Broadway: If/Then

[Trebs]

Not sure if there are other Broadway/Showtune aficionados out there, but I have been listening over and over to the new soundtrack out for If/Then and stars Idina Menzel (Rent/Wicked/Glee/Frozen) with supporting cast of Anthony Rapp (who was in Rent with her), LaChanze and James Snyder.

 

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Elizabeth (Idina) comes back to NYC after a broken 12 year marriage (to Oren who doesn't show up in the play at all). She's about to turn 39. Two friends give her a choice - go with her bisexual friend from college Lucas (Rapp), or go with her new lesbian friend Kate (LaChanze). Lucas calls her Beth while Kate calls her Liz. 

Key thing to realize - the story splits here but both paths are shown concurrently. For example at her birthday party she's told "there's 39 candles Liz, I know how you like candles" which is immediately followed by the other path's line of "one candle Beth, I know how you hate waste". Some songs are exclusively one path or the other, but some do both. 

So it takes a few hearings to get it all clear, though the names help. Elizabeth isn't the only one to face changes - Liz meets an Josh (Snyder), an army surgeon who has a doctor best friend David, who starts dating Lucas. In the Beth path, Beth hooks up with Lucas at one point. As Liz, she ignores a phone call but as Beth, Lucas insists she answer and it's a dream job offer (city planner). Two outstanding songs (both sung by Idina) are You Learn to Live Without and Always Starting Over.

Once I got it, with a few reads of the booklet, I started loving it more and more and listen in the car, work computer and at home. I've always loved Broadway and this does not disappoint!