If/Then Reviews
At Miss Saigon I cried, Phantom I cried and at If/Then I cried. I didn’t cry at Les Mis, Fiddler or other shows, but before you think this is going to be one of the positive If/Then reviews, think again. Yes, the show made me cry and yes I loved the music so normally I would do positive reviews of If/Then the Musical starring Idina Menzel and Anthony Rapp. The show actually was amazing, but before I recommend it, please read this post so you can know what to expect and if you should buy tickets for If/Then the Musical.
Idina does an amazing job and Anthony Rapp does as well. LaChanze is incredible and the talent is not lacking with the supporting cast. The funny thing is that it is basically a grown up version of Rent the Musical which both Idina Menzel and Anthony Rapp were both in. In this one he goes gay while she stays straight, but he is still an activist and she remains both sided just like in Rent. Instead of a cow jumping over the moon, she belts out a song under the stars. The show is literally a grown up or sequel fun alternative to the hit broadway show Rent. Again, my If/Then reviews are still not positive because even if you are a Rent head, you need to be warned.
The show is amazing and you will love it…if you can get through the two major flaws that I hope they fix before If/Then the musical goes to NY. If they don’t fix these two issues, then the If/Then reviews are not going to be so good. The first issue is that the entire first act is wayyyy….tooooo….long. It is like you are listening too the same exact song and scene over and over and over and you want to kill yourself. The music is great and the acting is wonderful, but they could easily cut out 30 minutes and the show would be perfect. The second act of If/Then the Musical was amazing and the time was exactly where it should have been. By cutting down the first act of If/Then the musical, when it hits NYC, the If/Then reviews will probably be a lot better than what will happen if they don’t shorten it. Then there is the next issue, the staging.
If/Then the musical constantly changes back and forth from when Idina Menzel’s character is younger and older. She changes jackets to let you know and they call her Liz when she’s older and Beth when she’s younger in If/Then the musical. Unfortunately the changes happen too fast and on at least half of them you cannot tell if it is in the past or not. She sleeps with Lucas (Anthony Rapp) but it was actually her husband (I won’t spoil it for you). The worst is at the very end when she meets her true love, and you don’t know if it’s a different scenario from the past or if it is her starting new. You assume it is her in the past but you hope it is new. If they could shine a different colored light on her for the present Liz or a different color for the past Beth that would help a lot. In Jekyll and Hyde the main character pulls his hair back when he’s normal and lets it flow out when he is the evil Mr. Hyde. Even doing that with the older Liz having flowing hair or pulled back hair and the younger Beth the opposite would let you know. It gets way too confusing and not a single person we talked to could follow along. If they could fix this and fix the first act by cutting it down then our If/Then reviews would be amazing and we would love it.
If/Then the musical
With that said, I highly recommend you buy tickets for If/Then the Musical. You can buy tickets for If/Then on sale by clicking through to our tickets vendor page on the link above or click on the banner on the side of this blog that says buy half price or discount tickets. They have most shows with half price tickets for If/Then the musical on sale still. Even with a long first act and bad staging so you cannot tell whether or not they are in the past or present during If/Then the Musical, our If/Then reviews are amazing. If/Then the musical gets 4 out of 5 stars and close to 4 and a half. It takes a lot to get me and a lot of my friends to cry and this show did it. If they cut down the time in the first act and make it more clear, our If/Then the musical reviews would have been a definite 4 out of 5 stars and I highly recommend you go see it!
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