Broadway Theater Review: IF/THEN

Idina Menzel. Photo: Joan Marcus

If the Writers of a Pulitzer-Prize Winning Musical Write Another One, Then It will Be a Hit, right?
By Lauren Yarger
If one thing happens, then another thing follows, or if you could have made a different choice, then the outcome of your whole life could be changed.

That’s the thought process behind IF/THEN a new musical from the Next to Normal team of Tom Kitt and Brian Yorgey, starring Idina Menzel . Menzel is Elizabeth, a woman who returns to New York after a failed marriage and an exile to Arizona where she she taught about urban planning, but never actually did any. She makes choices one day in a park that change the course of her life.

As Beth, she doesn’t take a call about a dream job, and instead, meets soldier Josh (James Snyder) who is home after his second tour overseas.  They fall in love, get married, have kids and come to grips with his being called for another tour of duty, but Beth wonders what might have been if she had pursued her career dreams instead of choosing to take a teaching job and raise a family.

As Liz, she does take that call and lands a job in city planning with old friend  Stephen (Jerry Dixon). She  ends up settling  for a short-term romantic entanglement with best friend, Lucas (Adam Rapp), and takes a risk by making a play for married Stephen. She experiences career success, but wonders what might have been if she’d experienced love and had kids.

The story premise gets high marks. There aren’t too many women who don’t wonder about these scenarios and many of us can relate to Elizabeth's trying to analyze every decision because she fears  that IF she makes the wrong choice, THEN the course of her life will be altered. 

As Elizabeth creates two separate lives, her choices also affect those closest to her. In one life, she ends up being the focus of Lucas’ affections and in the other, the bisexual man finds love with David (Jason Tam). In one life, her quirky neighbor, Kate (a sparkling LaChanze), and her lover, Anne (Jenn Colella) find happiness; in another they don’t. The parallel lives are mirrored, literally, in a reflective surface above the set (designed by Mark Wendland) which also incorporates the lines of the subway connecting the streets and lives in the city being planned by Liz – at least in one life).

The story never quite satisfies, however, as the book by Yorkey never makes reality clear. Perhaps leaving the questions of whether Beth is real, dreaming about what it would be like to be Liz or vice versa is intentional, but we can’t help wanting to know. Indeed, the rambling plot almost seems to open the possibility for a third scenario, but by that point, we really just wanted a big finish and some profound message after the almost three-hour journey.

The score, highly operatic, like Next to Normal, swings between a rock sound and some nice ballads – Josh’s song when he becomes a father is very moving as is Menzel’s leap of faith into her relationship with him. The songs always have plenty of opportunity for Menzel to belt. In fact, there’s too much belting here and the effect is lost on deserving numbers as we get tired of hearing Elizabeth’s nasal yelling, (which sounded like it was taking its toll vocally).

A few times vocal mixes sounded off (Carmel Dean, musical direction; Annmarie Milazzo, vocal arrangements) and a duet between LaChanze and Colella really doesn’t work (though LaChanze gets the crowd going with a couple of solos).

Michael Greif directs the uneven production. Larry Keigwin choreographs and Emily Rebholz designs the costumes.

Even if our disappointment comes from expecting an unfair result from the Pulitzer-Prize winners (IF they won a Pulitzer last time, THEN this show would be great, right?), it is fueled by an unfinished feeling. There’s a great idea here and some really nice music. IF only it could be developed a bit more. THEN we’d have a winner.

IF/THEN plays at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, 226 West 46^th St., NYC. http://www.ifthenthemusical.com/

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