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Problems with the musical Redwood (based on a Vulture article and discussion with @ticketybooaziraphale (who did see it), but not actually seeing the play myself)

*Lots of spoilers

I automatically have a problem with how the play opens by dropping the audience into action: Jesse driving cross-country to the song “Drive”, though that probably fulfilled its purpose of being confusing. Also starting after the “inciting incident” makes this manic drive her baseline and hampers any demonstration of growth for how they decided to end the play. She sounded like a stagnant protagonist overall.

There’s a difference between the realities of grief (ie: how Jesse spirals in her grief, is seeking out other stories of grief but then reacting like they don’t understand the depth of her loss) and how to convey “grief” as a concept/message through story (ie: empathizing with a character’s portrayal of grief). A lot of it sounds to me like there was someone way too close to the kind of grief the play is based on to differentiate themselves from what they experienced versus what made for an effective and relatable protagonist.

There seems to be no narrative purpose to Jesse’s character being from NYC. Based on how she was described, she sounded like someone from LA - worse, someone from LA who traveled to or shortly lived in NYC and adopted being a “New Yorker” as part of her “persona”.

I’m so disappointed they used 3D animation when they could’ve gotten amazing drone footage to project IMAX-style. I’d love a documentary about the redwoods with that kind of canopy footage.

It shys away from its more interesting inspiration (actual tree sitting activitsts) and letting the politics of the inspiration give flavor to the personal story, in favor of safe, suburban “apolitical” rhetoric in choosing interactions that emphasize the emotionality of temporary connections with strangers over the layers of intimacy that come from long-term relationships.

Similarly, how the play uses nature as a back-drop without any meaningful call to action about protecting the forests (which makes the 3D animation worse in so many ways). Nature heals provided you can find some place pristine without any concept of how endangered these places are. It’s also very “Eat Pray Love” by way of Northern California to have a character find themselves in a place they’ve never been to before, have no connection to, and probably won’t ever return to.

It’s a safe, commercial production that mantles itself in attractive concepts of social connections and interdependence, but fundamentally nothing changes about Jesse. The end has Jesse ready to return home acting as if she *could* go home, as if her actions were completely isolated from any consequence beyond her sense of “spiritual awakening” (I’m saying there was no change in the protagonist because Mel’s reaction to her call at the end wasn’t welcoming - like Mel was over this behavior and was making her own changes off stage. Did Jesse do all this to unknowingly circle-back to where she began? Like the opening of Leer - how many times has Jesse done this kind of “Redwoods” escapade?

The reality of the story as-is appears to be as paper-thin as the first “Frozen”. And the story also appears to de-center the more grounded stories of side characters in favor of a more milquetoast protagonist, much in the same way as “The Help”.

Because I like to move story pieces around to see how they might fit better: Fixing the fundamentals of the story underlying Redwoods (again, based on a Vulture article and discussion with @ticketybooaziraphale (who did see it), but not actually seeing the play myself).

Major changes for context: Jesse, Mel, and Spencer are all based out of Los Angeles, California. Jesse’s art gallery is also in LA. There was a massive fire in Jesse’s gallery where both Spencer and Mel died, and Jesse feels like she lost everything. Spencer was barely 21 when he died, busy getting ready to complete his degree and start serious work in environmentalism. Mel, just 40 herself and hitting a strong stride in her career as a professional photographer, was the person Jesse planned to grow old with. The audience is quickly made aware that Spencer is dead, while Mel’s status is more unclear as Jesse speaks of her in the present tense and appears to talk to her. It’s almost a year later when the play starts. New character, Dina, was a close friend to both Jesse and Mel, worked closely with Jesse in the art scene for many years, and is the owner of a new gallery where she previously promised Jesse has a job if/when she’s ready. Jesse’s basically been coasting on the insurance payouts and hasn’t done more for the past year.

Opening in LA, in a glass and concrete courtyard with a couple yellow and weedy raised beds/pots to the sides of the stage. Jesse is sitting at a patio table with 3 seats. There’s a knock and Dina (new character) lets herself into the scene to catch Jesse up on the plans for the 1 year remembrance/memorial gathering at the new gallery. The show is going to include Mel’s photos - Dina shares a booklet of the final selection. Dina’s very aware of Jesse’s ongoing grief, and references how Jesse used to be via the photographs - her lively/convivial spirit, and somehow so genuine in the jaded LA art scene without being too precious about it. Any cheer from Jesse now is clearly forced/shallow. The photographs are projected onto the screens behind them, and are reminding Jesse of things that hurt too deeply to think about. Could stick an “I want” song here - speaking of Spencer (but never to him), the family life she once had, and how galleries always display finished works, except nothing about their lives were finished. The colors desaturate and she interrupts Dina to ask her to leave.

There’s sounds of talking in the background after Dina leaves, but the audience can’t make out the words. Jesse appears to be responding to her wife, Mel, off-stage about her behavior and pushing people away. Jesse stands alone in the courtyard, a contrast of how life was once grand and colorful, but now a lonely desert. The staging emphasizes grays, and any colors are bruise-like yellows, purples, and browns. The spiral starts as Jesse goes back into the house, trying to figure out what to wear for the remembrance party. She keeps pushing herself away from her old clothes (party clothes, city girl clothes, the funeral clothes). She talks to Mel about how down-to-earth Mel’s fashion choices are by contrast. She wanders around the stage, staring off into what’s implied to be Spencer’s room, very hippy-granola college-boy, and she asks aloud “imagine going to this memorial in dungarees and trail sneakers.”

She hasn’t been able to really sleep since the fire and so she spirals on who they used to be, until we hit the song “Drive”. Except now she’s speeding up the PCH in the middle of the night (2AM, I am told, is a less bad time for LA traffic, also another good chance to use drone footage of the PCH). It’s one manic 10-12 hour drive. We can keep at least one attempt to stop at a motel but she can’t stay because the kid looks like Spencer. Her phone rings, though we never see her answer it, and she talks at Mel as if she was on the phone (even can have the “he was my son too” comment from Mel). Could make use of a turn-table to visualize being out of step with Mel (push and pull) while avoiding Spencer on-stage. Jesse drives on until she’s in the forests, lost or as good as that.

She arrives somewhere that could be a public parking area for a trailhead or could be a private logging road, we can’t tell. It’s clear she left her car behind and wanders the woods for the same amount of time as in the play until she finds herself among a couple protesters (Becca & Michael, largely unchanged), the kinds who went up into the trees and tried to save them from foresters. The protesters call her out as a city slicker, completely unprepared, and she could be arrested if she gets caught going back. Additionally, they’re not leaving for a week or so as they’re about to take their turn being up the trees, and speak of folks who’ve been up in the trees for longer. Jesse doesn’t want to leave and bullies them into taking her up with them to the platform, citing all her casual sport experience and that one time bouldering at a party. It can still be a “magical” moment of rising into the trees once she gets the hang of it.

She can have her night thinking of jumping, talking to Mel about Spencer as usual (maybe holding her phone and having Mel’s actress answer). She can talk to Becca and Michael about colors, Spencer’s studies, Mel’s photography in whatever way propels the story forward. She can talk to the protesters one on one or together about grief and why they’re protesting in the trees - how they processed their grief but still grieve, how their worlds changed, and then contrast why the larger world (still) matters so much to them versus why her family was her world. Plenty of time to have a heart-to-heart about Judaism - one night with Michael’s trail hooch and their own memorial “May their memory be a blessing” (could be the actual anniversary night).

In the original play they’re up on the platform for 10 days - plenty of time to talk about the ecology of trees and root systems, importance of old growth forests, wins and losses in the fight against logging, and acknowledge the limited impacts of their individual efforts as they see the collective impacts of deforestation from up high. Consider also highlighting the loggers getting closer, and how the deforestation and reforestation efforts have impacted the fire dangers. Jesse can still call the tree “Stella”, but have one of the protesters respond that this tree has already had many names from many people/peoples, adding something kinder about human tendencies towards personification such as “the names we chose come from the heart”. She takes every wave of branch towards her as “Stella” speaking to her. The protesters humor her a lot.

As for what year this takes place, I’m looking to find a sweet spot where there’s some two-way communication but not constant connection or social media, otherwise something realistic that specifically slows/hampers the contact connection we expect these days. These are protests meant to draw attention, but I need that to take a back seat to Jesse’s story and keep everything focused on the platform & their immediate location and not get bogged down in getting media attention. So if they have radios, phones, or satellite connections, then the story should occasionally drop those notifications into the story - like tracking any fires / fire alerts and updates on the protest situation. As the days go by, then audience gets used to these intermittent updates about local conditions/concerns, until there’s a notification about a missing person reported and her car found in the area. The two protesters realize the notification is about Jesse, but Jesse tries to talk them out of telling anyone she’s here. She needs the trees and the forest healing they spoke of - however, they’re trying to ground her in the reality that people are looking for her and how crazy it already was to let her up onto the platform with them.

A couple options here, depending on the type of communication device used - either Jesse can knock the device from the tree and protesters response/reaction is mostly “lady that didn’t accomplish what you meant to accomplish” as well as spotting signs of fire nearby or there can be a notification of a fire moving their way but the protesters still have the radio.

Either way, the two protesters are planning to evacuate soon and Jesse verbally attacks them like a newbie protestor, she says they need to do still more drastic things to save the trees, even put their lives on the line, and she’s here now and obviously the only one with the heart to do it. They’re not impressed (because this kind of protest is arduous and dangerous, they literally are putting their lives in far more danger than average). They tell her that’s not how any of this works and there’s no point to dying in a fire. Except Jesse’s family died in a fire, and she acts like they told her there was no point to their deaths and she flips outs.

The two protesters are done with crazy, offer to help her down if she calms down, but otherwise they need to leave while the loggers aren’t around and before the fire becomes an immediate threat. Jesse stays on the platform, refuses to go, as the smoke starts appearing from off stage.

So we can have the scene with the forest fire, Jesse speaking to Stella the Tree about Spencer and Mel trapped in the gallery fire, but also how Spencer once told her about how fires can renew a forest. The smoke is terrible, making her hallucinate, first photos of Spencer, then she sees the “real” Spencer and Mel. It’s now 100% clear to the audience that Mel has been dead the whole time. Jesse, barely able to push herself upright on the platform, spills out everything she feels she’s missed with them. Spencer finally speaks, tells her she’s going to be okay. Spencer and Mel cover Jesse, protecting her from the fire, Stella’s branches appear to close over them too. Jesse clings to Mel, tells both how much she loves them, and tells Mel to take care of their son (to bring things full-circle from their ‘fight’ during “Drive”). The wind beats the platform with slamming gusts (like a helicopter, hint hint) and the stage fades to black.

The smoke eventually clears and there’s daylight - doesn’t really matter what time of day because it’s actually hospital lights.

Jesse wakes up in a hospital bed, Dina asleep at the foot of her bed. There are flowers on the side table. Jesse looks sorry she woke up at all. Dina startles awake, realizes Jesse is up and scoots closer and tells Jesse she was so worried, what was she thinking, how could she be so crazy, she was so lucky, the works.

Jesse looks at Dina like she heard nothing, “I don’t think I’ll ever stop missing them.”

Dina squeezes her hand, “No ones asking you to do that. But you can’t keep grieving alone, you’re hurting yourself.”

Jesse shakes her head, “I’m not the same person without them.”

Dina, “I’m not asking for the old you. Just you, as you are, and that’s okay. Today, tomorrow, I’m here for you if you let me.”

Jesse starts crying and they hug.

Becca and Michael walk in - holding a Smokey the Bear Teddy Bear. Pleased with their timing, they also express their relief that she survived. Jesse apologizes for putting the two through so much. They briefly discuss the fire and how lucky she was that it didn’t progress to where she was. In a quiet moment Jesse confesses to Becca that she saw both Spencer and Mel in the smoke, their memory a very active blessing. Becca smiles and nods.

Jesse comes around to the idea that she has to get back to the job of living, and that at least in part she’ll dedicate time to curating a collection of Mel’s published and unpublished photography and supporting the work of Becca & Michael’s group protecting forests in honor of Spencer’s love of nature

Speaking of work, gotta make it very American - Dina tells Jesse she’s got another motivation to take the gallery job now: $80k in medical bills from the med-evac flight.

End.

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