Idina Menzel is no stranger to flying high above Broadway stages, and she made her soaring return (literally) Thursday night with the new musical “ Redwood .”

As an anguished mother who abandons the New York art scene for a forest full of California redwoods, Idina Menzel's Jesse is attempting the impossible: She's trying to outrun her grief. But with her Broadway return,

“Redwood” gave me a renewed appreciation for “Into the Woods” and its composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim. His show has the same themes, and the song “No One Is Alone,” softly sung by Cinderella, is a wise meditation on loss among the leaves that goes straight for the soul.