some of it.

I spent a lot of this musical asking, “Who are these people,” What are they risking,” and “What is this play even saying?”  If the bottom line is that you’re telling me, “Grief is hard,” that is of such a limited utility.  I appreciate the musical is tackling serious subjects but after it is all said and done it is a lot of treesplaining and griefsplaining.  There is about 10-minutes of actual emotional engagement.

As for bright spots, Khaila Wilcoxon’s bold and rich voice is a pleasure and she adds depth to a frequently misunderstood character (plus it is nice to see a Black, Jewish character on stage). Michael Park brings such warmth to his characters.

Ultimately, the show is best when the projections drift away and it is just Menzel singing with just a piano and darkness. Sometimes simplicity says more.